Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-05-30

OF YOUNG CHICKS.


infection indicates that the spores in
most cases are inhaled with the
breath and terminate at or near the
points where they are deposited. The
Inference from this method of infec-
ton would be that the ineubators or
brooders, or both, had been allowed
to get filthy and moldy, and that the
atmosphere in these was filled with
aspergllus spores.
The symptoms are very similar to
those described as present in white
dfarrhea, but the breathing is more
rapid and difficult and is sometimes
accompanied by sounds due to OBJ
struction of the air tubes. The dis
ease is not generally distinguished
from white diarrhea, as this symp-
tom (white diarrheal discharges) is
usually present in the lung disease
as we'll as in the intestinal infection.
The sick chickens cannot be cured,
and therefore all the efforts must be
directed toward prevention. The
measures mentioned for the white
diarrhea are applicable to brooder
pneumonia, but if the disease has
once occurred among the chicks es-
pecial care must be given TO the
cleaning, disinfection and drying OF
the incubators and brooders before
they are again used. 1t is probable
that this disease is generally due to
failure to maintain a proper degree
of cleanliness.
Gapes is a disease of chickens
which develops during the first few
weeks of their lives and is made evil
dent by frequent gaping. 1t is caused
by parasitic worm syngamus
tracheals) which attaches itself to
the internal surface of the Windpipe,
sucks blood from the mucous MEM
brane, and obstructs the passage to
such an extent as to interfere serl-
ously with the breathing. The in
sufficient supply of air, the loss or
blood and the diminished activity in
looking for food lead to a weak and
bloodless condition and often to death
from overcrowding or exposure that
a well chick would be able to resist
without injury. Sometimes so many
worms accumulate in the windpipe
that breathing become impossible and
the chick dies from suffocation.
How Gapes is Caused.
The worm which causes this dis
ease is sometimes called the red
worm or the forked worm because
of its color and of the fact that the
male and female are so firmly grown
together that they cannot be sepa-
rated without tearing the tissues.
The two worms united in this man
ner appear at first sight like single
worm with two necks and two
heads The female is little more
than one-half inch in length and the
male one-fffth inch. The heads OF
both are attached to the mucous
membrane irritating it to such de-
gree that there is an increased secre-
ton of mucous, which collects and
increases the difficulty of breathing.
A large number of eggs develop in
the female worm while in the wind
pipe and these are either thrown out
by the chick while sneezing or they
are swallowed, pass through the
stomach and intestines unframed,
and are scattered with the droppings.
These eggs adhere to the food or get
into the drinking water and thus in
feet other chicks and keep up the dis
ease Indefinitely. Often the red
worms are coughed up, but they are
seized and swallowed by
some of the chicks, and in this man
ner also the disease is spread.
The eggs of this worm live long
time in the soil and are sometimes
taken into the digestive tubes of
earth worms. In badly infested
ground a considerable proportion of
the eaftnWOTT1S may, IL edJeIlt NC
capable of causing the disease in
chicks.
These facts explain why ground
upon which chickens are raised year
after year become so badly infested,
and how the infection is carried over
from one year to the next. Tt seems
that the worms may also be carried
by grown fowls and by some wild
birds, and that this is another means
for their preservation.
When the eggs of this worm are
taken into the stomach of the chicks
the young worms are soon liberated
and find their way in a few days to
the windpipe, where they may be
seen already attached within a week.
symptoms of Gapes.
The symptoms of gapes are most
frequently observed in chicks from
ten days to four weeks old. The af-
fected birds cough or sneeze with an
abrupt, whistling sound and a more
or less 1abored effort. Very soon they
begin to cape, extending the neck