One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 78

A very peculiar disease is taking off my fowls. The head of the fowl bends down to the breast and the fowl looks like dead, there is also a slight discharge from the mouth. The head and tail droop and if the fowl could stand up they would almost touch.

When a fowl loses partial or entire control of the muscles of the neck the common name of the affection is limber-neck. In medical science limber-neck is regarded as a symptom rather than a disease, and may be due to a number of causes, such as derangement of the digestive organs, intestinal worms and ptomaine poisoning. The affected fowls should be given immediately a full tablespoon of fresh melted lard or sweet oil, to which has been added a scant teaspoonful, of coal oil. In an hour repeat the dose. For a few days the fowls should be fed on some light food, such as shorts scalded with sweet milk in which has been dissolved a level teaspoonful of baking soda to every pint of milk, and also allowed plenty of crisp, tender lettuce or similar greens. A little Epsom salts should be added to the drinking water for a few days. This treatment, if resorted to at the start, will be effectual, but if the poisoning has had its course long, nothing will save the bird.

Chicken Pox.

My one and two-year-old fowls are getting scabby combs. It starts with a round blackish spot and swells into many spots, finally nearly covering one side of the comb. Sometimes accompanying this is the closing of one eye, and later both eyes.

The trouble is chicken pox, which is a very contagious disease. A treatment which has been successful consists in bathing the sores with strong salt and water and giving the fowls a mash containing one teaspoonful of calcium sulphide for each 25 hens. With a large flock of hens the method successfully employed by one of the large coast ranches in stamping out an epidemic of the disease was to place a sulphur smudge, to which had been added a little carbolic acid, in the poultry house after the fowls had gone to roost. This was allowed to remain till the fowls began to sneeze, when it was instantly removed. The affected fowls were also treated by dipping the heads in a solution of permanganate of potash.

Roup in Turkeys.

My turkeys have a disease that is spreading rapidly. They commence with a running at the nose, have swelling under the eyes which are filled with pus.

This is clearly a case of cold developing into roup. Get one ounce of permanganate of potash and pour a quart of boiling water over; after it is cold, bottle for use. Now take an old tin can, three parts full of warm, not hot water, and drop in enough of the permanganate of potash to make it dark red. Hold the turk's head under in this can until it needs breath then give it time to breathe, and dip again. Press the fingers along the swollen parts towards the nostrils and get out all the pus you can, then take a sewing-machine oil can and fill it with a little of the mixture, and part olive oil, inject the liquid up the nostrils and in the cleft of the mouth. Put a little of the permanganate in the drinking water for all the flock. Make the water a light red, later it will turn to a dirty brown, but don't mind that.

Disinfectants.

What can I use to disinfect poultry belongings?

Sulphuric acid spray is good, but you will need to be very careful that you do not get it on the hands or clothing. Get 16 ounces sulphuric acid (50 per cent solution), water 6 gallons. Have the water in a wooden tub or barrel and add the sulphuric acid to the water very slowly, in order not to splash it on the flesh or clothes. But mind: nothing but wooden vessels to mix it in. When made according to directions, and of this strength it is a very valuable disinfectant, but is dangerous to use of any stronger mixing. After mixing, it can be stored in gla.s.s bottles or earthenware jugs. Another very good disinfectant for poultry houses and runs is the formaldehyde disinfectant. Formaldehyde 1 pint (40 per cent), water 2 gallons. This is fine for houses that you can shut up.

Turn the fowls out of the building, close all windows, and spray thoroughly, then close the door and leave it do the work. Air well by opening windows and door several hours before the fowls go to roost.

Cloth for Brooding Houses.

Would some good grade of white cloth on a frame do as well, or would it be better than gla.s.s, for a brooder house, or would it keep out too much sun-heat?

Cheesecloth, not heavy cloth, would be better than gla.s.s, so far as the sun is concerned. There would be none of the overheating during the middle of the day followed by the chilling at night which are caused by a large expanse of gla.s.s. On the other hand, there should not be openings on opposite sides of the house to create a draft. Also, the rat and vermin question must be considered. It might be necessary to have wire screens made to fit firmly over the cloth at night.

Grains for Chickens.

What variety of grain adopted for poultry food will be the best to grow, with and also without irrigation?

Wheat is a standard grain for poultry feeding, and Egyptian corn is also largely used. Indian corn is also satisfactory, under the general roles for compounding poultry rations which are laid down by all authorities on the subject. Egyptian corn is very successful in the interior parts of the State, and, on lands which are winter-plowed and harrow to retain moisture, very satisfactory results can be secured by summer growth without irrigation from planting as soon as frost danger is over.

Plucking Ducks and Geese.

I would like to know about how, when and how often to pick old ducks so as to get the feathers for pillows and not kill the ducks, either. Will they lay any eggs while growing new feathers?

Neither ducks nor geese should be plucked until after the laying season is over, which will be in July. Just before the moult, when the feathers begin to loosen, they may be plucked again. Those most considerate of their birds make only this latter plucking, which does not greatly inconvenience the fowls. At no time must they be plucked unless the feathers are "ripe"; that is, dry at the root, so that no bleeding or injury to the skin is caused. An old stocking is drawn over the head of the victim, and the bird held in the plucker's lap on a burlap ap.r.o.n; then the soft feathers on the body are quickly and very gently removed; but those on the side of the body which support the wings should not be taken. Great care should be exercised not to injure the skin or pinfeathers or pull the down. To grow new feathers quickly and resume laying are matters which depend largely upon the condition of the bird and the feed. The latter should consist of some 15 per cent of animal food.

Feeding Hens for Hatching Eggs.

Should soft feed be given to the mothers of chicks intended for broilers? How about dry mash? How would you advise feeding animal protein?

Cut out all ground feed, except perhaps a little wheat bran. While you may not get quite as many eggs, they will all have good strong germs and the chicks will stand forcing to the limit, while if you force the egg output you reduce the vitality of the germs and livability of chicks hatched. The only way to feed hens whose eggs are intended for hatching chicks for broilers is to feed whole grain and make them exercise for it, good green feed, or, better still, sprouted oats, and feed beef sc.r.a.p in a hopper all the time. At first, while it is new, they may eat more than you would give them but don't mind that they will regulate the quant.i.ty in a few days better than you can. Get a good grade of beef sc.r.a.p and keep it in a hopper that will not let rain in or keep it under cover and feed all the wheat and oats they require; if you are short on green feed give them a bale of alfalfa hay to work on.

A Dry Mash.

Will you give a formula for a dry mash?

Wheat bran, 500 pounds; middlings, 200 pounds; cracked corn, 200 pounds; charcoal, 20 pounds; alfalfa meal 200 pounds; bone meal, 150 pounds; blood-meal 100 pounds; meat cracklings, if ground, 200 pounds; ground oats or barley, 300 pounds. Give oyster sh.e.l.l separately and supply fowls with good sharp grit.

Depluming Mites.

My chickens are losing the feathers from their necks, some three inches down the front and then extending around the neck.

The loss of feathers is probably due to the depluming mite. Dust well with buhach through the feathered portion of the bird and apply carbolated vaseline to the bare skin and the edges of the feathers where the insects work. Do this daily as long as needed. When vaseline is not on hand, a mixture of coal oil and sweet oil applied with a soft sponge squeezed nearly dry does as well. We would advise that you make a general cleaning and spraying of your poultry quarters, nest boxes, etc.

Part IX. Pests and Diseases of Plants