The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-12
CHICKENS
IN HAWAII
Their Diseases and
Remedies.
The First Bulletin of Experiment
Station Is Issued by Smith
and Sedswick.

MT. j. j. GTeen, OF honolulu, writes
as follows in regard to the treatment
of sore head and other diseases:
THE results of repeated efforts at
raising young chickens in Nuuanu Val
ley seemed, for season, to bear out
the theory that the head disease was
caused by mosquito bites. The chicks
Matched during the spring and early
summer of 1898 were given no protec-
, ton against mosquito bites at night
and nearly all of them persisted with
| the head disease soon after weaving,
while those Matched after July were
covered with a mosquito net over each
brood, and escaped the disease. The
fact that the chicks were not affected
when weaned encouraged the belief
| that the absence of the hen and her
brooding left the young entirely at the
mercy of the mosquitoes, and that the
latter went straight to their work, for
within week the heads began to show
the fatal marks. Yet the same chicks,
at their weaving, were of size that
made it impossible for the hen to cover
them all at one time, and they could
be seen late in the evening sitting
about her as though in no further need
of being brooded. In the following !
season QS99) a commodious and mos |
quito-pro brooding house failed ut I
terly as a preventive and dispelled the !!
mosquito theory.
Season of 1900-Experience had thus !
far demonstrated that after the eighth !
week the chicks We're not subject to
the head disease, and it was believed |
that flock kept in a spacious shed, /
away from spring showers and the
damp ground with sunlight and fresh
air plentiful, might escape the Scourge.
Accordingly flock of 26 chicks (hatch-
ed in ApriD six weeks of age, were
weaned and placed in a shed 10 II feet
in floor space, with lattice front facing
southwest They We're furnished grass
food, meat and grit, together with the
regular grain fare. At night the flock
was divided and placed in two brood
ers, each TX 8 feet floor space and
feet high-ventilated by a rat-proof {
wire front of half-inch mesh. Within I
two weeks there appeared an eruption
on the face and back of almost every Y
chick in the flock, which soon devel- ]
oped into scabs. They were promptly y
and perseveringly treated for sore head !
with a remedy recommended by a
Southern Georgia physician and poul- t
try keeper-EpSom salts in the drink j
ing water and carbolated vasehne on
the affected parts Notwithstanding, s
the scabs spread rapidly over and s
around eyes, often closing them. The
sores also appeared on the back and l
wings, and on the beak close to the
head. Ten of this lot weakened rap Y
idly and died before the scabS had clos
ed the eyes; in fact many of them had /
but slight eruptions when they sue s
cumbed After two weeks of treatment 6
the 16 remaining chicks began to rally,
the scabs dried and lifted off readily, Il
leaving the skin clear and without t
scars. The inner surface of the scab i
was covered with white, thread-like L
roots, which drew out of the skin when S
lifted off. With tonic in their drink S
for the next few weeks they continued a
safely on to maturity. OF the number s
saved, three We're so badly blinded
with the scabs as to be helpless to I
move about or to feed themselves. s
These We're taken in hand to kill or v
water to soften them, and tincture of | t
odin was applied to the surface of the | p
;cabs. After the third application in h
.hirty-siX hours the scabS We're lifted 8
lear of the skin, leaving it somewhat W
'aw. and the chicks lost no time in C
illing their crops and ranging about o
he yard for young grass. They re- fl
covered slowly, but never attained full t,
ize weight. In the convalescing b
lock there were occasional Watery eyes a
md in few there was an accumula- n
ion of hard, yellowish matter of bad Il
dor, in the ears, which, on being re- n
moved. was followed by several like
discharges within a period of two
months.
A second flock of % chicks (hatched
n May) was weaned three days after
hey were Matched and placed in the
anne pen and brooding boxes (Which II
lad been newly whitewashedD. Within /,
week there were lumpy forma tons q
N the beaks of most of them, which F
n a few days developed into scabs | -
md in another week all but two had :
lied. The two chicks were raised to
and though healthy, were
lwarfed by the setback occasioned by
he attack. In this lot contagion was o
suspected, also too early weaving,
hough the mother hen was separated p
rom the chicks at night only o
1t now became evident that indoor s
,rooding had no advantages, but many a
erious disadvantages, by depriving the 7
hicks of healthful out-of-door exercise -
md keeping them tender and sensitive :,
o weather changes instead of inuring u
hem to all weathers from the start a
The third flock of (hatched in June) s
vas given full liberty from the day e