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Read Ebook: Poultry diseases Causes symptoms and treatment with notes on post-mortem examinations by Wortley E J E Jocelyn
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Ebook has 602 lines and 49820 words, and 13 pages
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GENERAL METHODS OF CONTROLLING DISEASE 1
SUMMARY OF EXTERNAL SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT 14
DISEASES OF POULTRY OTHER THAN FOWLS 19
DISEASES AND PESTS OF FOWLS 22
POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS 99
FIG. PAGE
GENERAL METHODS OF CONTROLLING DISEASE
The ravages of disease add considerably to the difficulties of raising poultry in all parts of the world. It is the experience of poultry rearers that an annual toll has to be paid in the lives of young birds and older stock. Sooner or later, in addition, an epidemic may break out and result in heavy losses and much discouragement.
It is most important, therefore, to be able to recognize the symptoms and to know the causes of the many diseases to which various kinds of poultry are subject. Every practical effort should be made to reduce avoidable mortality. An unexplained death should be regarded with concern. It may point to the presence of a serious disease. When there is not sufficient external evidence for determining the cause of death, a post-mortem examination should be made .
The poultryman must know above all whether he is dealing with an infectious disease or not. The discovery that a sudden death among his fowls is due to apoplexy will set his mind at ease. On the other hand, if a case of cholera occurs, the body of the dead fowl should be burnt, and a vigorous campaign started to prevent the spread of the disease; birds showing mopishness and other suspicious symptoms should be isolated; the houses, the feed troughs, the water vessels, and the yard to which the dead fowl has had access, should all be thoroughly disinfected.
Perhaps more loss has been caused by introducing birds with disease into a healthy flock than by any other means. Readers will, doubtless, be able to recall occasions on which their own, or their neighbors', flocks suffered. An instance was recently related to the writer. A poultryman was offered two fowls, which he at first refused, but owing to the vagrant seller's importunity, he eventually bought the birds and let them loose among the home flock. On the following day one died; but no effort was made to discover the cause, nor was the dead fowl's body burnt. In a few days, a fowl belonging to the original flock died and, in three to four weeks after the purchase, two-thirds of the stock had died. It afterwards transpired that the vendor had lost several of his fowls from cholera, and the fear of further mortalities had been his reason for being so anxious to dispose of the survivors.
On every farm where poultry is kept, there should be a quarantine ward for new purchases. The most careful breeders will isolate their own birds that have returned from an exhibition, for fear they may have contracted some disease there or on the journey.
Practical experience and scientific investigation have clearly proved that preventive measures are more economical and effective than curative. Failing prevention, everything points to the importance of dealing promptly with the first cases, owing to the risk of infection of the rest of the stock. Control measures may be divided into three classes:
The details to which special attention must be given are covered by the following axiomatic rules:
The small margin of profit on a single fowl makes dosing with medicines and nursing an unprofitable occupation, except in the case of valuable stock. If the treatment of a bird is undertaken, it should be borne in mind that more depends upon attention to the rules of good nursing than to the administration of drugs. Comfortable quarters, warm and free from drafts, clean straw, and invalid's diet of soft and easily digested food will all turn the chances in favor of recovery.
Too often isolation is in effect a death sentence. The bird is put into cramped quarters, exposed to cold winds and beating rains, and, being in an out-of-the-way corner, is, perhaps, neglected instead of being specially cared for.
Fowls that will not take food should be fed lightly, but frequently, with a spoon in order that their strength may be kept up. All stale food should be removed.
Drugs and medicines likely to be required should always be kept in stock. The weekly use of Epsom salts, as a mild laxative for preventing intestinal disorders, is strongly recommended. Little faith should be put in drugs said to cure tuberculosis, cholera, etc. Below is given a list of the medicines generally required. The doses given in the table are for a medium-sized adult fowl; three-quarters as much should be given for a half-grown bird, and about one-fifth for a young chicken. Treatment should be repeated as necessary, and animals should be well nursed.
The important part played by micro-organisms in causing and spreading disease must be understood before the value of disinfection can be fully appreciated. The poultryman must develop a sense of sight that sees lurking microbes at every turn, especially in unclean corners. Figure 5 shows germs revealed by the microscope in the excrement of a bird suffering from tuberculosis. The fact that this speck contained so many germs, although it was far too small to be seen with the naked eye, will give an idea of how epidemics may be caused by food, water, and soil contaminated by excreta, nasal discharges, etc.
Regular and thorough disinfection of woodwork, of feeding vessels, and of the drinking water should form part of the routine of poultry management, and a stock of disinfectants should always be kept on hand. It will be found convenient to have an iron drum with a tap for a diluted solution, say 5%, of some standard disinfectant--e. g., creolin--that can be further diluted as required.
Spray surface with 5% creolin.
Spread straw over ground and set fire to it.
Fork over and lime. This method is not sufficient if serious contamination is suspected.
SUMMARY OF EXTERNAL SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT
DISEASES OF POULTRY OTHER THAN FOWLS
All classes of domestic poultry are to a great extent subject to the same diseases that affect the common fowl. The symptoms of such diseases are for the most part similar to those noticed when fowls are affected, and treatment must be on the same lines. In the management of turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowls and pigeons, the strictest sanitary measures must be enforced, as in the rearing of fowls.
Owing to its importance, blackhead of turkeys is dealt with separately. It is one of the most serious of poultry diseases and causes heavy losses to turkey rearers. Careful study should be made of the reports of the recent investigations at the Rhode Island Experiment Station.
Severe epidemics of diarrhea or cholera occur among all classes of poultry. Geese are subject to a form of cholera that appears to be different from any kind that attacks fowls. Water fowl are not commonly infested with external parasites. Pigeons, on the other hand, are worried by fleas and ticks as well as mites. Smallpox of pigeons is similar to chicken pox of fowls, but pustular swellings may be found on the rump and the cloaca of the pigeon as well as on the head. The scaly leg mite attacks turkeys and the gape worm is sometimes a serious pest of poults. Below is given a list of some of the diseases of turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowls and pigeons:
TURKEYS
Blackhead Diphtheria Gapes Leg weakness Lice Mites Roup Tuberculosis Scaly leg White comb Worms
DUCKS
Aspergillosis Catarrh Congestion of lungs Cholera Diphtheria Lice Mites Worms
GEESE
Aspergillosis Cholera Congestion of lungs Diphtheria Lice Mites Worms
GUINEA FOWLS
Aspergillosis Cholera Diphtheria Lice Mites Worms
PIGEONS
Aspergillosis Canker Chicken pox Diphtheria Dovecot bug Flea Lice Mites Ticks Worms
DISEASES AND PESTS OF FOWLS
Abscesses. Abnormal eggs . Air under skin . Air sac mite . Anaemia. Apoplexy. Aspergillosis. Atrophy of liver . Bacterial enteritis Baldness . Biliary repletion . Blackhead of turkeys. Breakdown. Broken limbs . Bronchitis. Brooder pneumonia. Bumblefoot. Cancer . Canker . Catarrh . Catarrh, contagious . Catarrh of crop. Catarrh of stomach . Chicken pox. Cholera. Cloacitis. Coccidiosis of adult fowls. Coccidiosis of chickens . Coccidiosis of turkeys . Cold. Congestion of the liver . Congestion of the lungs . Conjunctivitis . Constipation. Cramp. Crop-bound. Crop, soft . Crop, Catarrh of. Depluming mite. Diarrhea, bacterial. Diarrhea, mycotic. Diarrhea, protozoan. Diarrhea, simple. Diarrhea, severe. Diarrhea, white. Diphtheria. Diphtheritic roup. Dislocations . Dropsy. Dysentery. Egg-bound. Egg-eating. Emphysema. Enlargement of heart . Enlargement of liver . Enlargement of kidneys . Enteritis . Entero-hepatitis . Epilepsy. Fatty degeneration. Favus. Feather-eating. Fits . Fleas. Fowl typhoid. Fractures. Frost bite. Gangrenous Ovary . Gapes. Gastritis. Going light . Gout. Grippe . Heart, diseases of. Heart, dropsy of. Heart, enlargement of. Heart, rupture. Hypertrophy of the liver . Impaction of the crop . Indigestion. Influenza . Jaundice. Kidney diseases. Leg weakness. Leukemia . Lice. Limber-neck. Liver diseases. Lungs, congestion of . Maggots. Mites, air sac. Mites, depluming. Mites, red. Mites, scaly leg . Molting. Nodular taeniasis . Ovary diseases. Oviduct diseases. Peritonitis. Pip. Pneumonia. Poisoning. Prolapse of oviduct . Puffed skin . Pyaemia. Rheumatism. Roup. Scabies . Scaly leg. Soft crop. Sore head . Ticks. Tuberculosis. Vertigo . White comb . White diarrhea of chickens. Worms.
ABSCESSES
The most common abscess is that which forms on the pad of the foot and develops into bumblefoot.
ANAEMIA, OR GOING LIGHT
APOPLEXY
The name vertigo is applied to congestion of the brain as distinct from apoplexy due to hemorrhage of the brain. The fowl has fits. It is difficult to distinguish this disease from epilepsy . The cause is little understood.
ASPERGILLOSIS
BLACKHEAD OF TURKEYS
It has been conclusively proved that fowls, as well as pigeons, sparrows, etc., act as hosts for these parasites. Although adult fowls have a great degree of resistance themselves, they are a means of carrying infection to turkeys.
Eggs may be one of the means of spreading the disease, as they may become contaminated in the oviduct or the cloaca of birds affected with blackhead.
BREAKDOWN
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