Fig. 26.—HEALTHY CHICKENS
Normal ten-day White Leghorn chickens. (After Rettger & Stoneburn.)

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.

WORMS
Intestinal parasites that occasionally become serious

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.

Fig. 27.—Worms in Intestinal Tract of Fowl
(After Bradshaw. From Pearl, Surface & Curtis.)

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.

Fig. 28.—THE PARTS OF A FOWL