Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1915 — Common Troubles [ARTICLE]

Common Troubles

The Maine Experiment Station has Issued a bulletin on poultry diseases. We give a few of the remedies prescribed for diseases which are oftenest called on to treat. Medical treatment of turkeys affected with blackhead is of little avail, at least in the present state of our knowledge. Cole and Handley (Rhode Island Expt. Sta. Bui. 141) recommend the following: (1) Isolate the sick bird from the flock and place it in a dry, well lighted location free from cold and draughts. (2) Feed sparingly on soft, light, easily assimilable food, with little grain, especially corn. . The chief preventive measures are to { keep the birds on fresh ground; to isolate any birds showing the least Hlgn of disease, to destroy all dead birds and to protect the turkeys from contamination carried either by new stock or by other poultry or by wild birds, as sparrows, crows, etc. Dr. Morse (B. A. I. Clrc. 128) recommends for turkeys under three months old one-half grain copperas in the morning * and a two and one-half grain pill of salicylate of soda in the evening. Give Epson salts every three or four days and keep the grounds and floors well sprinkled with lime. Through the kindness of Dr. Philip B. Hadley the writers have had the opportunity to read the manuscript of Bulletin 144 of thk Rhode Island Experiment Station dealing with fowl cholera. On the basis of his expert-> mental work Dr. Hadley recommends subcutaneous injections of 5 per cent carbolic acid as a treatment for individual birds. In the summary of this bulletin Dr. Hadley says: “At the Rhode Island station attempts have been made to prevent the development in fowls of cholera artificially produced by inoculation fowl cholera organism. The protective inoculations have involved subcutaneous inoculations with a five per cent solution of carbolic acid in amounts of j from two to four c. c. daily." This is a new treatment and may be valuable with pure-bred fowls. The old rule that prevention is better than cure—sanitation beats medication—is the best for commercial poultrymen. This is not properly a disease but a symptom which accompanies several different diseases. Chickens are said to have limbernecks when partial pr entire nervous control of the neck muscles is lost. The neck may hang limp so that the head falls on the ground between the feet. Sometimes the bird is able to raise the head from the ground by making a great effort. A bird is sometimes said to have limberneck when the dorsal or lateral neck muscles are tense, the head drawn convulsively backward, but this is more often called “wry-neck." Both limberneck and wry-neck are '' due to nervous disorders which arise from different causes. “Wry-neck" is usually associated with direct brain or/ nerve irritation and occurs in epilep-k tic spasms, but also sometimes occurs in rheumatism. Limberneck is usually «te«ctatod with colic, acute indigesteteatinal parasites, or ptomaine No treatment for limberPTT y smA ean be advised. Effort ehaald be made to ascertain and sure the diseased condition which is responsible for this symptom.