THE POULTRY INDUSTRY .

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13930, 11 February 1914, Page 3

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY .

i -* A careful poultry-Keeper-will go intothe fowl Jiouse npw and then in 'the evening to see if-thfc.birds; are all right, as their condition' can be observed on the perch; V^hoiild.the bird be breathing hard a' teaspoonful .of warmed glycerine, followed by one of. salad oil, should be given at once, as this treatment will ease them in a short time." To administer medicine' the fowl should b© held under the left arm, in a position so that the feet cannot have any bearing, otherwise fluids cannot be ; given easily; or the bird held between the operator's legs, with the fowl's body resting on its thighs, the legs hanging down so that they cannot catch against anything. Then give two roup pills, and on an average fifteen birds out of every twenty will be well in from three to seven days if treated when [ the first symptoms appear. Should the rattling in the throat be very severe, and the breathing hard, the lungs should be painted with tincture, of iodine. There is a place free from feathers just under each wing, and this spot shpuld be painted over. The exact place to apply the iodine can 'be easily detected if the bird is watched as it breathes^ as the motion of the lungs can be seen when the wings are > held up. The iodirfe will soon give the j bird relief and ease the breathing very j much. • j Stewed linseed is very strengthening to a sick bird. To stew the linseed place some in a saucepan, more than covering it with cold water1, and put over a. slow fire, so that it does not boil, but just simmer for half an hour. The linseed should be given as warm as the fowl can take it. A hen may take from three to six spoonfuls; a cock seven to ten, and if more is given it will not hurt them.

Every poultry keeper should have a small medicine cupboard—an ordinary wooden box with a door to it will answer if it is just fastened to the wall within easy reach. In this cupboard a' few simple remedies should be kept, as is is generally the first fe\y doses which do the birds most good, and when these doses are given as soon as the fowls are ailing, further treatment is rarely required.

In the medicine cupboard there should be a tin of roup powder, a tin containing Epsom salts, another of linseed, a 'mall jar of vaseline, and several bottles containing (1) castor oil, (2) glycerine, (3) salad oil, (4) tincture of iodine, (5) tincture of arnica, (6) camphorated oil, and (7) a solution of permanganate of potash.

With all these ordinary ailments can be successfully treated, as for a slight cold the treatment we have advised is quite successful.

In cases of birds which have been fighting, the combs and faces should "be washed and then wiped dry, and then vaseline " applied. Carbolised vaseline answers better than the ordinary kind for this purpose. Should there be any smaller spots found paint at once with the liquid disinfectant.

When birds are over-heated a dose of Epsom salts is most effeetiye. In all cases of ailing fowls a close of salts is advisable, as this cleanses the system of any obstruction, and is frequently the means of preventing further illness.

On cold mornings roup powder should be added to the food instead of poultry powder, and any cases of birds with running at the nostrils should not be neglected, but the nostrils wiped dry and a feather dipped in paraffin passed up each nostril without delay.

A bundle of wing weathers should always be kept by those who have fowls, and when the birds are. killed " the pointed feathers, if tied into a bundle, are ready for use in case there are those which require treatment for mucus in the throat or discharge from the nostrils.

A few crystals of permanganate of potash dissolved in water and used to cleanse the throats of the birds answers well when the mucus is^thin and watei'y, but when it is thicker some roup lotioa -should be used. ... -