Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1898-01-28
DAIRY AND POULTRY.
INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR
OUR RURAL READERS.
Hew Successful Farmers Operate This
Department of the FRrm-A Few
Hints AZ to the Care OF Live stock
aud Poultry.


| people having the care OF them. luey
allow diseases to get into the hocks
and spread. when. by proper observa-
don, the trouble would be stopped ere
1t had obtained good start. few
days ago the writer Of this had oc-
casion to purchase a dozen laying
hens from a farmer. The latter was
asked IL he had roup in his flock. He
was at once very indignant and re-
piled that when a fowl in his yards
fell sick the axe was the remedy. None
of his fowls had the roup or any other
disease. So the would-be purchaser
thought he would be safe in purchas-
ing few fowls "unsight and unseen"
But he will never do that again.
The fowls were promptly delivered
At night the purchaser went out to
take a look at his fowls for the first
time. What q sound greeted his ad-
vent in the poultry house. He recog-
niEed its cause at once. The fowls
were all safely ranked on the roosts,
but from their midst came mingled
snorings, sneezings, coughings and
half-crowings.
Roup. roup, roup, spoke from every
corner. He examined two OF the
worst ones. They were old hens, but
mere skin and bones. They both had
apparently had the roup for months
and become emaciated by it, for the
roup affects the digestive organs more
often than the head. Not one of the
fowls was worth keeping. Not one
Of them would lay an egg all winter,
and it is doubtful if they would ever
lay. They were returned to the farm
er, who was duly indignant that his
fowls were considered sick, but insist
ed that they were in perfect health.
He evidently thought his fowls were
not sick because they did not have the
swelled head. The mere fact of their
mouths being full of stringy mucus |
told him nothing The fact that they |
ate but little should have convinced
him that something was wrong. This
is one of the worst features OF fowls
troubled with roup; they eat but lit
tie, as their digestion is slow, due to
the infiamed condition of the mucous
A healthy fowl will pack
the crop full of grain. Feel of their
crops when they have retired to rest
after full supper and it will be found
by the food. But a fowl
that is only slightly affected by roup
is not so. If the crop be felt of at
that time it will be found only a quar-
ter or half full, and frequently the
pressure of the hand induces the bird
to stretch it's neck and gasp as If for
sir. This probably is due to the in
famed condition of the air tube.
The farmer that had these fowls
made big show of producing eggs for
sale at fancy prices. 1t was supposed
hat he was getting many eggs, as he
kept a large number of hens. Acct
lentally it was learned that he was
getting about one egg per day. The
'eason his flock did not lay was doubt
ess the fact that roup was widely
prevalent among them. He said that
lie had left the care of his fowls to the
hired man, to whom he had given in
tructions to notify him when any ,,
hing was the matter with the hens
t is altogether probable that the hired
nan did not know. If he noticed them '.
t all he merely said to himself that
nC OAiQo udu a ollShl NOlQ, uOl MOlln
eporting, OF course. The roup will
at up the profits from the best flock I
( fowls that ever lived. 1t must be
5atched for and fought. When it APP
ears 1t must be eradicated 1t is ex-
remedy contagious and we do not be-
eve there is any cure for it. This a
ear it seems to be more than usually S
revalent. Probably it is more to be 9
cared than any other disease. 1t may L
e considered more dangerous to the c
rofits of the poultry raiser than even p
holera. When the latter disease b
omes its makes its presence known t.
Y its work of death. The keeper at u
nee takes measures to combat it. But h
is not so with the roup. 1t creeps Il
ito the flock and develops very grad CT
ally. Most farmers do not suspect its Il
'esence. 1t does not swell the head lC
Icept in some cases. The fowls run Ell
)out and often their combs remain IL
light and healthy looking for months ia
e have seen fowls that had it so bad p(
at canker sores formed in their
ouths and yet they did not appear
TX, their combs showing all the in 10
cations of health. So the farmer sus- of
cts nothing, while the disease is it
reading from fowl to fowl till all are in
fected. After awhile one or two fall tn
ddenly sick with diarrhea or their ru
ads swell up. The farmer INQUIRIES he
d is told that the trouble is roup tn
d that he can cure it by using such tic
d such means. He goes to work Of
d very likely reduces the swelled co
ads. and thinks he has cured his or
d.. Very likely he writes to the farm lie