THE LATEST KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GAPES.
The gape worm may be termed the bete noir of the poultry-keeper—his greatest enemy—whether he be farmer or fancier. It is true there are some who declare that it is unknown in their poultry-yards—that they have never been troubled with it at all. These are apt to lay it down, as I saw a correspondent did in a recent number of the Country Gentleman, that the cause is want of cleanliness or neglect in some way. But I can vouch that that is not so. I have been in yards where everything was first-rate, where the cleanliness was almost painfully complete, where no fault in the way of neglect could be found, and yet the gapes were there; and on the other hand, I have known places where every condition seemed favorable to the development of such a disease, and there it was absent—this not in isolated cases, but in many. No, we must look elsewhere for the cause.
Observations lead me to the belief that gapes are more than usually troublesome during a wet spring or summer following a mild winter. This would tend to show that the egg from which the worm (that is in itself the disease) emerges is communicated from the ground, from the food eaten, or the water drunk, in the first instance, but it is more than possible that the insects themselves may pass from one fowl to another. All this we can accept as a settled fact, and also any description of the way in which the parasitic worms attach themselves to the throats of the birds, and cause the peculiar gaping of the mouth which gives the name to the disease.
Many remedies have been suggested, and my object now is to communicate some of the later ones—thus to give a variety of methods, so that in case of the failure of one, another will be at hand ready to be tried. It is a mistake always to pin the faith to one remedy, for the varying conditions found in fowls compel a different treatment. The old plan of dislodging the worms with a feather is well known, and need not be described again. But I may mention that in this country some have found the use of an ointment, first suggested by Mr. Lewis Wright, I believe, most valuable. This is made of mercurial ointment, two parts; pure lard, two parts; flour of sulphur, one part; crude petroleum, one part—and when mixed together is applied to the heads of the chicks as soon as they are dry after hatching. Many have testified that they have never found this to fail as a preventive, and if the success is to be attributed to the ointment, it would seem as if the insects are driven off by its presence, for the application to the heads merely would not kill the eggs.
Some time ago Lord Walsingham offered, through the Entomological Society of London, a prize for the best life history of the gapes disease, and this has been won by the eminent French scientist M. Pierre Mégnin, whose essay has been published by the noble donor. His offer was in the interest of pheasant breeders, but the benefit is not confined to that variety of game alone, for it is equally applicable to all gallinaceous birds troubled with this disease. The pamphlet in question is a very valuable work, and gives very clearly the methods by which the parasite develops. But for our purpose it will be sufficient to narrate what M. Mégnin recommends for the cure of it. These are various, as will be seen, and comprise the experience of other inquirers as well as himself.
He states that Montague obtained great success by a combination of the following methods: Removal from infested runs; a thorough change of food, hemp seed and green vegetables figuring largely in the diet; and for drinking, instead of plain water, an infusion of rue and garlic. And Mégnin himself mentions an instance of the value of garlic. In the years 1877 and 1878, the pheasant preserves of Fontainebleau were ravaged by gapes. The disease was there arrested and totally cured, when a mixture, consisting of yolks of eggs, boiled bullock's heart, stale bread crumbs, and leaves of nettle, well mixed and pounded together with garlic, was given, in the proportion of one clove to ten young pheasants. The birds were found to be very fond of this mixture, but great care was taken to see that the drinking vessels were properly cleaned out and refilled with clean, pure water twice a day. This treatment has met with the same success in other places, and if any of your readers are troubled with gapes and will try it, I shall be pleased to see the results narrated in the columns of the Country Gentleman. Garlic in this case is undoubtedly the active ingredient, and as it is volatile, when taken into the stomach the breath is charged with it, and in this way (for garlic is a powerful vermifuge) the worms are destroyed.
Another remedy recommended by M. Mégnin was the strong smelling vermifuge assafoetida, known sometimes by the suggestive name of "devil's dung." It has one of the most disgusting oders possible, and is not very pleasant to be near. The assafoetida was mixed with an equal part of powdered yellow gentian, and this was given to the extent of about 8 grains a day in the food. As an assistance to the treatment, with the object of killing any embryos in the drinking water, fifteen grains of salicylate of soda was mixed with a pint and three-quarters of water. So successful was this, that on M. De Rothschild's preserves at Rambouillet, where a few days before gapes were so virulent that 1,200 pheasants were found dead every morning, it succeeded in stopping the epidemic in a few days. But to complete the matter, M. Mégnin adds that it is always advisable to disinfect the soil of preserves. For this purpose, the best means of destroying any eggs or embryos it may contain is to water the ground with a solution of sulphuric acid, in the proportion of a pennyweight to three pints of water, and also birds that die of the disease should be deeply buried in lime.
Fumigation with carbolic acid is an undoubted cure, but then it is a dangerous one, and unless very great care is taken in killing the worms, the bird is killed also. Thus many find this a risky method, and prefer some other. Lime is found to be a valuable remedy. In some districts of England, where lime-kilns abound, it is a common thing to take children troubled with whooping-cough there. Standing in the smoke arising from the kilns, they are compelled to breathe it. This dislodges the phlegm in the throat, and they are enabled to get rid of it. Except near lime-kilns, this cannot be done to chickens, but fine slaked lime can be used, either alone or mixed with powdered sulphur, two parts of the former to one of the latter. The air is charged with this fine powder, and the birds, breathing it, cough, and thus get rid of the worms, which are stupefied by the lime, and do not retain so firm a hold on the throat. An apparatus has recently been introduced to spread this lime powder. It is in the form of an air-fan, with a pointed nozzle, which is put just within the coop at night, when the birds are all within. The powder is already in a compartment made for it, and by the turning of a handle, it is driven through the nozzle, and the air within the coop charged with it. There is no waste of powder, nor any fear that it will not be properly distributed. Experienced pheasant and poultry breeders state that by the use of this once a week, gapes are effectually prevented. In this case, also, I shall be glad to learn the result if tried.
STEPHEN BEALE.
H——, Eng., Aug. 1.
—Country Gentleman.