Wit RURAL NEW-YORKER 
899 
Sour Crop 
I have a year-old Barred Bock hen, 
whose crop is like a balloon and full of 
water. By turning her upside down and 
squeezing the crop, the water conies out 
of her mouth in a stream and the odor 
is very foul. She eats very little; her 
comb is red, but she walks around in a 
droopy state, and then sits in a secluded 
place all puffed up. She is away from 
the flock, but have noticed another act¬ 
ing just like her. h. s. w. 
Hackensack, N. J. 
This trouble is called “sour crop'* and 
is a form of indigestion resulting from 
catarrhal inflammation of the crop, 
either alone or as an accompaniment of 
some other disease. The crop may be 
emptied as you describe and a little soda 
in water given to correct the acidity, the 
bird being afterward lightly fed until re¬ 
covery. If the sour crop is but an ac- 
compaying symptom of some serious in¬ 
ternal disease, there is, of course, little 
that can be done for it. Indigestible or 
unfit food may be the cause of the trou¬ 
ble and should be a matter for investi¬ 
gation if a number of fowls in the flock 
are affected. m. b. d. 
help harden the droppings? Have been 
mixing black pepper with the oat flake. 
New York. i. g. 
Hardening the droppings isn’t curing 
the trouble; if it. were possible to do it, 
it would simply be removing a symptom 
of disease without removing the disease. 
From what yon say, I judge that your 
chicks have bacillary white diarrhoea, a 
disease transmitted to them from infected 
mothers, through the eggs, or acquired by 
contact with other sick chicks or infected 
surroundings. There is no cure for this 
disease, it usually shows itself by a diar¬ 
rhoea within two or three days of hatch¬ 
ing and steady loss of the infected chicks 
for two or three weeks, or until the badly 
diseased ones die. Some recover to be¬ 
come carriers and again transmit the 
trouble to their progeny. Not all white 
diarrhoeas are bacillary white diarrhoeas, 
but the time of attack and progress sug¬ 
gest this most destructive of young chick 
diseases in your case. Remedy: hatch 
only from disease free stock and prevent 
infection from contact. There is no 
°ther. M. B. D. 
Substitutes for Beef Scrap 
To substitute for 100 lbs. of beef scrap, 
what amount of dried whole milk, pow¬ 
dered buttermilk, skim-milk, milk albu¬ 
min, whey, semi-solid milk, sweet or sour 
milk should be used? r. s. v. 
The dry or powdered milks may be 
substituted in equal quantity for the 
meat scrap in the laying or growing 
mash; 12 to 14 quarts of skim-milk or 
buttermilk per 100 fowls daily will re¬ 
place meat in a laying mash; young 
chicks should have all that they will 
consume to answer the same purpose. 
Semi-solid buttermilk is diluted, one part 
to seven of water, to bring it back to 
the consistency of fresh buttermilk. Whey 
contains much more water than skim- 
milk and has less than half its feeding 
value. It is assumed that by asking 
what amounts of the various forms of 
milk products should be used in place 
of meat scrap you refer to the feeding 
of poultry. Values of these products 
vary with different classes of animals, 
and values vary also with kinds and 
amounts of supplementary foods used. 
Whole sweet milk is not often used in 
animal feeding, except for limited per¬ 
iods. It does not belong in the same 
class of high protein foods represented 
by meat scrap or skim-milk. m. b. d. 
Sitting Turkeys Leave Nests 
My turkey hens quit the nest when 
setting or rather come off and their legs 
were too weak to get back. They had 
been setting about three weeks. I had 
six hens set side by side in my setting 
pen ; four of them quit setting. Two re¬ 
maining are about dead; I fed them 
every day on whole corn and kept water 
in the pen, also plenty of grit. I had 
some the year before last that had black¬ 
head and quit the nest, but these hens do 
not have blackhead. mrs. j. a. 
I have no way of knowing the reason 
for these turkey hens leaving their nests, 
but wonder if they have not been an¬ 
noyed and weakened by lice, mites or 
other vermin. I would suggest a careful 
examination of the nests and surround¬ 
ings for the presence of red mites that 
hide in cracks about the nests during the 
day and feed upon the blood of the sit¬ 
ring birds at night. These sometimes 
drive sitting hens from their nests, or 
even weaken and finally kill them. An 
application of oil of any kind, kerosene 
or old engine oil, or any other kind to 
all the places where these mites may 
hides will destroy them, but thorough 
work is necessary. A good insect pow¬ 
der may be applied to the sitting turkeys, 
if body lice are suspected, but mites are 
more serious enemies of the fowls. 
M. B. D. 
Fatal Disease in Chicks 
I have bought 600 chicks which are a 
little over five weeks old. These chicks 
seemed to be healthy at first, but in the 
last 10 days I have lost a considerable 
number owing to a certain disease. This 
disease affects them at first by making 
them seem to be sluggish and sleepy, 
closing their eyes and running into 
things. Several days after a chick has 
been attacked by this disease it becomes 
blind, its eyes water and eyelids swell 
and finally dies. Others will stop eating 
and seem to starve themselves to death. 
I have had this trouble, so I believe, 
with my hens. Hens eyes swell and they 
will not eat. If you have a remedy 
will you send it as soon as possible? 
Virginia. l. g. e. 
Any disease will, of course, make 
chicks appear weak and sluggish as it 
advances, but there are at least three 
common ones among little chicks that 
present much the same symptoms to or¬ 
dinary observation and which can be dif¬ 
ferentiated only by expert examination. 
Bacillary white diarrhoea is one, and 
this is acquired from contact or through 
the egg from which the chick is hatched. 
It usually appears withing three or four 
days from hatching and lasts for three 
or four weeks. Coccidiosis is another, 
with much the same gross appearance 
but ordinarily making itself evident after 
three or four weeks of age. Chicks then 
show some diarrhoea, lose strength, be¬ 
come l’ought in plumage, lose appetite, 
huddle near the source of heat, and final¬ 
ly die. In this disease an examination of 
the intestines will show enlarged and 
perhaps inflamed blind guts, or caeca, 
filled with a cheesy mass. The liver may 
also show yellowish spots. I suspect that 
this is the cause of the trouble in your 
case. _ As the disease is caused by picking 
up with food and water the microscopical 
organism that is responsible for it, the 
remedy is the use only of new ground 
that has not become badly infected by 
long use _ as a poultry run. Birds and 
small animals also carry the organism. 
After the chicks show symptoms of the 
disease, I know of no cure. Aspergil¬ 
losis, or brooder pneumonia, is the third 
disease spoken of. but it is less common 
than those already mentioned. M. b. d. 
Dwindling Bees 
In the Winter of 1922-23 I had 16 
colonies of bees. In April I set them out 
in the yard. Soon some were not flying 
very strongly so I w r ent and looked. 
There were no bees; their comb clean, 
plenty of honey, no bad odor. What be¬ 
came of the bees? I lost seven colonies 
last Spring, and two this Spring. 
Waynesfield, Ohio. o. g. s. 
This looks like a case of what is known 
among beemen as Spring dwindle, and 
seems far more liable to appear among 
bees that have been wintered in the cel¬ 
lar, than those that have been packed and 
left on their Summer stand. The bees 
seem to get discouraged waiting for 
Spring to arrive, and gradually desert 
the hive as soon as new pollen and honey 
begin to come in, this will disappear, un¬ 
less they are too much weakened before 
it comes. 
If the bees are quiet and appear com¬ 
fortable in the cellar it is best to leave 
them in until there is some source of 
honey if possible. In this locality it is 
at the opening of soft maple that we take 
them out. Also as a preventive measure 
be sure that every hive has a young 
queen, and hence plenty of young bees 
when they go into Winter quarters, as 
the young bees of September are the ones 
that go through the Winter, and largely 
determine the wintering. g. w. b. 
Double-yolked Eggs 
What makes a hen lay a double-yoke 
egg? w. h. 
Felton, Del. 
Double yolk eggs are formed when two 
ova or yolks break loose from the 
cluster in the ovary sufficiently near to¬ 
gether in point of time to pass down the 
oviduct and be enclosed in the white and 
the shell as one. As these ova are con¬ 
tinually ripening and dropping into the 
oviduct during the laying season, it is 
not strange that, at times, two should 
ripen together. It is a stranger thing, 
perhaps, that it does not occur oftener. 
M. B. D. 
Bowel Trouble in Chicks 
Have been losing my young chicks 
from some kind of bowel trouble. After 
a couple of days old they show signs of 
it, and then just die off, and each day 
more seem to start. I am feeding thick 
sour-milk, oat flake and water with white 
diarrhoea tablets dissolved in it. Is there 
anything I could mix with their feed to 
Ailing Chicks 
_ Will it do any harm to little chicks to 
give them all the sour-milk they will eat? 
What is the cause of them becoming 
blind, and having bowel trouble. We 
never had either trouble before. I bought 
50 White Wyandottes, day-old-chicks, 
seemed all right and smart when they 
first came. After a few days some had 
their eyes closed, and some had bowel 
trouble. The discharge is strong and 
white. I also got 50 Barred Rocks; 
have not had any trouble to speak of 
with them. mrs. a. l. n. 
One of the best preventives of diar- 
rhoeal troubles in little chicks is giving 
them all the sour skim-milk or butter¬ 
milk from the start that they will eat. 
This will not prevent true white diar¬ 
rhoea, caused by the germs of that di¬ 
sease, however, and it alone will not 
make up for improper feeding, brooding, 
etc., possible causes, of other diarrhoeas 
than that caused by white diarrhoea 
germs. Any diarrhoeal discharge may be 
white, so the color has little significance, 
but true bacillary white diarrhoea begins 
early, within the first few days from 
hatching and kills the most of its vic¬ 
tims within the first three weeks. Other 
“white diarrhoeas,” such as the one 
caused by coccidiosis, is more likely to 
show itself at a much later period in the 
chick’s life, after several weeks. Bacil¬ 
lary white diarrhoea must be avoided by 
hatching only from disease free stock and 
by preventing infection by contact with 
other sick chicks, their droppings, etc. 
Other diarrhoeas must be prevented by 
proper feeding, the avoidance of over¬ 
heating or chilling in brooders and gen¬ 
eral good care. m. b. d. 
Distended Crop; Feeding Questions 
1. Is oatmeal or rolled oats a good feed 
for young turkeys? I have fed some to 
my little ones and now have a turkey 
with something in its crop that does not 
seem to digest. It is soft, so wondered 
if it could be fermented food. I have 
read about washing out their crop, but 
do not know how it is done. 2. Can you 
give me directions for feeding buttermilk 
mash for chicks. Would it be good for 
little turkeys to start them growing? 
Pike Co., Pa. mrs. g. b. g. 
A distended crop may sometimes be 
emptied by giving warm water or oil by 
the mouth, and then gently manipulating 
and massaging the crop to soften and 
break up any hardened mass there. In 
“sour crop,” a form of indigestion, the 
crop may be distended and filled with 
sour liquid without being obstructed. A 
little soda in water may be given and 
the bird held head downward to empty 
the crop by above described manipula¬ 
tion. 
Any mash is best given to chicks dry, 
beginning after they are at least several 
days old. It may be fed in shallow 
boxes, protected by a square of “hard¬ 
ware cloth” cut to fit loosely inside of 
the box and laid directly upon the feed. 
The chicks will eat from the spaces be¬ 
tween wires and cannot scratch the mash 
out of the box. A buttermilk mash is 
simply a mash containing dried butter¬ 
milk in greater or less quantity and is 
fed as any other dry mash would be. 
M/asbes may, of course, be fed after 
moistening but there is less likelihood of 
bowel trouble if they are fed dry. 
I have had no experience in feeding 
chick mashes to young poults, but 
should rather stick to dry hard cracked 
grains, sour-milk or clabbered milk and 
tender green stuff. Any food with which 
a poult may easily fill its digestive or¬ 
gans encourages the presence and de¬ 
structive action of the organisms of 
blackheads. m. b. d. 
.. ^_ 
IfPcfells facta, contains evi^^ 
m* done© to enable every farmer « 
^*5 to Bottle silo problemn, why mod- ^ 
ern farming demands It—what farmers , 
k want in silos—what makes permanent s 
silo—what silo engineers have found— . 
,How cement and tile silos compare with ■ 
others--most important of all--thisl 
ipar truthful—fearless-important book ofl 
8r facts describes. 1 
3 Real 
M The best silo for little cost—the best silo 
i £°. r absolute permanance at low price. 
w The metal silo and its advantages— 
Gives construction details of the three 
silos. Modern improvements not found 
on others. Surprisingly low prices that 
silos can now 6e bought for—why easy 
terms should be taken advantage of in¬ 
stead of waiting to own silo. A valuable 
book all should road before buying 
a silo. IT'S FREE. Write today 
and get full particulars 
about the 3 Best Silos on 
the market—got prices, 
terms, etc. 
WESTERN SILO 
COMPANY 
235 Mitchell Bldg. 
Springfield 
" Ohio 
m 
, ALL , 
IlAXHER 
SHOE 
An honest to goodness 
quality shoe. Biggest 
bargain 
offered in 
years. The 
shoes are 
inspected 
and built 
to stand . 
rigid Bpeci- __ 
fications. Munson toe of chrome leather 
uppers, double thick solid leather heels and 
soles, will surely last more than six months. 
SEND NO MONEY— Pay postman S2.8S plus postage 
on delivery. Moneyback if not satisfied. 
INTERNATIONAL COMM. HOUSE, Dept. B-284 
433 Broadway, New York, N. Y. 
All Sizes 
$ 4)85 
7c 
each 
8 c 
•• 
8 c 
»$ 
t Oc 
• $ 
1 Oc 
•• 
1 Oc 
•• 
1 2c 
«■ 
BABY CHICKS 
Assorted Chicks. 7 C each 
White Leghorns. 8 c 
Brown Leghorns. 8 c 
Barred Rocks.f Oc 
Buff Rocks. | Oc 
R. I. Reds. ...... . 1 Oc 
Silver Laced Wyandottes. 12c 
Special Prices on 500 and 1,000 
100% Delivery Guaranteed 
THE RICHFIELD HATCHERY, Box 166, Ri chfield, Pa. 
S. C. White Leghorn Pullets 
12 weeks old, price $1 each, Express collect. They are 
bred from healthy, strong, farm raised heavy egg lay ing 
stock. S. C. White Leghorn Chicks, lie each ; Parks’ 
Barred Rocks, 11c each. Our chicks are the best qual¬ 
ity,and at the cheapest price. Try them and you will 
come back for more. Parcel post paid. 
WILSON’S POULTRY FARM Flemington, N. J. 
PL! _1- _ S. C. W. Leghorns, So each j per 500, $117,50. 
I j 111 (j A \ S. Barred Rocks, »c each ; per 600, $42.50. 
S. C. R. I. Reds, lOo each; per 500, $4 7.50, 
Mixed Chicks, 7o each; per 500, $52.50. 100# live delivery. 
Postpaid. Order from this adv. or write for free circular. 
F. B. LEISTER - McAlistervillc, Pa. 
W hite Leghorns. D. Tancred’s Trapnested Strain 
pedigreed males. Most profitable layers. Booking or¬ 
ders, chicks, eggs. Circular. HAMILTON FARM, Huntington. N T. 
S O ANPANAC Sheppard’s Famous l’rlae \\ ln- 
. V. HIlwUllHO nlng Buying Strain. 76 choice 
breeding hens, 6 males. Many cost $1 each when day-old 
chicks. Bargain price to quick buyer. Eggs, $1.50—16 ; 
$8—100, prepaid. G. 81 MM8, Box Y, Lake, New York 
Anrnnae ffoseand SingleComb. Chicks,$12and $16—100 
HIILUIIda llreeding pen, 10yearlings and cock, $15. Circ. 
Earle S. Wilson, Box 497. Hammond, N. Y. (Sec. N. Y. A. C.) 
u7min iiiiimiN i »7i i inin i inm miiimii in 
Commercial Poultry Raising 
by Roberta. 
An all-around book; $3 postpaid, by 
Rural New-Yorker, 333 W. 30th St., New York 
iiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimmiimiimiiimimiimi 
uupot 
QUALITY 
CHICKS 
Don’t Compare These low JUNE Prices 
a&r bU o*, r T^«^ 
petltive reasons—-or*^ for^an^’reason ,* ° f Hi ' ,POt yUalit '’ whicb “> Sacrificed 6 forTom- 
. FOJ? IMMEDIATE DELIVERY 
White Leghorns., , 
Barred Rocks. * * * * 
R. I. Reds, White Rocks or Anconas * * * * * 
Mixed Chicks. 
White Wyandottes or Black Minorcas S.OO 9.50 riS.OO 90.0( 
White Leghorns (Mating A), R. I. Reds*!^ 1 25 MATIt 50 *100 r,no innn 
Barrett Rocks, White Rocks . . $5.00 $9.50 $18 00 $87 so «J 70 °oo 
of^fulVtmiint^i?arante'ed? e * : ' a * 
W. r. HILLPOT, Box 1, Frenchtown. N. J. Member International 
y Baby Chick Association 
PINE TREE BABY CHICKS 
35,000 of highest quality laying stock ready for immediate June deliveries Send 
in your order now for prompt service. Full count and safe arrival guaranteed. 
Wh. Wyandottes or Wh. Rocks. 
25 
50 
100 
500 
1,000 
$3.00 
$5.50 
$ 9.00 
$42.50 
$ 85 00 
3.75 
7.00 
12.00 
60.00 
120.00 
4.00 
7.50 
13.00 
65.00 
125.00 
5.00 
9.50 
15.50 
75.00 
150.00 
5.00 
9.50 
15.50 
75.00 
150.00 
3.00 
4.50 
8.00 
40.00 
75.00 
PINE TREE HATCHERY 
Box R 
STOCKTON. NEW JERSEY 
