The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-20
A MENACE OF
 THE MODERN POULTRY-YARD
What It Is, How to Know It
 and How to Treat It-Sud- denness of Attack, Limp Neck, Complete Collapse and Death Mark Victims
By MIRA KELSEY cox Experienced POuItrywOman

Ptomaine poisoning among fowls, caused by the eating of putrid flesh is commonly known as 'limberneck." Because of it's similarity to other diseases, 1t is ire quently confounded herewith. Prevention, in the form of careful disposal of dead things, is more sure than cure. Limber- neck, exhibits fowls insufficiently sup piled with animal food.
 Most poultry diseases are infectious. Roup, cholera and all their kindred run through focks and pens with fatal sure ty. The ordinary poultry raiser, too busy to investigate their pathology, wastes no time searching for germs. He is too much occupied in combating their activity De- casionally among such malignant vista- tions he may note a mysterious ailment. It comes unheralded, strikes down the healthiest in night, may count one vic tim or a score and may subside as quick ly. To his unacquainted eye, it looks like bona fide imitation of cholera. It is very likely to be an example of "limberneck," :" a term less elegant than truly descrip- tive of the disease. Here, if it be of com- fort to the poultry keepers heart, is a disease paradoxical in practice. It may neither disseminates germs nor necessi- tates the use of germicides.
 "Limberneck, properly speaking, is a species of ptomaine poisoning in fowls. It seems to be a menace more common to the poultry yard of today than of the past. Chickens, turkeys, guineas or ducks may succumb, with he last two more susceptible. This ratio is attributed to the more developed carnivorous needs of the latter fowls. Appetite dictates a craV- ing, and in the endeavor to satisfy it, they fall victims. When the required supply of insect food fails, the fowls fall upon the substitute next at hand, whence all the mischief.
 Limb erneck' is distinctly warm weather disease. It never appears in cold weather Sometimes it claims a single victim again it may devastate a poultry yard, sparing neither chicken duck nor guinea. This eccentricity makes it the more peculiar, unless it is understood.
 IDENTIFYING THE DISEASE The symptoms are unmistakable. The practical observer, noting them, will avoid the mistake of treating for apoplexy, cholera, or dysentery The victim may be found in one of two stages. Usually the collapse is sudden. The healthy hen of last night lies prostrate this morning in a corner of the chicken house. with rumpled feathers, closed eyes and out stretched spineess neck (whence the | name of the disease). In a few hours, or perhaps a day or two, she dies, never having moved. The ravenous, gawky ducks of the noon time meal, at night creep or flop homewards, as if hurt across the back. It has happened that a Muscovy duck and her brood of 14 well at daybreak, were dead at night of this trouble. Not every attack is fatal. II 1 the poisoning is mild, the fowl affected | appears to be suffering with an injured back. It staggers weakly, eyes half closed and all depressed. Naturally it ! evinces no interest in food for 1t has almost lost the ability to swallow. Diar-
 rhoea is present, but the comb and wat
 ties retain the scarlet of health. Suct case may recover. Young ducks have survived after such an attack, to sue cumb to a second. The half-shut eye is | symptomatic of the lightest attack. A general paralysis seizes the fatally stricken and it lies in a coma till death. | No germ may be indicted for this con- dition The fowls affected have fed or putrid flesh or on insects eating thereof which include the larvae of flies, known ] as maggots. Ptomaine poisoning ensues
 
 | in the feathered unfortunates that char acterizes a human being so smitten Hence the prevalence of this disease dur. I ing the warm months. Fowls, particu- l larly weak little ones, dying in obscure | places, furnish the material for infec- | tion Especially on farms where poultry runs at large is it difficult at all times | to find these carcasses which may ba I the result of accident. The warmer tht 1 air, the quicker the decay. Energetic fowls in their search for food discovei l them to their own disaster. Sometimei l the first cause may be due to the poultry l raiser's own carelessness. After the dis ease appears, victims dying in remote oi hidden spots provide new infection, set | ting up an endless chain whose operatlo1
 can only be checked by vigorous, thor ough search on the part of the owner.
 MANIFESTATION OF WORK
 | Occasionally there is great havoc iron disease on duck farms It is usually
 limberneck to which they are especially
 prone. Ducks confined in large numbers
 on limited space crave the animal fooc demanded by their nature. If their ration
 lacks this important feature of theii
 diet, they will supply it at the first op
 portunity. Voracity and tendency te scavengerng prove their undoing. Unless | 1l,,o1- found bafora its hOdy