14 
The Bulletin 
will not interfere. Good food and water and an occasional examina¬ 
tion to determine if all is well with the bone undergoing repair is also 
needed. 
Setting of Fracture 
If the fracture is on a feathered part, the feathers in the region to 
be manipulated should be removed. Next, apply a thin layer of cotton, 
holding carefully the fractured part in the proper position, then apply 
about three thin, narrow wood splints (somewhat shorter than the 
fractured bone) in such a manner as not to later chafe the skin and 
make a sore, and, then apply one-inch cotton bandage, applying at the 
same time glue or laundry starch. In a few hours the glue or starch 
(preferably glue) will be dry and the parts held firmly in position. 
Plaster of Paris may be used in the place of glue, but the cast will be 
found to be rather heavy for a small animal like the fowl. 
At the end of twelve or thirteen days carefully remove the appliance, 
dissolving the glue or starch in warm water. Confine the bird for a few 
more days longer in a separate compartment. 
In feeding for the first two or three days it is well to feed mash or 
bread soaked in milk, and then gradually feed corn, wheat, and oats, as 
for other fowls, and give milk or water to drink. If there are no in¬ 
ternal injuries or other complications the birds will not greatly suffer. 
It is found that in fractures near the joint the ne'w bone thrown out 
in reparative processes may result in a stiff joint. Where the joint is 
stiff it is found that the tendons are more or less adherent to each other 
and to the fractured part, and at times they may be atrophied. Mus¬ 
cles of the bird which are not brought daily into use soon undergo 
atrophy. 
One of the unfavorable outcomes of a fracture is a false joint or 
pseudoarthrosis in which is had an ununited fracture of some standing 
in which the ends of the fragments are rounded off and eburnated, or 
covered with a layer of fibro-cartilage, and inclosed in a strong 
fibrous capsule formed by the condensation of the surrounding soft 
tissue. If the fracture is near the articular ends of bones where a ro¬ 
tary as well as angular movements take place, the false joint may re¬ 
semble a ball and socket joint, or it may resemble a hinge joint. If the 
fracture is through the shaft of a bone, and angular movements alone take 
place, the false joint is likely to resemble a hinge joint. Some of the 
more common causes for these false joints are: The fragments not 
having been kept thoroughly at rest; the fragments not having been 
kept in perfect apposition, as a sequala of muscular contraction; the 
loss of large pieces of bone, as in compound fractures ; the intervention 
of a piece of tendon, muscle, periosteum, or bullet, as in gunshot wounds 
and fractures; and the effusion of synovial fluid in the case of fracture 
into joints. 
