DIAGNOSING DISEASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 33

DIAGNOSING DISEASE.

EXAMINING AFTER DEATH. HOW TO PLACE BIRD. Every poultry-keeper ought to be able at least to make ®a preliminary post-mortem for himself, so that in the event of any epidemic among his birds he may be able to ascertain as quickly as possible the cause of the trouble. The great majority of poultry (says a writer in an exchange), die from some specific disease affecting either the lunga or the liver, and if a number of fowls begin to die off in the poultry yard,, and the owner is a man of average intelligence and deftfingered, he can probably discover for himself something sufficient'to enable him to take preliminary stops, even if afterwards he supports his own idea by sending along a specimen to an expert for his'more complete investigation and opinion. The writer continues:— “I propose in this short article merely to indicate how a rough preliminary postmortem examination can be made. The appliances necessary are very simple. A stout board with a few nails in order that the subject may be placed in a proper position, a sponge, a bowl of water, a pair of sharp .surgical scissors, a small razor or sharp knife, and another pair of stout scissors, capable of cutting through a bit of breast bone. Armed with these implements, the poultry-keeper can, at all events in an amateurish way, conduct a post-mortem examination that may prove of very great service to him. “The bird must be placed breast upwards on the board, and a nail be driven through ■ the butts of its wings and the centre of its feet, so as to stretch its body out and present the breast for dissection. The feathers should be pluoked from off the breast, and then the crop, and then the skin can be cut away, beginning at the vent and ending at the crop, straight along the middle of the breast. “Having done this, cut away the breast bone bodily, making a circuit of it on either side, and dislocate it at the point of the breast, so as to leave the whole of the . internal organs exposed to view. Look at the contents of the crop, and see whether there is anything there to indicate trouble. _ There may bo a stoppage, or there may b» f some poisonous berries, or the food may be sour and unwholesome (which would mean acute indigestion). “Then go on to look at the state of the liver, which, if perfectly healthy, should be of a dark chocolate colour, and quite firm to the touch. If the liver is pale and soft, and what is called, ‘pasty,’ it* in- " dicates liver disease. And here I may say that in the great majority of cases poultry that have started to die off in any great numbers will be found to have their livers more or less affected.

“Next, the lungs should be examined. They lie up in the shoulders, and the heart rests between them; a. little bit of one of the lungs'should be out out and dropped in water, and if it is bright, pint, and spongy, and floats in the water, that will indicate a healthy state; but if it is full of little white cheesy lumps (tubercle) it will probably sink. This indicates tuberculosis. After one or two post-mortems have been made in . the way I have described, the amateur will, be able to go on and examine the intestines and egg organs. “Of course, in making a post-mortem examination a good deal of trouble may be saved by considering what were the symptoms previous to death. If the bird showed the ordinary symptoms, for example, of liver disease—that will justify going straight to the liver to look at that. Symptoms of liver disease are darkening of the _ comb, loss of condition and diarrhoea, and something approaching to half stupor. “Of course, there will be a vast number of explanations of the death of 'any particular bird that cannot possibly be arrived at in this amateurish way. I have only endeavoured here to point out the most elementary manner in which a post-mortem can be conducted.”