St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-05-11
as the cause and means OF treatment

as the cause and means or treatment
are similar.
The most certain means Of distin-
gushing epidemic roup from simple
colds is by the offensive odor of the
fowls breath. This is so unmistaka-
Bile that without previous experience
it serves as an infallible symptom for
the diagnosis of roup.
The writer recognizes no cure for
roup. Individual fowls may be helped
some in their natural fight to overcome
the disease if the pus is removed from
the throat and nostriIs and the parts
bathed in a solution of permanganate
of potash or other mild disinfectant,
such as will be put up on request by
the local druggist. Birds occasionally
recover from roup. but such birds are
usually worthless. All birds with evil
dent symptoms of roup should be TAX
en- from hocks and destroyed and the
house disinfected. 1t is still more i'm
pCrtant to see that all poultry on the
place are got into suitable roosting
quarters. where they will be protected
from the rain and wind and still be
given plenty of fresh air.
Chicken pox or sore head is a poul-
try disease especially prevalent in the
south. 1t attacks growing chicks late
in the summer The disease can be
treated with fair success by amounting
the sores with carbolated vaseline.
GapeS are also more common in the
south than farther north and west.
This disease is caused by parasitic
worms in the windpipe. 1t occurs
only in young chicks and can be avoid
ed by keeping newly Matched chicks
upon fresh ground upon which chicks
have not run the previous season, or
if the season is very bad it might be
we'll to keep chicks on a board floor
the first two weeks.
Limberneck is not disease, but the
result of eating maggots from dead
carcasses. There is no cure known,
and the only thing that can be done is
to see that no carcasses remain where
the chickens can find them.
Lice and Mites.
The parasites referred to as chicken
lice may be classed as body lice and
roost mites. The first or true bird lice
live on the body of the chicken and eat
the feathers and skin. The rooSt mite
is similar to spider and sucks the
blood of the chicken. 1t does not re-
main on the body of the fowl except
at night.
Body lice are to be found upon al
most all chickens as we'll as on many
other kinds of birds. Their presence
in small numbers on matured fowls is
not serious matter When body lice
are abundant on sitting hens they go
from the hen to the newly Matched
chickens and often cause their death.
The successful methods of destroy
ing body lice are, first, the provision
of dust or earth wallows, in which
the active hens will get rid of lice;
second. the use of insect powder. The
pyrethrum powder is considered the
best for this purpose, but is expensive
and difficult to procure in the pure
state. Tobacco dust is also used. In
sect powder is applied by holding the
hen by the feet and working the dust
thoroughly into the feathers. especial
~ the fluff. The use of insect powder
is expensive and should be confined to
sitting hens and fancy stock. The
chickens and consists of applying oil
or grease on the head and under the
wings. With vigorous chickens and
correct management the natural dust
bath is all that is needed to combat
lice.
The roost mite is probably the cause
of more loss to farm poultry raisers
than any other pest or disease. The
great difficulty in destroying mites on
many farms is that chickens are al
lowed to roost in too many places.
Plainness in the furnishings of the
chicken house is a great advantage
when it comes to fighting mites. The
mites in the daytime are to be found
lodged in the cracks near the roosts.
They can be killed with various liq-
uids, the best in point of cheapness
being boiling water Give the chick
house a thorough cleaning and scald