The treatment consists in removing the cause, and giving the flock a tonic mixture in the feed. The following mixture may be used: powdered gentian and powdered ginger, eight ounces of each, Glauber's salts four ounces, and sulfate of iron two ounces. One ounce of the above mixture may be given in ten pounds of feed.
WHITE DIARRHOEA OF YOUNG CHICKENS.—White diarrhoea is of the greatest economic importance to the poultryman. The loss of chicks from this disease is greater than the combined loss resulting from all other diseases. It is stated by some authors that not less than fifty per cent of the chickens hatched die from white diarrhoea.
Such a heavy death-rate as is attributed to this disease can not result from improper methods of handling and insanitary conditions. Before it was proven that white diarrhoea was caused by specific germs, a great deal of emphasis was placed on such causes as debilitated breeding stock, improper incubation, poorly ventilated, overcrowded brooders, too high or too low temperatures and filth. Such conditions are important predisposing factors, and may, in isolated cases, result in serious intestinal disorders.
The microorganisms causing this disease belong to both the plant and animal kingdoms. Infection usually occurs within a day or two following hatching. Chicks two or three weeks of age seldom develop the acute form of the disease. Incubator chicks are the most susceptible to the disorder.
The following symptoms occur: The chicks present a droopy, sleepy appearance; the eyes are closed, and the chicks huddle together and peep much of the time; the whitish intestinal discharge is noticed adhering to the fluff near the margins of the vent, and the young bird is very weak; death may occur within the first few days. After the first two weeks the disease becomes less acute. In the highly acute form the chicks die without showing the usual train of symptoms.
It is very easy to differentiate between the infectious and the non-infectious diarrhoea. In the latter, the percentage of chicks affected is small and the disease responds to treatment more readily than does the infectious form. The death-rate in the latter form is about eighty per cent.
The treatment of diarrhoea in chicks from any cause is preventive. This consists in removing the cause. No person can successfully handle poultry if he does not give the necessary attention to sanitation. Poultry houses, runs, watering fountains and feeding places must be constantly cleaned and disinfected. The degree of attention necessary depends on the surroundings, the crowded condition of the poultry houses and runs, and the presence of disease in the flock. If disease is present, we can not clean and disinfect the quarters too often. The attendant can not overlook details in handling the incubator or brooder and feeding the chicks and be uniformly successful.
If the disease is known to be present in the flock, the incubators and brooders should be thoroughly disinfected by fumigating them with formaldehyde gas. If dirty, they should first be washed with a water solution of a good disinfectant. For a period of from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after hatching, the chicks should receive no feed. Dr. Kaupp recommends as an intestinal antiseptic, sulfocarbolate thirty grains, bichloride of mercury six grains, and citric acid three grains, dissolved in one gallon of water. This solution should be kept in front of the chicks all the time. A water solution of powdered copper sulfate (about one-half teaspoonful dissolved in one gallon of water) may be used.
QUESTIONS
1. Name the organs that form the digestive apparatus.