POULTRY. 
273 
selected for the purpose, as they yield the greatest weight to the poul- 
terer ; and if employed in hatching, cover the greatest number of eggs. 
DISEASES OF FOWLS. — Fowls and poultry in general are subject to 
various diseases ; as, apoplexy, diarrhoea, rheumatism, the pip or thrush, 
the croup (often termed roup), the gapes, inflammation of the tail gland 
(also called the roup, though the term is improperly applied), and other 
diseases which are not understood. Great difficulties attend the treat- 
ment of poultry diseases. Who attends to them ? what complaint do 
they make ? and when they die, how few persons acquainted with the 
symptoms before death make post-mortem examinations, and then refer 
those symptoms to the morbid appearances which his scalpel reveals ? 
The following are the chief active disorders among them ; apoplexy, 
evidenced by inflammation of the membranes of the brain, or by effu- 
sion of blood within or upon it; peritoneal inflammation, rapidly fatal; 
inflammation of the lungs, including the bronchial tubes ; tracheal in- 
flammation (or gapes) with parasitic worms in the windpipe; inflamma- 
tion of the mucous membrane of the intestines, evidenced by previous 
dysentery ; and inflammation or intumescence of the rump gland, symp- 
tomatic of a febrile condition. But what can be said as to the treat- 
ment of poultry under disease? Very little. To speak the truth, 
neither are their diseases well understood, nor is the treatment of them 
generally successful. A few observations on particular complaints may, 
however, be useful. 
Apoplexy makes its attack in most instances without the slightest pre- 
vious warning. Could it be known that a bird was in danger of an 
attack, means might perhaps be taken to insure safety. Aviary birds, 
in the finest health apparently, will drop dead from their perch from 
this cause. They are often over-fed ; they have not to exercise them- 
selves in the task of seeking for food; they have an allowance in un- 
limited measure, but have no according measure of muscular exertion ; 
they “ do not earn their bread before they eat it,” as wild birds do. 
“ Experientia docetf The best advice to give, as to the means of pre- 
vention, is to feed birds a little in proportion to the exercise which they 
have the power to take. 
The Pip, or Thrush, may be regarded as a token of derangement of the 
mucous membrane of the alimentary canal generally, and not as a local 
disease ; it is symptomatic. Its cure will be effected by low diet; that 
is (in the case of fowls), by an allowance of fresh vegetable food, mixed 
with potatoes and a little oatmeal, granting at the same time a plentiful 
supply of pure water. Give of castor oil a teaspoonful, or thereabouts, 
according to age and strength. Do not scrape the tongue, nor use 
rough modes of cleaning it, but apply a little borax, dissolved in tinc- 
ture of myrrh and water, by means of a camel-hair pencil, two or three 
times a day. The symptoms of pip consist in a thickening of the mem- 
brane lining the tongue and palate, which causes an obstruction of the 
free inspiration, and makes the poor sufferer gasp for breath ; the plu- 
mage becomes ruffled, the bird mopes and pines, the appetite fails, and 
is at last utterly extinguished, the bird at length dying, worn out by 
fever and starvation. 
Gapes (Inflammation of the Trachea) is a very fatal disease, to which all 
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