The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-19
THE GBPEWORM PEST.
ONE OF THE GREATEST TRIALS
 OF THE POULTRY RAISER.

With Many of Them, However. is
 That They are as Fatal to Chicks as
 to Worms.
 Of all the trials that poultry raisers have to contend with the gapeworm is the most exasperating. After contend ing with all the little details necessary for successful incubation, and then, when the chicks are a few weeks old. thrifty and sprightly, to have them die off by the dozen with gapes, is, indeed, a serious disappointment.
 The many sure curss'' that are re- commended may sometimes fit some cases may bring occasionally a degree of relief. But in most instances, unless the remedy proposed is quite as danger ous to the chicks as to the gapeworm, the sure cure" is comparatively a Irailure
 There are some people who claim that with one or two hairs from the mane or tail of a horse doubled and twisted, forming a loop at the end and passed down the windpipe of the affected chick. they can by simple twist" draw up all the gapewcrms. Persons who claim they "can do it every time" hardly ever give you an actual illustra- tion by demonstration. They simply tell you how easily they have done it. There are others who claim that a piece of asafetida, about half the size of a grain of wheat, given to each little lot,f ,faI~ .+ ,F gapeworfn trouble will soon kill the gapeworms in their windpipes. Others declare they have made cures with camphor gum administered in about the same quantity. Another says that putting Jumps of asafetida the size of a grain of corn in little muslin bags and suspending them in vessels containing the drinking water will greatly aid in keeping down the pest. Then there is the method of having hot iron in one corner of the box (with wire netting over it so the chicks cannot get on it) on which carbolic acid is dropped. The chicks troubled with gapes are placed in the box, the carbolic acid dropped on the hot iron and a bag is quickly thrown over the box to keep the fumes in. The chicks have to breathe the fumes and twill soon sneeze or cough up the worms" Judgment must be
 used not to keep the chicks too long in l the fumes.
 Another plan is to put chicks in box, cover them with a coarse bag and sift liberal supply of strong (fresh) air slaked lime through on them, causing them to inhale the lime dust until they cough. Still another sure" thing
 which one man says "he' does is to pinch the windpipe and crush the gape- worms. This cure. no doubt, can be done if you are perfectly sure just where the gapeworns are lodged and
 know just how hard to pinch to kill the
 pests without overriding the ''cure" and
 injuring or killing the chicks.
 One of the most successful methods 1 for getting the gapeworms from the windpipe is the old-fashioned feather
 way. Take stiff wing feather-one of the outer flight feathers-strip the quill of all the feather part except a little at the end How much of the feather tc leave on the end of the quill should de- pend on the size of the chick to be ope- rated on, for it should always be borne in mind that the windpipe of young chicks is small and the membrane ex- lceedingly tender. Dip the end of the quill in coal oil, twisting it around so as to make as small as possible on the end. Hold the chick with it's legs be- tween your knees, facing away from you. With one hand straighten up the neck and open the mouth. In looking down the throat it will be noticed when | the chick breathes the windpipe opens and then the feather should be careful ly inserted. Push well down and then with a twisting motion remove it. The
 gapeworm or worms, if the operation | has been successfully performed, will
 be found adhering to the feather. Of
 ten the chick will cough or sneeze up others It is a good plan to give after | the operation some scalded meal, in
 which a little turpentine has been mixed, to give the mess an odor. A | little water impregnated with asafetida
 will answer the same purpose. Destroy
 all the gapewornls 'tished up" as we'll as those coughed up by the chicks
 The cause of the gapeworm is just as
 much of a mooted question as it was
 forty years ago, and the same old cer-
 tain causes and theories are aired every
 season The ground or angle, worm, some authorities declare, is the cause
 of all the trouble, and others are as
 sure lice are the gapeworm creators
 It seems that on premises where the
 gapeworm trouble appears a liberal
 dressing of the runways with fresh air
 slaked lime is beneficial and really les
 sens the number of chicks that are af- fected.
 Early spring, about the time it is
 known the angleworm begins to come
 up, is the best time to make the appli-
 cation. Another method is to use sul-
 phuric acid and water. Use a quart of
 the acid to twenty gallons of water and l sprinkle all the runs.
 When it is known that the runways | the bacteria of the gapeworm it is un- wise to try to raise chicks there Changing the runs to grounds not be- fore occupied by poultry has ended the gapeworm trouble, therefore giving substantial evidence that there is such a thing as ground pregnant with an ele- ment that causes gapeworms. It is also 1 claimed that new land, where poultry
 has never before been kept, has caused use for the flocks. For this reason there are those who conclude the gape-
 worm is disseminated from sources and