CONTAGIOUS DISEASES 229 



Birds with the disease are usually very thirsty and stand 

 around the water-trough much of the time. 



After the bird takes the germs into its digestive tiact the 

 disease will appear in from three to seven days, depending on 

 the resistance of the individual bird and the number of germs 

 introduced. 



Symptoms. — The onset of the disease may be so sudden that 

 among a flock of birds which showed no symptoms of the dis- 

 ease the night before one or two may be dead under the roosts 

 in the morning. If the disease is not so abrupt and severe, the 

 bird will be noted to have a loss of appetite — that is, the bird 

 refuses feed, but is apparently thirsty due to the high fever. 

 The bird is very weak, often reeling as it walks. The feathers 

 present a stairy or unkempt appearance, the bird mopes around, 

 sits off by itself, is hstless, trembling, becomes rapidly emaci- 

 ated, the comb becomes dark, there is severe diarrhea, the 

 bowel discharge being of a greenish-yellow color and very 

 fluidy. The bird sits and mopes, with tail and head down, 

 giving it the so-called ball appearance. It may, after holding 

 on to life, so to speak, tenaciously for seven to ten days at 

 most, be attacked by convulsions and die. 



The percentage loss is very great. 



Fowl-cholera attacks chickens, turkeys, ducks, and sparrows 

 as well as other birds. 



Upon opening the abdominal cavity of a bird that has died 

 of fowl-cholera the Uver is noted to be very dark in color, tears 

 easily, and is two or three times its normal size. The intestines 

 are congested and contain a frothy material. There may be 

 hemorrhage in the hning or mucous membrane of the bowel 

 and the contents more or less blood. The spleen is large, dark, 

 and soft. (The spleen Hes in an angle formed by the pos- 

 terior edge of the liver, the right side of the gizzard, and the 

 left side of the duodenal loop. It is shaped like a horse chest- 

 nut, dark reddish in color, and about % inch in diameter 

 at its longest axis.) 



The kidneys are dark, appear moi'e or less swollen, and are 

 soft. (The kidneys are two irregular-shaped bodies, normally 

 4ark in color and about IJ^ inches long, and lay in an irregu- 

 lar cavity of the backbone.) 



