224 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
July, 
®|? I'odtri] ^arlr. 
REMEDY FOR THE GAPES IN FOWLS. 
Messrs. Editors —I have had five or six broods of 
chickens hatched this spring, every one of which has 
died. When from two to three weeks old, they were ta¬ 
ken with the gapes , and after a few days, despite 
change ofrfood, and such other remedies as were re¬ 
commended, they invariably expired. Pills of lard 
rolled in pepper, were confidently recommended, but 
they did no good. Black and red pepper were both tried. 
Indian meal mixed with onion water, was of no avail. 
Wet food, dry food, vegetable and animal food, did no 
good whatever. My neighbor who lives but a few 
hundred teet from me, is not troubled at all. Last 
evening I called upon a gentleman who is a very suc¬ 
cessful raiser of poultry, and communicated to him 
my sad experience, and desired to know the cause of 
the complaint. That, said he, is what /should like 
to know, but if you desire to know the remedy, come 
with me into the fowl yard and I will show you how 
to cure the disease. There I found he kept a clam¬ 
shell filled with spirits of turpentine and a feather 
stripped of the barb. Catching a chicken which gave 
evidence of illness, while another person held it, he 
placed the fore finger of his left hand under the chick’s 
bill or throat, which caused it to open its mouth, then 
caught' and held the tongue (which was drawn well 
forward) by the thumb nail of the same (left) hand; 
then dipping the feather in the turpentine he thrust it 
down the chick’s windpipe, giving it a twist; as soon 
as the feather was withdrawn, the chick coughed and 
threw up what looked like a string of clotted blood 
about an inch long and as thick as a darning needle. 
Upon examining it with a magnifying glass, this clot¬ 
ted mass was found to consist of several worms of an 
eel-like shape. The gentleman assured me that the 
presence of these worms in the windpipe was the cause 
of the gape, and his remedy was an effectual one. He 
says that the operation seldom required to be perform¬ 
ed the second time on the same chick, and that he had 
acquired such skill in the performance of the opera¬ 
tion that very rarely was a chick injured by it. In 
.this case he was not more than half a minute and the 
bird ran off when freed, apparently uninjured. 
To my mind it is proved that the death of my chick¬ 
ens was caused by these parasites, but the remedy in 
the hands of any but a skillful operator would be se¬ 
vere if not barbarous, and this case forcibly illustrates 
the old saw, “an ounce of preventive is better than a 
pound of cure.” Now can you or any of your read¬ 
ers tell how these parasites are produced and what 
treatment is necessary to prevent their formation. It 
is very clear that any medicine powerful enough to kill 
the worm in the windpipe, would kill the chicken first. 
Yours respectfully, Ueo. W. Savage. Rahway. N. J. 
The insect alluded to above, was figured and accu¬ 
rately described by Mr. C. E. Morton, of Orange coun¬ 
ty, in The Cultivator for 1844, p. 305. We copy Mr. 
Morton’s remarks on preventing the disease, 
There is one fact connected with this disease—that it 
is only old hen-roosts that are subject to it ; and I am 
of opinion that where it prevails, if the chicken houses 
and coops were kept clean and frequently whitewash¬ 
ed with thin whitewash, with plenty of salt or brine 
mixed with it, and those chickens that take the dis¬ 
ease, operated on and cured, or if they should die, 
have them burned up or so destroyed that the eggs of 
the worms would not hatch out, that the disease would 
be eradicated. 
I am also satisfied that the chicken has not the dis¬ 
ease when first hatched ; several broods that I carried 
and kept at a distance from the chicken house where 
the disease prevailed, were entirely exempt. And 
chickens hatched from my eggs where they had never 
been troubled with the disease, were perfectly free 
from it; and a neighbor of mine who built in the wood 
half a mile from any dwelling, and has raised fowls 
for six or seven years past, and has frequently set my 
eggs has never had the gapes among his chickens. 
With my first broods of chickens, there was not one 
escaped the gapes.. But all that have been hatched 
since I had the chicken-house and coops well white¬ 
washed inside and out, with thin whitewash, with plen¬ 
ty of brine in it, and kept clean, have been exempt 
from the disease, with occasionally an exception of one 
or two chickens out of a brood. 
The Bantams are the least in size of all the gallina¬ 
ceous tribe. There are many varieties, some of which 
are''very beautiful birds. Among the handsomest are 
those known as Sebright bantams, which are thus de¬ 
scribed by Martin :• 
“ It is very small, with wnfeathered legs, and a rose 
comb and short hackles. The plumage is gold or silver 
spangled, every feather being of a golden orange, with 
a glossy jet black margin ; the cocks have the tail fold¬ 
ed like that of a hen, without the usual recurved droop¬ 
ing sickle feathers, or rather these feathers are abbre¬ 
viated, straight or nearly so, and broader than usual. 
Hence the term hen-cocks often applied to them. But 
although the sickle feathers are thus modified, no bird 
possesses higher courage, or a more gallant carriage. 
The attitude of the cock is indeed singularly proud, 
and we have often seen one of them bear himself so 
haughtily, that his head, thrown back as if in disdain, 
has nearly touched the two upper fea.thers of his tail. 
Half-bred birds of this kind are not uncommon, but 
birds of the pure breed are not to be obtained without 
trouble and expense ; indeed, some years ago, it was 
almost impossible to procure either a fowl or an egg.” 
A box 8 inches by 8-4 inches square, and 8 inches 
deep, will contain one peek. 
