Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04

| There are many causes for gapes. such
| as pieces of cracked corn or other par
! ticles of food being sucked down the
| tracheal opening in the throat during
| the process of swallowing. Examine
the throat of bird and you will see a
a long slit open and shut at the uppe
end of the larynx, or box at the uppe
/ end of the windpipe. There is no cover
ing to this air opening, as in mammals
hence 1t is not SO well protected when
/ the food passes over it to the gullet, o.
esophagus. Consequently If the bird
| chokes or gasps a small particle of foo
may finds its way into the upper part o.
the windpipe and thus obstruct the free
| passage of air.
| There is a worm, the male of which
is round, white in color and about one
| fourth of an inch long, and the female
| is about one and one-fourth inches long.
which finds it's way into the windpipe
and causes true gapes These two worm
are usually attached, making a Y
shaped looking worm, but which, as just
stated. is really two distinct individual
Many of these worms may invade sin
gle trachea and cause serious trouble,
| When filled with mature eggs the fe-
male worm is coughed out of the trachea,
or the chick dies and the worms then de-
cay, and finally the eggs or minute worms
are freed upon the ground. These are
/; devoured by earthworms, which are in
| turn eaten by the young chicken. and the
| bird is infected. Only young birds are
seriously affected by gapeworms
EarthwormS taken into the stomach of
the chick are digested. and the minute
worms (Syngamus trachealis) are lib
Grated. 1t must be remembered that al
dead tissue is digested by the stomach
! fluids, but the live worms are so consti-
! tuted that these secretionS have no effect
/ upon them. The liberated worms nov
| bore their way through the wall of the
stomach, and finally become located ir
the trachea. They attach themselves in
| clusters TO the wall of the trachea Their
heads are provided with suction discs. b
which they hold on. The head parts are
| equipped with microscopic membrane
teeth that wound the surface to whic
| they are attached and suck the blood As
! the worms grow the mass becomes large
| At first perhaps they cause no inconven-
! fence. later they induce grave symptom
and death AS each worm grows the ali
passage gradually becomes obstructed and
the bird finds breathing more and NOR
| difficult Threatened with suffocation
| the bird extends its head into the air arr
/ sasps. The chick then stands around
| .'d"ooned. feathers ruffied. sleepy, list
: less; finally comb, wattles and face tu~'
| '''"ne and the chick dies.
There are two FINDS of worms common
| " found in the intestines, round worms
and ribbon shaped worms, or tapeworne
Some people think that tapeworm cor.
sumes food but this is not so. If We
! examine a tapeworm under a microscope
| we find that 1t has no intestinal tract o
mouth at all. Thew attach themselves to
i the lining of the first portion of the in
| testines and float back in the intestinal
b, tract among the dgested food, where
! they absorb digested nutrients. This il
| me reason why fowls infested with these
| worms are poor and emaciated. This alb.
| Eorption is ACCOMPLISHED by the wormf
| N much the same manner as the absorb
Itfon by the inteStines.
! The ta~eworm attaches itself to the
| lining of tie i~testines by mea-s of an
an"aratus consisting of -four suckers
Ard a cl"ster of hoo'-s arranged In
! double circle between the sucke~'
/ with the cid of lens we find that
| hack of the head of tie worm there is
short s7,ooth neck which is fsIlo--ed
J ~ segments. The seements farthes.
| rom the head are the oldest. ard eac
| IS a co>eplete individual. 1t absor s.
| its ON food de -elops its o n ergs.
and ena'ly separates itse'f from the
balance Of the worm ard passes out to
| the ground. There are thousands of
| eggs in each segment. These are scat
erred on the ground. among food. in
| the drinking water. and other birds
! pick them up and are contaminated.
AS fast as one segment drops from the