VENT GLEET.
Cause.—Constipation is perhaps the most common cause, the hard droppings causing irritation of the vent which is followed by inflammation and suppuration of the membranes lining the rectum and oviduct.
Symptoms.—Frequent straining due to irritation. As the disease progresses a pus-like discharge is noticed. The disease may extend into the rectum or oviduct. The bird appears stupid, the plumage rough, the comb pale, and if not properly treated, dies a lingering death.
Treatment.—Preventive treatment is the best. Feed green food occasionally and warm bran mashes. This prevents constipation. When the bird strains frequently and a discharge is present the following solution should be injected: Sugar of Lead, two drams; Zinc Sulphate, one dram. Mix with two quarts of water. Inject about one ounce with a syringe twice daily until the discharge has ceased.
WHITE DIARRHOEA.
(Fowl Cholera)
Cause.—Germ (Bacilli of Fowl Cholera) gaining entrance to the body through the bowels, lungs or wounds of the skin. Death results from toxic material produced while the germs are multiplying.
Symptoms.—All poultry, cage or wild birds are subject to this disease. The first symptoms are loss of appetite; diarrhoea is present and the discharge is almost white in color and tinged with transparent mucus. The affected bird becomes separated from the flock, seems weak and stupid and appears to be asleep; feathers are rough, the wings droop and the head is drawn in toward the body; crop is generally full, owing to improper digestion. The comb is pale and bloodless, the temperature raised from three to five degrees above normal and the bird loses weight rapidly; it may die with convulsions and cries, or without a sound or struggle.
Treatment.—To grown fowls, give Zinc Sulphocarbolates in one-half grain doses three times a day in their food or drinking water. To chicks, dissolve thirty grains of Zinc Sulphocarbolates in two quarts of water. Saturate feed, as stale bread, etc., and give three times a day. Zinc Sulphocarbolates is an antiseptic especially prepared for septic conditions of the intestines, and very useful in treatment of White Diarrhoea and Fowl Cholera. In severe cases of diarrhoea, give Bismuth Salicylate, one grain, three times daily in feed or make into a pill with dough. When the fowls will eat, feed them clean, nitrogenous food that they can digest easily, as oatmeal mashes. It is also necessary to give them pure water to drink at all times. Disinfection of the premises is another essential factor in the treatment of this disease, and undiluted Crude Carbolic Acid is a disinfectant that we can rely upon at all times.
I cannot recommend vaccination as the serum is very difficult and expensive to produce and different breeds of birds require varying doses, therefore, vaccinating poultry for White Diarrhoea or Fowl Cholera is not attended with any great degree of success.