CONTAGIOUS DISEASES 231 



duces may be infected, hence the chicks may either die in the 

 shell or in two or three days after they hatch. The baby 

 chicks may live longer or finally recover. Susceptible birds — 

 that is, those capable of developing the disease — may become 

 infected by eating food contaminated or soiled with droppings 

 of a bird sick of the disease. 



Symptoms. — ^The sick chicks are noted to have droopy 

 wings, ruffled feathers, and a sleepy appearance. They huddle 

 together and have little or no appetite. The abdominal yolk- 

 sac is not properly absorbed. There is a discharge from the 

 bowel, which is brownish white or white in color and which 

 adheres more or less to the vent fluff, and the anus becomes 

 "pasted up." 



They sit or stand around with their eyes closed part of the 

 time and with apparently no interest in life. 



They peep much of the time; when standing appear stilty 

 and with prominent adbomen behind. 



Sanitation. — ^It appears that late fall, winter, or early spring 

 hatched chicks are freer from the disease than summer hatched. 

 It would appear that hot weather furnishes a more favorable 

 condition for the development of this disease. 



Hens with a diseased condition of the ovaries are unprofitable 

 and cease laying early in life. They are a source of the spread 

 of white diarrhea and a menace to the poultry industry. 



The common practice of late years of sending eggs for sitting 

 from one end of the country to the other has resulted in a wider 

 dissemination of the disease. 



Baby chicks stand a 1:10,000 solution of bichlorid of mer- 

 cury in water, as stated above, and in the coccidian variety is 

 found quite beneficial. 



Baby chicks should have sour milk from the start. Sour 

 milk contains much lactic acid which, when it is taken into 

 the intestines, forms an unfavorable field for the Bacillus 

 Dullorum. 



Sulphocarbolates, as recommended for blackhead, has given 

 the very best results in this condition. 



Prophylactic Measures. — One of the very best methods to 

 eradicate such diseases as white diarrhea from the flock is to 

 mark by toe punch or otherwise all birds that have the 



