Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-08-19
THE POULTRY YARD
oAPEs-cAusE, TREATMENT. 3
By ED WEBER

At this season of the year when
thousands Of chicks are being Matched,
many poultry raisers are asking them
selves the question, how many poultry
will I lose this year from gapes and
how can prevent this loss? II Is
for the benefit of these questioners
what am about to say is written and
with view Of aiding those who have
been so unfortunate in the past. for
it is certainly q misfortune to- hatch
out brood and see them all die off
with gapes, which, with proper pre-
caution. can be prevented.
I have known of poultry plants to
give up In despair just because gapes
made its appearance year after year
and prevented the maturing of chicks.
Had the poultryman in charge made
diligent investigation and persis-
tent sanitary campaign he could have
rid the plant of the infection after a
while.
Instead Of doing so he became dis
couraged because each spring there
was more gapes and he could not
understand why there was an increase
of the gapes last year.
Germs Stay In Yards.
l have learned from experience that
once gapes makes its appearance in
the poultry yard that IL precautions
are not taken to eliminate the germ
we will have a surprising increase In
the amount of stock affected each
spring.
Gapes is caused by a germ, a worm
II you please, which finds it's way into
the windpipe, where 1t attaches its
head to the mucous membrane OF the
tracfea and there saps the blood and
life of the chick away.
The worm, kown as syngamus
trachealis, is a forked like worm with
q head on each fork and it is found
10 be female and male worm per-
manently attached, as you will OBJ
serve on close examination under the
microscope. The main fork is about
one-half inch long, this being the fe-
male. The shorter. branch is about
one-quarter inch long an dis the male
worm.
Loss Of Blood Causes Death.
Most chicks die as result OF loss
Of blood, which is sucked out by the
worm, but I find death !s sometimes
caused by suffocation. due to the pres
ence Of two or more worms, which be-
come distended with the blood, thus
causing acclusion Of the windpipe and
resultant suffocation.
We seldom find a grown bird at
fected, as gapes is disease OF Chick
hood" as the doctor would say. We
find it among the chicks from one to
eight weeks old and seldom affecting
chick after the eighth week.
The worm comes from an egg which
the female does not lay. The female
after having developed several thous-
and eggs, throws them off through
the body, rupturing the eggs. They
hatch out either in the windpipe of
the chicken or the parent worm may be
coughed up with the eggs and find
Judgment in food or water and thus
become a source Of infection.
Angle Worm Not to Blame.
It has been said the garden worm
was the cause Of gapes, but I cannot
agree with this theory, as yet. any
more than that the garden worm may
contain the embryo, having gained 1t
from the infected ground and thus the
chick, eating the garden worm con-
tanning the embryo, may become in
fected.
One forked worm can infect an en-
tire flock in a short time and thereby
cause the ground to become infected
for years II not properly handled It
has been said that IAN ounce Of pre-
vention is worth pound Of cure"
Certainly there is no place where the
above will apply with more force than
in regard to the prevention Of gapes.
Preventive Measures.
Especially should preventive meas
ures be employed where once the
gapes has been in the yard. AS I
said in the beginning, where gapes
has once been, and no endeavor is
made to stop 1t, the epidemic becomes
greater each year.
A medicine known as "Gap-no-
More" which you can obtain from
dealers in poultry supplies, is very
good, and is given by placing it in a
tight box with the chicks that inhale
It and the worm is killed. A remedy
I have Of my own, though cheap and
simple gives results. Take sulphuric
acid one-half ounce, salicylate soda
twelve drains, copperas, eight ounces
water, one gallon. Mix and allow
the chicks no other drink and you will
get results.
The Ing raft Of the NTississippi Is