Poultry Diseases, with a Chapter on the Anatomy of the Fowl (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...of chicks dead of the bacillary form of the disease, and in the coccidian form from the ulcers of the cecum and the intestines. Symptoms: Bacillary Form.--In young chicks there is drooping wings, ruffled feathers, sleepy appearance, huddled together, little or no appetite, abdominal yolk not properly absorbing; whitish or whitish-brown frothy dscharge from bowel which adheres more or less to the vent fluff; eyes closed part of the time and apparently no interest in life. "Peeping" much of the time, the appearance in many is stilty, abdomen prominent behind. In these cases after death one finds the yolk unabsorbed or only partially so. The intestines are more or less full. Late fall, winter or early spring hatched chicks are freer from the disease than summer hatched. This may be explained by the fact that hens with diseased ovaries gradually become poorer layers as the disease processes advance, and hence, only lay in late spring or early summer, when nature intends reproduction of birds. Finally the hen may cease laying. Symptoms: Coccidian Form.--The symptoms, as I have seen them, are similar to those of the bacillary form, excepting, as a rule, the heavy death rate takes place later. Mode of Spread: Bacillary Form.--Ovaries of laying hens, diseased, but still functioning, may be infected by the germ. The germ can be isolated, particularly from the yolk, of at least some of the eggs formed in such an ovary. The chicks from infected eggs, as a result, have the disease more or less developed when they are hatched, as conditions which favor hatching also favor the multiplication of the germs to an extent that toxins (poisons) have already been produced in the young in sufficient quantity for the disease to at least manifest itself in a few hours af...