POISONING
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.
PYÆMIA
Not contagious, and not common
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.