1. The heart sac full of serous liquid, in the case of pericarditis, or dropsy of the heart sac.
2. A reddening of the membrane lining the heart, in the case of inflammation (endocarditis).
3. An enlarged heart, in the case of enlargement of the heart.
4. Hemorrhage, in the case of rupture of the heart and of the blood vessels.
Symptoms. The bird mopes and shows signs of a capricious appetite. Either diarrhea or, less commonly, constipation, may be a symptom.
Cause. Disorders of the digestive tract, due to error in dieting—for example, overfeeding, or too little green food and not enough exercise.
Treatment. Alter the feeding, see that the water is clean, and give a dose of Epsom salts. (See page 9.)
Symptoms. A yellow comb may indicate jaundice, but there are no definite external symptoms. Post-mortem examination shows distention of the gall bladder, due to an excessive secretion of bile.
Cause. Said to be due to continued congestion of the liver, arising possibly from too much heat-giving food.
Treatment. If the disease is suspected, give one grain of calomel as a purgative and feed on more green food.
Gout (see page 63) is the commonest disease of the kidneys. In addition, there are some disorders of the kidneys (e. g., enlargement) that may be noticed on post-mortem examination. Little is known about these diseases; there are no symptoms that can be recognized before death, and no treatment can be recommended.
Symptoms. Fowls walk in an unsteady manner, without showing any specific cause for lameness. Young birds are more likely to be affected in this manner, particularly those of the heavier breeds.
Cause. Too rapid growth, the bird outgrowing the strength of its legs.
Treatment. Reduce the quantity of fat-producing foods. Care in the selection of breeding stock is important.
Symptoms. Unthrifty look of fowl and signs of irritation; desertion of nest by setting hens; and, of course, the detection of lice on the fowl: this may be done by quickly turning over the feathers on the body and looking for the lice.
Cause. Introduction of an infested fowl; neglect to dust fowls regularly to keep down lice, and to clean out fowl houses and change the straw of nest boxes. At the season that lice are likely to be most prevalent the poultryman should take precautionary measures.
Description of lice. Lice are small insects ranging in size from 1∕25 to 1∕8 of an inch. They breed rapidly, laying their eggs on the feathers. They are not blood-sucking insects, but cause much irritation to the birds they infest.
Several species are found on fowls. Fig. 14 shows three of the common species.
Treatment. Dust fowls with fresh insect powder (pyrethrum). Smear sulphur ointment on head and under wings, especially in the case of chickens. Infested fowls may be dipped in 2% creolin. Dust setting hens with a lice powder before putting them on their nests. Infested straw should be burnt, and boxes, nests, fixtures, etc., should be thoroughly sprayed with 2% creolin.
Symptoms. The muscles of the fowl’s neck become so relaxed that they cannot support the head.
Cause. Limber-neck, due to partial or entire paralysis of the muscles of the neck, is believed to be associated with acute indigestion or worms.
Treatment. A strong purgative may be the means of effecting a cure by cleaning out any intestinal poisons and thus correcting the cause. If the treatment recommended does not effect a cure in a few days, kill the bird.
The liver is affected by several diseases, and the poultryman, who finds a spotted liver on post-mortem examination, will be much aided in determining the cause, if he takes into consideration the symptoms noticed before the fowl died, as well as the changes in the other internal organs. The importance of the post-mortem examination is in distinguishing whether the death of the fowl is due to a contagious disease.
The causes of diseased livers may be conveniently divided into two classes:
1. Diseased livers due to indigestion, e. g., enlargement.
2. Diseased livers due to a specific disease, e. g., tuberculosis.
Diseases Due to Indigestion
In this class may be included degeneration, inflammation, congestion, enlargement, and atrophy of the liver. There are more or less distinct differences in these diseases, but the only possible methods of treatment known at present are very much the same.
Symptoms. There are no definite external symptoms. The poultryman’s suspicions should, however, be aroused if fowls apparently in good health die suddenly. A post-mortem examination will reveal a liver of abnormal size, or somewhat shrunken, and of unhealthy texture.
Cause. The cause is generally something wrong in the feeding. Fowls may be eating too large a proportion of heat-producing foods and not enough green food. If an enlarged liver is associated with an excessive layer of fat covering the internal organs, it points to too large quantities of carbohydrates.
Treatment. Correct errors in feeding. Give more green food and let the fowls scratch for some of their grain. If errors in feeding and general management are not obvious, make experimental changes.
Diseased Livers Due to Specific Diseases
Tuberculosis, coccidiosis, gout and other specific diseases are responsible for spotted or diseased livers. (Fig. 24.) The section on diagnosis by post-mortem examination gives further information on these subjects and shows how the principal diseases may be distinguished.
The term cancer is sometimes applied to cases in which there are tumors on the liver.
Symptoms. A flesh wound that instead of healing develops into a sore with a slight running. On examination, maggots will be found.
Cause. Several species of flies are always ready to lay their eggs in any available wound or sore; therefore wounds must be watched in the case of poultry, as with all other animals of the farmyard. The eggs laid by these flies hatch and develop into small footless grubs commonly known as maggots.
Treatment. Wash the wound with 1 to 2% creolin; remove as many of the maggots as possible with a pair of tweezers or a feather. If the maggots are deep-seated, stuff the wound with a cotton wad saturated with strong creolin or 10% carbolic acid. Examine next day and remove dead maggots. Treat again in a similar manner if the maggots are not all killed. Fish oil, or iodoform made into a paste with vaseline, will prevent the flies depositing their eggs, if smeared on the surface of the wound.
Symptoms. There are no definite external symptoms. If the bird is very badly affected, there may be evidences of suffocation. This may end fatally. A post-mortem examination will show the mites in the air passages and bronchi as small yellowish and whitish particles, which on careful observation may be seen to move.
Cause. A small mite (Sarcoptes lævis) which infests the air sacs and bronchi. These mites, when present in large numbers, obstruct the air passages and cause suffocation. A secretion from the mucous membrane affected, results from the presence of the mites and increases the obstruction of the air passages.
Treatment. The fumigation method tried for gapes has been recommended, but there is little reason to expect success.
Symptoms. Bare patches on the bird’s body due to the loss of feathers. The rump and the breast are most frequently attacked.
Cause. A small mite (Sarcoptes lævis) found on the bird’s body near the base of the fallen feathers.
Treatment. Isolate affected birds; rub bare patches and neighboring portion of body with sulphur ointment (see page 9) or dip body of fowl in a solution of about 2% creolin.
Symptoms. Unthriftiness of birds.
Cause. A small whitish mite, which appears red when filled with blood. These mites suck the bird’s blood at night and hide during the day in the sockets of the perches and in the crevices of the woodwork.
Treatment. Examine the fowl house at night. Dust hens with an insect powder; thoroughly spray houses and perches with 5% creolin or other disinfectant, and squirt kerosene oil or turpentine into cracks and crevices. A specially constructed mite-proof perch, or one that can be easily removed, should be used.
Molting is not a disease, but may prove trying to poultry not in the best condition to stand the strain of the process. Hens overtaxed with forced laying and cocks running with too large a number of hens are most likely to suffer. Molting occurs in healthy adult birds every twelve months. The process, which is a natural one, should be allowed to take its natural course unless the fowls appear weak and depressed during the period. In such cases specially nourishing and stimulating food should be given. Anyhow, it would be well to pay particular attention to the feeding of birds during the molting season.
Hens suffer from various diseases of the ovary, which may become shriveled and useless or gangrenous. Tumorous growths, sometimes called cancers, are also found. As diseased conditions of this organ can be detected only by post-mortem examination, and as no remedies are known, the subject need not be dealt with more fully.
Abnormal eggs must be regarded as due to functional disorders of the oviduct. One cause of soft eggs is lack of shell-forming material; therefore a liberal supply of powdered oyster shells, or lime in some other form, should always be accessible to laying hens. Other abnormal eggs occur, such as those with double yolks, without any yolk, with blood clots, etc. No treatment can be suggested beyond feeding a varied diet and avoiding too stimulating or over-heating foods.
Prolapse of the oviduct may occur. The protruding portion should be oiled or vaselined and gently pressed back.
Symptoms. Loss of appetite, fever and evidence of discomfort and pain in the stomach, especially if the abdomen is pressed with the hand. Post-mortem examination shows inflamed appearance of membrane of the abdominal cavity.
a. Undeveloped ovules in ovary.
b. Partly developed ovule showing stigma. Here the follicle wall breaks and allows the ovule yolk to leave the ovary preparatory to laying.
c. An empty follicle in which the stigma and the yolk passed out.
d. Opening of oviduct.
e. Portion of oviduct distended, allowing yolk to pass down.
f. Walls of oviduct which secrete albumen forming the white of the egg.
g. Membranous lining added.
h. Portion of oviduct that secretes shell-forming substance.
i. Cloaca.
Cause. Serious inflammation of the wall of the abdominal cavity.
Treatment. Put the bird in a quiet place. Aconite (see page 9), to reduce the temperature, and opium, or one drop of laudanum, to relieve pain, have been recommended, but as a rule it is best to kill the bird.
Symptoms. A hardened scale formed at tip of tongue.
Cause. Generally due to cold or other disorder affecting the breathing of the bird.
Treatment. Do not try to tear off the growth on the tongue by force, but moisten with vaseline or glycerin until it becomes loose. Give soft food.
Symptoms. Extreme depression and great difficulty in breathing. Difficult to distinguish in the living bird from a very bad cold. Post-mortem examination shows the affected lung filled with an exudate. The lung sinks if put in water.
Cause. Following on a cold, the lung becomes congested with blood and a dark, viscous matter. Pneumonia may be considered a further, and generally final, stage of congestion.
Treatment. A cure is seldom effected, but in the case of a valuable bird the following treatment may be tried Keep the bird in a dry, warm place; paint the skin above the lungs with tincture of iodine; give aconite. Feed on soft food and give a stimulant.
Symptoms. As a rule the poisons that fowls eat are mineral. The most pronounced symptom is evidence of pain. In cases of arsenical poison there is diarrhea. A poison containing a copper compound acts partly as an emetic, causing the fowl to make an effort to vomit. In cases of mineral poisons, post-mortem examinations show inflammation of the stomach and the digestive tract.
Sources of poison. Poultry are likely to get poisoned from the following sources:
Fertilizers (e. g., nitrate of soda) used on fields in which fowls scratch for food. Such cases are rare.
Insecticides and fungicides (e. g., Paris green [arsenic], lead arsenate, Bordeaux mixture) applied to plants under which fowls run. If sprays are mixed in correct proportions and used in normal quantities, there is little danger to poultry feeding on the grass below sprayed trees. Great care should, however, be taken in disposing of the sediment and the residue after spraying operations are completed.
Rat poisons (e. g., phosphorus, strychnine, baryta). These poisons are particularly dangerous when mixed with cornmeal or other bait attractive to fowls. The best way to set rat poison is to put it in a piece of piping of such a diameter and length that fowls cannot reach it.
Salt. Food mixed with salt for other domestic animals may be accidentally given to fowls. Chickens are the most likely to be poisoned by excess of salt.
Treatment. If fowls have eaten poisonous substances, the fact is not usually discovered until after death or until it is too late to administer an antidote. Most of the poisons fowls are likely to eat act as irritants of the digestive tract. Milk and white of egg should be given. It is advisable to give a stimulant, such as half a teaspoonful of brandy.
Symptoms. This disease cannot be diagnosed except by post-mortem examination and microscopic identification of pus-forming organisms in the infected areas (whitish spots) of liver, spleen, etc.
Cause. Pus-forming organisms believed to enter the blood through a wound in the skin.
Treatment. As there are no external symptoms, treatment is not possible.
Symptoms. Lameness and stiffness of joints.
Cause. May be due in some cases to too stimulating food and to dampness.
Treatment. Put affected bird in dry quarters and vary food, adding more greens. Rub joints with embrocation, or turpentine and oil.
Symptoms. The bird first has symptoms of an ordinary cold, such as running at the nostrils and sneezing. Definite evidence of roup is the offensive odor detected on opening the bird’s mouth. The exudate is also offensive. The disease may attack the eyes, which then become inflamed and swollen; a tumor, containing offensive, yellowish, cheesy matter, sometimes develops. The course of the disease may extend over several weeks or months and there may be cases of chronic roup. Some cases end fatally in a comparatively short time. The form of the disease, in which yellowish patches develop on the throat, is dealt with under diphtheria or diphtheritic roup.
Cause. Cases of roup occur when birds are subjected to draft and damp, but the cause must be infection with disease germs. It is believed that the almost constant presence of the germs is due to lack of regular disinfection and to birds in the flock believed to have recovered from a previous attack of the disease, but that, in reality, are suffering from chronic roup, and are able, whenever suitable conditions arise for an outbreak of this disease, to infect the rest of the flock through the drinking water and the soil.
Treatment. The seriousness of this disease makes it imperative for the poultry rearer to isolate immediately any birds showing any suspicious symptoms. If treatment of the infected bird is taken in hand early, and carried out faithfully, a cure can be effected, but it is often wiser to kill and burn infected stock. In treating birds, the mouth and nostrils should be washed out with 5% carbolic acid, or with 50% hydrogen peroxide, or with 2% permanganate of potash. It is important to clean out the passage of the nostrils, and this may be done by:
1. Pressing against the roof of the bird’s mouth from inside and squeezing the nostrils from above downwards.
2. Syringing out the nostrils.
3. Dipping the fowl’s head for a few seconds in a solution of the disinfectant. Great care should be exercised in this method of treatment, which is only recommended when permanganate of potash is used.
It is well to keep birds isolated for some time after apparent recovery. When the eye is affected (see Fig. 20), the tumor should be carefully lanced and the cheesy matter removed, after which the cavity should be rinsed out with one of the disinfectants recommended above; such treatment may have to be repeated time after time.
As an after effect of a cold or of roup, conjunctivitis or sore eyes may develop. A discharge comes from the eyes and the eyelids become stuck together. Bathe the eyes with hydrogen peroxide mixed with an equal quantity of water.
If this condition follows an attack of roup, there is danger that the fowl has not entirely recovered, and may be a source of infection to the rest of the flock.
Symptoms. A rough and scaly growth on the legs of the bird.
Cause. A small mite (Fig. 22), known as Sarcoptes mutans, burrows in the skin and gives rise to the unsightly growth (Fig. 21) that gives this disease its name.
Treatment. Soften the scaly growth by washing and soaking the legs with warm water and soap. Scrub the affected portion of the legs with a brush and then treat as follows: Dip the legs in kerosene oil, holding them there for not longer than a few seconds. If the kerosene oil is mixed with sweet oil, or if the legs are wet first with water, there will be no risk of the kerosene proving harsh, as sometimes happens. Sulphur ointment (see page 9) may be used instead of the kerosene oil treatment.
Symptoms. Distended crop, soft to the feel.
Cause. Over-eating; or food turning sour in the crop.
Treatment. Hold bird downwards and squeeze contents of crop through mouth, taking care not to suffocate the patient. Repeat treatment if necessary. Put on low diet for some time, feeding slowly and sparingly.
Symptoms. The fowl has fever, appears depressed, and stands in a cramped position.
Cause. The fowl tick (Argas minatus), which hides during the day in cracks and crevices, sucks the fowl’s blood at night and introduces a fever-producing parasite.
Remedies. Examine sick birds during the day, and visit the roosts at night, for proof of the presence of ticks; carefully search under perches, in nests, and in corners of woodwork, etc. Spray woodwork with 5% creolin; squirt kerosene oil, or turpentine, into cracks and crevices.
Symptoms. This disease may be present in a poultry yard for some time without being detected. Suspicion should be aroused if birds gradually lose weight and die. If a bird that has gradually been getting thinner, goes lame, or loses the use of a wing, without apparent injury, the evidence that tuberculosis is present is strong, but positive proof of its presence can be obtained only by post-mortem and microscopic examination. This disease generally attacks adult birds.
Cause. The specific organism causing this disease, known as the Bacillus tuberculosis (Fig. 5), infects the liver (Fig. 24), the spleen (Fig. 24), and other organs, least frequently the lungs. The disease may be introduced into a flock by the purchase of an infected bird, and may be spread by uninfected birds picking up the excrement of diseased birds with their food.
Treatment. There is no known cure. The insidious manner in which this disease advances through a poultry yard makes it a very serious malady. Birds suffering from it should be killed and burnt. Thorough disinfection of coops, etc., should be made. Strict attention to sanitation will help in preventing and controlling this disease. If many birds in a flock are believed to have tuberculosis, it would be well to destroy the whole flock and start again, preferably on fresh ground.
Symptoms. Chickens are generally attacked when 10 to 15 days old. They appear listless, their feathers become rough, and they stand about with drooping wings. A white diarrhea is soon noticed. Chicken after chicken shows similar symptoms and dies, resulting in much loss and discouragement to the poultry rearer.
Cause. Various causes, such as improper or stale food, may upset the chicken’s digestive organs and give rise to a whitish diarrhea, but the term “white diarrhea” is best restricted to a contagious form of diarrhea due to minute parasites in the intestinal tracts of chickens. A coccidium and a bacillus have been proved by different investigators to cause very similar forms of white diarrhea. A distinct form of white diarrhea, known as brooder pneumonia, is described on page 35.
Treatment. This disease is a very difficult one to control. Incubators and brooders should be thoroughly disinfected. Special care should be taken in the feeding during the first few weeks. Chickens should not be overfed. The feeding of dry bran is recommended, as it tends to keep the bowels in a healthy, active condition. In the form of white diarrhea due to a bacillus, suspicion rests on the hen and the egg as sources of infection. When the disease becomes serious, and general sanitation and proper care of chickens do not control it, the advisability of obtaining the eggs for hatching from a poultry farm free of white diarrhea should be considered.
Symptoms. General debility; worms or segments of worms; seen in the droppings. If there is doubt as to whether a flock is suffering from worms, give a suspected bird a strong purgative and keep it up so that the feces may be examined for worms. If doubt still exists, the suspected bird should be killed and a post-mortem examination made. Cut the intestines open lengthways (see Fig. 34) with a small pair of scissors and wash them out with water so as to detect the smaller worms, and the tapeworms attached to the lining of the intestines.
Cause. Two classes of worms are commonly parasitic on fowls—round worms (see Fig. 27) and tapeworms. There are generally a few specimens of worms in the intestines of fowls; but only when the numbers are large do worms affect the health of the fowl.
Treatment. Every bird suspected of having worms may be tested with a purgative as suggested above. Or, if it is established that several birds in a flock are suffering from worms, all in poor condition, without any cause being apparent, should be dosed with santonin—three to five grains in the morning before any food has been picked up. After about two hours give a purgative of two teaspoonfuls of castor oil and soon after let the fowl have its morning food. As important as dosing the fowls, is disinfecting the feed troughs, the water vessels, and the soil of the runs in order to prevent re-infection.
Nodular tæniasis. Small nodules on the intestines, resembling the nodules in tuberculosis, are sometimes caused by tapeworms. The name “nodular tæniasis” has been given to this disease.