Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-19
What 1t Is, How to Know 1t,
and How to Treat 1t
Suddenness of Attack, Limp
Neck, Complete Collapse
and Death Mark Its Vic
TINS
BY MYRA KELSEY COX

NPS ASANSN OeAAAg "a
Ptomaine poisoning among fowls,
caused by the eating of putrid flesh is
commonly known as 'Iimberneck." Be-
cause of its similarity to other disease
it is frequently confounded Herewith.
Prevention, in the form of careful dis
posal of dead things, is sure than
cure. ~Limberneck, exhibits fowls in
sufficiently supplied with animal food.
Most poultry diseases are infectious.
Roup, cholera and all their kindred
run through fiocks and pens with fatal
surety. The ordinary poultryraiser,
too busy to investigate their pathology,
wastes M time searching for germs.
He is too much occupied in combat
ting their activity. Occasionally
among such malignant visitations he
may note a mysterious ailment. 1t
comes unheralded, strikes down the
healthiest in a night, may count one
victim or a score and may subside as
quickly. To his unacquainted re, it
looks like a bona fde imitation of
cholera quite as fatal with less laggard
a course. 1t is very likely to be an
example of "limberneck," a term less
elegant than truly descriptive of the
disease. Here, if it be of comfort to
the poultry-keeper's heart, is a dis
ease -paradoXical in practice. 1t may
appear repeatedly in one season, yet
it neither disseminates germs nor
necessitates the use of germicides.
"Limberneck," properly speaking,
is a species of ptomaine poisoning in
fowls. 1t seems to be a menace more
common to the poultryyard of to-day
fho1 Of fhA mast Thf1IAna f,~IyAxr.
guineas, or ducks ma succumb, with
the last two more susceptible. This
ratio is attributed to the more de-
veloped c~arnivorous needs of the lat
ter fowls. Appetite dictates a craving,
and in the endeavor to satisfy it. they
fall victims When the required sup
ply of insect food fails, the fowls fall
upon the substitute next at hand,
whence all the mischief.
"Limberneck" is distinctly a warm
weather disease. 1t never appear in
cold weather. Sometimes it claims a
single victim; again it nay devastate a
poultryyard, sparing neither chicken,
duck nor guinea. This eccentricity
makes it the more peculiar, unless it
Identifying the Disease
The symptoms are u~nmistakable.
The practical observer, noting them.
will avoid the mistake of treating for
apoplexy, cholera, oil d~ysentery. The
victim may be found in one of two
stages. Usually the collapse is sud
den. The healthy hen of last night
lies PROSTATE this morning in a cor
ner of the chickenhouse, with rumpled
feathers, closed eyes and outstretched
~spineless neck (whencc the name of
the disease. In a few hours, or per-
haps a day or two, she dies, never hav-
ing moved. The gawky
l,,1Iyz Af fhA n@nY, Nf,.a ~aaaI ~ @s-t.A
creek or 1op homewards. as If hurt
across the back. 1t has happened that
n Muscovy duck and her brood of
fourteen well at daybreak were dead
at night of this trouble. Not every at
tack is fatal. II the poisoning is
mild. the fowl affected appears to be
suffering with an injured back. 1t
staggers weakly, yes half-closed and
tail depressed. Naturally ii evinces
no interest in food. for it has almost
lost the ability to swallow. Diarrhoea
is present. but the comb and wattles
retain the scarlet of health. Such a
case may recover Young ducks have
survived after such an attack, to sue
cumb to a second. The half-shut V
is symptomatic of the lightest attack.
A general paralysis seizes the fatally
stricken and 1t lies in a coma till
death.
No germ may be indicted for this
condition. h fowls affected have
fed on putrid flesh or on insects eating
thereof, which include the larvae of
flies, known as maggots. Ptomaine
poisoning ensues. with the same utter
p~rostration manifest in the feathered
u~nfortunates that characterizes a
human being so smitten. Hence the
prevalence Of this disease during the
warm months. Fowls. particularly
weak little ones, dying in obscure
places. furnish the material for in
lection. Especially on farms where
poultry runs at large rs 1t difficult at
all times to find these which
may be the result of accident. The