The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-23
BLACKHEAD IN TURKEYS AND
 MEASURES FOR ITS PREVENTION
An Ailment From New England Now Common Throughout the Turkey Area-Symptoms of a Dis- ease Serious Among All Fowls and Death to Turkeys
By M. l.. LoNGFIELD Author md Practical POultryman

By M. l.. LONGFIELD
 Author and Practical POultryman Blackhead strikes a blow at turkey
 raising. Vitality of the germ adds to l it's menace. Symptoms are unmistakable
 with spotted liver typical A post
 mortem decides doubt. It is akin to
 white diarrhoea. Sparrows, game birds
 and fowls scatter the germs. Inspec-
 ton of new stock frequent change of range and use of turpentine are rec | commended.
 Fortunate is that turkey raiser whose
 flock has never been menaced by blackhead. This Hercules among ail- ments is formidable because no treat | ment positively counteracting 1t has been discovered It is comparatively recent pest. A quarter of century ago it was nameless. Now we near or it's ravages from every section where the turkey has it's habitat. Sometimes it Is recognized for itself; again, 1t IS confused with some simpler disease or similar symptoms. Probably many promising flocks have succumoed to an anonymous ailment unfamiliar to their distressed owners, yet wearing the livery of blackhead.
 The first reports of the activity or this disease came from southern New England. Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the late sos were beginning to drop below their usual production or turkeys for which they had been fameu. From estimating their shipment by the ton, they began to count them by the pound Today that New England fn- dustry is not to be compared with its once huge proportions.
 Turkey raisers in general complained of fatally effectual disease which at tackled the birds at all ages, killing orr the majority before they were SIX weeks old Few reached maturity. Losses were calamitous singly and in the aggregate. The Rhode Island eX- pertinent station began an investisa- tion The result was the first authori- tative account of the ailment Their findings are generally accepted Since then the disease has travelled to be the bane of turkey raisers in nearly every state.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF DISEASE
 One need not be a pathologist to sus- pect or to recognize blackhead. In tur- keys of varying ages it has various manifestat tions and duration, but cer- tain symptoms are always present. They are JOSS or dDpellte, cOiSCdUoht cancellation and weakness and White or yellowish diarrhoea. In very young birds the heads are grayish or pale
 in those whose wattles are beginning to color and in adults. the heads turns dark due to congestion, which gives the disease it's name. In a typical case the turkey first declines food or picks indifferently, and develops diarrhoea After a day or two it gives up trying t1 fN1J it-, HiGfraGSa6 look and sometimes it stands and swal- lows as though it were endeavoring to rid its throat of an ofstruction It has an inveterate thirst. In three days or a week. according to it's age and vitality, 1t yields the battle.
 The postmortem decides definitely whether the trouble is blackhead. In an elder victim, or one in which the dis ease has most stubborn resistance, the liver exhibits spots, white or grayish, au- tograph of this infection. Besides, the caecum or blind pouch is enlarged to sev- eral times it's diameter and contains a core. If the turkey has drunk much water, it will be collected in the pouch, while the remaining intestinal tract is empty This latter condition is laways present in cases of short length, and in little turkeys, though the liver-spots may be lacking Occasionally in an acute at- tack, the gizzard is discovered filled with undigested food. This condition seems to be responsible for the symptom of con- tinually swallowing observed in some af- fected ones.
 To be sure, the victim of blackhead must be dead, that there may be no doubt as to the disease. for the unscien- tific observer. Yet, if an ailment of this nature invades a flock without explana- tion and is resistant to all treatment the raiser may reasonably suspect it's identity. If it is proved, her first step is to take measures to prevent it's spreading. This depends upon a knowledge of the ail- ments origin.
 THE PERSISTENT PARASITE
 The cause is a minute parasite. Enter ing its host by way of the mouth, it final ly reaches the liver and intestines where it establishes its little laboratory for re- producing itself and disintegrating the tissues. Infection of the older birds is not always fatal. The mature turkey of rich vitality may maintain an equal struggle for months, meanwhile remain
 ing constant menace to it's healthy fel- lows; feathered Typhoid Mary. Fatten- ing such a turkey, especially on corn, often turns the balance. It succumbs at last to the enemy within. For this req son, turkeys in which the infection is semi-latent may seem to sicken unac- countably and die at fattening time. The germs of new individuals cast off in the excrement of infected fowls remain dor mant in the ground from one season to another for several years ready to enter business actively the moment they find another for several years ready to enter turkey-runs are taboo with the experi- enced raiser. Other fowls are acceptable hosts but resist more sturdly.
 HOW BLACKHEAD TRAVELLED
 How this parasite has finally jour neyed from New England throughout the states may only be conjected. It is reasonable to believe that turkeys shipped from one point to another have been responsible in part. Pigeons and quail are susceptible to it's infection, and rats and mice are carriers. Per haps among it's other activities, the sparrow has hastened the prevalence of this pest Certainly they may bear germs from farm to farm in their free lance feeding. Some intelligent people believe that certain farm seeds and commercial fertilizers share the re-