Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-10-27
Poultry Notes.

We are frequently asked how to tell
roup from cholera. Roup is an affec-
ton of the mouth and throat anala.
gous to diphtheria in the human sub
ject There is g. discharge from the
beak of watery or thick, rory mu-
Gus, which sometimes becomes so thick
that it will not flow, but remains and
clogs the throat, Themucus is almost
always very offensive to the smell.
When it obstructs respiration the
fowl will cape frequently for breath.
Cholera is an affection not of the
throat, but of the digestive organs, in
Guiding the liver and bowels. The lat
ter are loose and the discharges of g.
vivid yellow or green. Cholera pre-.
walls only in certain localities, but
roup is confined to no section of the
country.
In answer to the inquiry, how much
cayenne pepper should be put in one
quart of meal for young chicks? we
should say that about one-fourth of q
teaspoonful would be the requisite
amount. The pepper, if treated with
hot water, and then water and all put
with the meal, will thoroughly pene-
trate the whole, while if stirred in in
the dry, pulverized state it will only
come in contact with part of the
mass.
Do not waste the lawn mowings,
when every fresh, crisp blade would be
g. choice morsel to the hens If they are
confined to the pens. These lawn
mowings make up for the deficiency of
O. good runway. Rake them off i'm
mediateiy and shower them over the
floors, or the dry and dusty yards,
to parched vegetation.
A successful California poultry keep
or, who manages his business on g.
large scale, writes that he is keeping
500 hens and 500 chicks. The fowls
are kept ia separate houses, each of
which hold fifty There is q good
range in which the fowls mix together,
but all return to their own roosts at
night. The houses are sheds 2Ox14
feet, eight feet high in front and slop-
ing to the ground at the back, having
open lattice work at each end for
ventilation. The roosts are movable,
six feet long, two inches wide, and one
inch thick. They are frequently taken
down, cleansed and soaked with kero-
sene. The sheds are kept thoroughly
soaked with lime wash, with some
carbolic acid mixed in occasional
ly. The sitting nests are treated SINH
larly.
The feed consists of shorts and bran,
wheat and oats, boiled beet heads,
chopped cabbages and cornstalks,
with boiled potatoes, alternately,
Running water passes the shed and
coops. The secret of success is clean
illness and variety of good food and
pure water.
There are two forms of crop bound,
the wet and the dry, the latter gener
ally occurring among adult fowls and
the former in chicks. Dry crop bound
is caused by Indigestion, the result of
improper feeding, and will often yield
to complete change OF diet. When
it does not do so, the crop must be
opened and the fermented filth con-
tanned removed.
To open tine crop, pluck the feathers
off the skin of the neck next the crop,
and them make a small lengthwise in
cision with g. sharp knife. After re-
moving the contents of the crop, wash
it thoroughly with tepid water and
then sew the skin over it with coarse
stitches, leaving a slight opening at the
lower end for the drainage of any pus
that may gather. Place the fowl in g.
separate dry coop, and give it no food
for a number of hours, and then only
small quantities of soft food.
Young chicks have the wet form of
crop bound, which is caused by indi-
gestion, and that in turn by various
causes. The most common of these
is feeding mixture of corn meal and
cold water, and this at irregular inter-
walls, so that the birds overeat. When
there is good insect forage, over eating
of meal or grain in any form will not
occur.
In summer, after the chicks have
passed the stage where many give them
constant diet of corn meal, they
often suffer for some time from the
lack of drink, and when it is provided
they drink too much and bring on a
fit of Indigestion, which appears in the
form of wet crop bound. The remedy
for such O. trouble, it is readily seen,