The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-19
F. F. Johnstone & Co. Cotton Buyers and Warehousemen
 Hurter cettOn Bought Any Point Alabama sor and Coppnments Solicited Lowest Insurance best facilities

| 6 Rose Comb Minorcas ..'. 4,S1S 6 Golden Wyandottes -. ..,l'<A1 The lowest average Of the HL.eeh pens was 204 eggs per hen; the nign-
 est 24s. Average for ninety hens. zZl eggs each.
 One must conclude that there Is a fine | lot of hens in Australia. and that the government fexpsrts who have charge or ] the hens in the contest know how 10
 handle them Why 1t is that they can do so much better there than ins this country we are at loss to understand.
 unless the mild winters are in their favor. During June, July and August last year, they had about sixty frosts' while In January the thermometer | showed above the 112 degrees mark The Feathers.
 Gapes.
 Both in and upon all warm biooded animals ard birds numerous animal and vegetable parasites are to be fvuid, | the former usually in greater quantt- | ties. The disease known as favus, af- fecting the comb and wattles of poul- try, is due to vegetable parasite, l really minute fungus, which attacks l both human beings and animals, and which can be transmitted from one to
 the other. The most important disease caused by internal animal parasites Is Rapes, which mostly affects birds from
 one to six months of age, although
 older birds are liable to it. The symp- I toms of this complaint are exceedingly | simple to detect; the bird Is seen to stand extending it's neck. frequently gaping or yawning, hence the name; it | looks morish and 1istlesss and the
 feathers like their usual brilliant lus- | ter; in a had case froth will be seen at the mouth. Gapes Is due to the presence of worms in the throat of the . Fn If0~ to gamekeepcrs under the name Of the
 red or forked worm. If the trachea
 and bronchia of a bird suffering from this complaint be examined, from six to a dozen small red worms, possibly more will be discerned. These are us- | ua1ly fork shaped. the straight ones be- ing comparatively rare The former are the copulating males and females; the latter are considerably larger than
 the males, the two being firmly fixed together. so much so that they cannot be separated without tearing the tia- l sues. So soon as the female attains maturity and becomes full of eggs, she.
 together with the male. is expectorated | by the bird. For a little while they lie about on the ground. but ultimately
 burst when the eggs-not more than 1.250th of an inch in length-are scat tered over the ground or in the water. Each worm contains an enormous num- Der of eggs, which hatch in damp earth
 or water into embryos in from one to
 six weeks, according to the tempera- ture. As soon as the eggs and embryos are swallowed by a bird they develop into adults, and are able to reproduce themselves In less than three weeks. While no second host is necessary, large 1 numbers of the eggs and embryos are swallowed by earthworms, which in their turn are eaten by the fowls. It r,vtTT E%1 hrNE FaF Fs- idly ground may become contaminated, even though the number of fowls suf- fering from this complaint is exceed ingly small Tn color the Eape worm
 is red. and In length the female may reach 4-5 of an inch, while the male
 Is rarely more than 1-5 of an inch. A certain amount of variation takes pince,
 however. in the size, some females be- \ ing no more than 1-4 of an inch. If 1.-the disease is not immediately attend | ed to the worms increase with enor- nous rapidity. ultimately causing suf-
 location. The complaint is mostly con- fined to chickens and turkey poults. al-
 though older birds are sometimes at-
 tackled. A few years ago great nor
 tality was occasioned in certain parts of the country through gapes .but
 thanks to the improved methods of
 poultry keeping and the greater atten-
 tion paid to cleanliness, its ravages l na not been So SerlOuB IuS past few seasons.
 1 Perhaps the point of most vital im- portance in trying to effect speedy
 and permanent cure Is to burn any
 birds that may die from this complaint
 have known cases in which a bird | has died of gapes. and the body has merely been buried foot or eighteen
 inches below the surface, with the re- | suit that the eggs have matched, ana
 the ground has become permeated with | the eggs and embryos. Too much
 stress cannot be laid upon this point, l and a bird that dies should be burnt | without a moments unnecessary delay.
 Another matter of importance is to iso-
 late any bird that is detected in the
 uently coughed up by an affected bird,
 causing the ailment to spread with ! alarming rapidity until the whole flock may be attacked. The worst outbreaks
 always occur on land that Is over
 stocked, and as far as possible fresh ground should frequently be brought | into play. It is unwlse to use the | same plot two consecutive years for rearing chickens, as in this case the
 risk of gapes and other diseases is so l great. When fowls are confined in runs,
 1t Is a good plan to lightly dress the
 land with gas lime, or water with l 1 per cent solution of sulphuric acid.
 
 but at the same time one that is ex- ceeding eficacious, Is that of soaking the grain in urine before giving it to
 the birds. The ammonia escaping from
 the urine proves fatal to the worms
 and their embryos. A method which I
 have used with excellent results Is that
 of dipping @ long flight feather in tur pentine or eucalyptus oil, and Insert ing 1t down the throat of the bird,
 turning it round once or twice, then gradually withdrawing it. If careful ly done several worms will be brought up each time on the feather Another method that has been tried with bene-
 ficial results is placing a little salicy- late of soda in the drinking water, in proportion of three drachms to every quart of water The addition of soda
 to the drinking water very effectually
 kills the ova and embryos. There are
 some very good powders on the market,
 which consist of powdered chalk, and which are called by different names.
 The birds are placed in an air tight
 box and a little powder blown therein, causing many of the worms to be dis lodged. It is claimed that tobacco
 smoke has a similar effect, but I have
 never personally tried it.-E. T. Brown in Farm Poultry.