The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-03-23
Diseases of Poultry.

The ailments OF fowls may generally
be traced to a variable temperature,
to irregular, injudicious feeding, or to
their being kept OH the ground which
has become impure with their use of it
Judicious feeding, perfect cleanliness,
and OCCASIONAL removal to new ground
will, to Il great extent, keep fowls
healthy. "i
noUP.--Roup is q somewhat gener.
al term, for most diseases, but is most
properly applied to a cold. The fowl
becomes dropping toetid matter run
ming from the nostrils, swollen eyes
and disordered excrement. The symr.
toms most prevalent in roup are diff.
cult and noisy breathing, or a kind of
rattliEg in the throat, beginning with
what is generally termed gapes. The
head becomes feverish and much swol-
len, and the eyelids livid, with decay
of sight, and even total blindness
There is considerable discharge from
the nostrils, and even from the mouth
of fetid matter, at the commencement
thin and limpid, but afterward thick
and ~purulent and very offensive. As
secondary symptoms, the appetite is all
but gone, except for drink; the crop
feels hard to the touch, and the feath-
ers are staring, rufied, aud without a
healthy gloss. The fowl sits moping
and Wasting in corners. always appa-
rently in great pain In this stage of
the disease it is supposed TO be eonta-
gieus, and whether so or not, it is Ger,
tainly proper, for the sake of cleanli-
ness, If nothing else, to separate the
diseased from the healthy ones, to pre-
vent the disease from spreading.
Sickly fowls should be removed at
once from the house on the first symp-
:vni OF illness, as they are g~2nera.IIy;
i'll used by their companions-picked
II, and evidently become objects ofdis-
like. As soon as the disease is discov-
cred, if in warm weather, remove the
infected mes to some VAIN place;
then give 4 dessert spoonful Of caster
oil; wash their heads with warm cas-
tile soap suds, and let them remain
until the next morning, fasting; scald
for hem Indian meal, adding Two and
q half ounces EPSON salts, for ten hens,
or in proportion Tor a less number;
give is warm, and repeat the dose in
a day or two if they do not recover
They should, above all, be kept warm
and have plenty of pure water.
Fowls sometimes waste away with
out any apparent disorder. In such
cases a ~teaspoonful of cod-liver oil per
day will often be found a most ettica-
ciOus remedy.
Securing or diarrhea is caused by
the too abundant use of relaxing food.
Cayenne pepper, ur chalk, or both,
mixed with meal or boiled rice, checks
the complaint.
Gapes, in pine cases out ten, are
obtained from rain or impure water,
and if a certain preventive (not cure)
is desired, the use of camphor will be
found the most. efficient remedy. A
small lump, about the size of a pea
nut, kept constantly in the vessel from
which the fowls drink, will make the
gapes unknown in your yard. Hav-
ing carefully adopted this precaution
this year more particularly, and hav-
ing raised over two hundred chickens
without one case of papes, l can testi-
fly that camphor is the ONLY certain
remedy.
ApopIexy with fowls, as in human
beings, is difficult to ure. 1t is gem
orally the result ofhigh feeding, andis
a.oat eommon among laying hpL ssd