Take that bird away immediately; disinfect her head and under the wings with salve; massage the crop gently to see if it is full of undigested food. If it is, give a scant half teaspoonful of epsom salts in a little water. In about an hour’s time give a tablespoonful of olive oil and follow with a quarter of a teaspoonful salicylate of soda in two tablespoonfuls of warm water. After the crop is emptied put her in a box, say a good sized packing case, with plenty of straw, and cover with burlap. Give a teaspoonful of warm whisky and a tablespoonful of milk mixed together. This will keep up the vitality of the bird. A long necked milk testing bottle comes in very handy in a flock of any kind of fowl, for you can place the neck down below the windpipe and inject the liquids into the crop without any choking on the part of the fowl. Then watch and see if the droppings are yellow. If they are give one of the Mahaney Blackhead pills every hour until the droppings become normal. You can place the pill on the tongue of the turkey and make her swallow it. If there is nothing in the crop except a brash of sour wind, give the pills and hot milk and whiskey at once.
Be sure to keep the bird warm for a few days, and then disinfect before she goes out with the rest of the flock. Look over the droppings board every morning and see if there are any yellow droppings. Use plenty of lime. Twice a week, in the morning, give sulphate of iron, powdered, (one level teaspoonful in a gallon of water in an earthen dish). The other days, at night, give salicylate of soda in the same amount in the drinking water. This will keep your flock in good condition.
BLACKHEAD IN YOUNG TURKEYS
The first symptom of blackhead in the young turkeys has the appearance of a common cold in the head. The turkey will sniff and water will sometimes come from the nose. The loss of appetite is apparent. The wings droop and when you let the turkeys out of the coops, the one affected will drag itself along behind the rest of the flock. I take that bird away from the rest. I disinfect the head and under the wings with my salve. Rub the salve lightly on the head. Hold the turkey gently across the back, press the wings down to the side. If you are not very gentle with them, and very careful, you are liable to break the wings.
The moment you see one become lifeless, with dragging steps and loss of appetite, disinfect the whole flock with the salve twice a week. Dissolve in an earthen dish four or five of the Margaret Mahaney Turkey Pills in a little warm water; then mix the solution in a quart of drinking water and give to the young turkeys to drink. This, repeated every day, with the straw well aired and kept clean, and the coop dry and water-proof, will make them show a marked improvement in three days. I never lose a young turkey. They thrive just as well as little chickens, and I think they are just as hardy.
WOMEN MAKE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TURKEY RAISERS
As vermin is one of the enemies of young turkeys, use the salve twice a week always, and use it in the morning. Do not shut them up after putting on my salve because it is very strong. Let it evaporate before the little chickens go to bed at night, and you will have no vermin. There is an old saying about a louse in the head of a turkey which enters the brain and causes blackhead. I know very well that that does not cause blackhead, as this disease comes from a common cold, which descends to the bowels and liver and kills the turkey after a few days’ suffering if not relieved.