Profitable poultry

by W. B. Tegetmeier

To improve the hardihood of Dorkings some very experienced persons have recommended crossing a Malay cock with Dorking hens; in this case care must be taken to kill all the cross-bred chicken, as, if bred from again, a set of variable, worthless mongrels are the result. I have myself, however, never seen any cross-bred fowls equal for the table to the pure Dorking.

For home consumption, yielding numerous eggs, and large size chicken, Cochins are very valuable; their hardihood, docility, and matronly habits, enable a greater number to be reared from the same number of hens, than can be obtained from any other variety; but as poultry for the market they are of little value.

In conclusion, I would strongly recommend persons who are at present breeding from common fowls, not to attempt to improve them by the introduction of one or two good male birds into the yard, but to obtain a good stock either by the purchase of birds or eggs, and to breed from them alone, avoiding of course all intermarriage between blood relations.

DISEASES.

The diseases of poultry may perhaps be more conveniently arranged under the heads of the different parts that are affected than in any more strictly scientific order. We may therefore describe them as affecting the Skin, Lungs and Air Passages, Digestive System, Egg Organs, Brain, and the Organs of Motion.

Skin Diseases.—When fowls are kept on unnatural food, and in closely confined, dirty situations, they are very liable to lose the feathers of the head and neck from a chronic disease of the skin. This complaint may be constantly seen in the fowls in the mews and stableyards in London, where it arises from the dirty, dark roosting places, and absence of fresh vegetable and insect food. Of course a radical cure is out of the question, unless the unnatural circumstances producing the disease are removed; if this is done, and a five-grain Plummer’s pill given on two or three occasions, at intervals of three days, the disease is speedily removed, but the feathers will not be replaced until the next moulting season.

In Cochins which have been highly fed, particularly if peas and greaves have formed part of their food, a somewhat similar disease is often seen; and, as it commences with whiteness of the comb, it is frequently termed “white comb.” The treatment in severe cases is similar to that previously described; but mild attacks are said to yield to the application of turmeric mixed with cocoa-nut oil in the proportion of one part of the former to eight of the latter.

Moulting, being a natural action, cannot be regarded as a disease, but it frequently is much delayed, and the birds evidently suffer in such cases; it is therefore desirable, when fowls are not moulting favourably, to treat them as invalids, giving them food which is more nourishing than usual, such as a little chopped meat, either raw or cooked, keeping them in a warm and sheltered habitation, &c.

Lice often infest fowls to an extreme degree, and cause a great amount of irritation; this inconvenience may be prevented by giving them dry ashes to scuffle in, and keeping the houses clean and well lime-washed. When they are very abundant, flour of brimstone dusted under the feathers will be found a certain remedy; it is conveniently used if tied up in a piece of coarse muslin, or powdered from a flour dredger, or if more convenient, a pound or two may be added to the dust bath.

Diseases of the Lungs and Air Passages.—Roup is the most serious disease occurring in the poultry yard, not only on account of its affecting large numbers at one time, but also from the fact that it is not easily subdued by medical treatment; great confusion and difference of opinion have occurred from several distinct diseases having been confounded under this name. True roup commences with a sticky discharge from the nostrils, at first clear, but afterwards thick and of a very peculiar and offensive smell, the nostrils become partially or entirely closed, and there is consequently some slight difficulty of breathing, and a distention of the loose skin of the under jaw may be noticed; froth frequently appears at the inner corner of the eye, the lids swell, and in severe cases the sides of the face swell greatly, the fowl becoming blind; from the discharge being wiped on the feathers of the side and under the wing, they become matted together; and in addition to these symptoms there is extreme thirst. Roup is essentially a disease of the membrane lining the nose, similar in this respect to glanders in horses; I believe it to be highly contagious, and unless a roupy fowl is very valuable would recommend its being at once killed. I think the disease is often communicated by the discharge from the nostrils running into the water out of which the fowls drink. As to treatment, a roupy fowl should at once be removed from the yard, placed in a warm dry room, the nostrils and eyes sponged with warm water, and a solution of ten grains of blue vitriol to an ounce of water dropped into the nostrils, either from the front or through the slit in the roof of the mouth, warm stimulating food, as meal or bread and ale, and a little pepper should be given. Remedies given internally seem to have but very little effect on the disease, but I think I have seen more benefit from half a grain of blue vitriol given once a day in meal than from any other medicine.