8 
E". C. Agricultural Experiment Station 
black and the inside not colored. This raised the question as to whether lampblack 
will adhere to the intestinal mucosa and be gradually eliminated by the feces.as it 
passes along. In the small intestines where the food is mixed by the pouring back and 
forth process, it evidently would be mixed with the food. However, this would not 
hold true in the large intestine, since the formation of the mass takes place eithei 
in the large intestine or cloaca or in both. 
With these ideas in mind it was decided to try some test using aniline blue dyes 
which were calculated to stain the feeds and not be in a form to be carried along me¬ 
chanically as in the case of lampblack. 
Test No. 12: Columbian Wyandotte hen, leg band No. 26, weight 5.4 pounds. 
7 a. m. fed whole corn soaked in gentian violet water. She ate 5 gms. 
4 p. m. given 20 gms. soaked in gentian violet water. 
7:30 a. m. second day, first evacuation. Excreta watery in consistency, greenish in 
color, indicating at first a tendency to constipation and later diarrhea. 
This test was considered unsatisfactory. 
Test No. 13: Columbian Wyandotte hen, leg band No. 28, weight 5.6 pounds. 
7 a. m. fed whole corn soaked in gentian violet water. She ate 4 gms. There was 
no evacuation during the day. 
8:45 a. m. second day, first evacuation watery in consistency, greenish in color. This 
test was unsatisfactory for the same reason as No. 12. 
Test No. 14: Columbian Wyandotte hen, leg band No. 31. weight 6 pounds. 
7 a. m. fed whole corn soaked in gentian violet water. She ate 3 gms. 
6 p. m. first evacuation. Greenish and water-like in consistency. The consti¬ 
pating effect was not so great as in the two previous cases. This test was 
considered unfavorable and unsatisfactory. 
Test No. 15: Columbian Wyandotte hen, leg band No. 32, weight 5.7 pounds. 
7 a. m. fed whole corn soaked in gentian violet water. She ate 10 gms. 
9 a. m. second day, first evacuation. Feces greenish and watery. The hen appeared 
weak. Here again the gentian violet appeared to cause constipation fol¬ 
lowed by diarrhea apparently due to irritation of the mucosa of the bowel. 
This test was considered unsatisfactory. 
Test No. 16: Buff Plymouth Rock hen, leg band No. 26, weight 5.8 pounds. 
8:30 a. m. fed corn meal mixed with methylene blue water. 
11:40 a. m. first excreta voided. The excreta were blue at this time. 
7 a. m. fourth day after 72 hours excreta normal. 
This was three hours and ten minutes for food to pass through the intestinal tract. 
There was some irritation. This bird was in laying condition. 
Test No. 17: Buff Plymouth Rock hen, leg band No. 28, weight 6 pounds. 
8:30 a. m. fed 35 gms. corn meal mixed with methylene blue water. 
11:00 a. am. first excreta voided. Excreta were blue. There was some irritation at 
this time evidence by slight watery condition of the excreta. 
8:30 a. m. fourth day after 72 hours all traces of the blue had disappeared. 
Food passed through the digestive tract in two hours and thirty minutes. This 
bird was in laying condition. There was here again evidence of irritation. 
Test No. 18: Buff Plymouth Rock hen, leg band No. 30, weight 5.9 pounds. 
8:30 a. m. fed 8 gms. corn meal mixed with methylene blue water. 
9:00 a. m. first excreta were voided. Only very slight traces of methylene blue 
could be detected. 
4:30 p. m. second evacuation. Excreta blue. The first passage was in thirty min¬ 
utes and indicated that if food is given on an empty crop and mixed with 
methylene blue slight staining of the food in the cloaca may occur in that 
