TREATMENT.—Isolate the affected birds in some clean, warm, light, well ventilated quarters, excluding drafts. Dissolve thirty grains of Chlorate of Potash in one ounce of water and one ounce of Glycerine, and to the average sized fowl give one teaspoonful three or four times a day. To chicks give one-fourth the dose. When the scum loosens in the back part of the tongue, remove gently. Care should be taken so as to prevent bleeding. Feed soft, nourishing food.
Eggs are frequently found with two yolks. This condition is produced by two ovary capsules bursting at about the same time and gaining entrance together into the oviduct where they are concealed in the same shell. Double-yolked eggs are larger than normal and may injure the oviduct when expelled. When hatched they produce twins or abnormal chicks.
CAUSE.—Generally due to irritating, indigestible food, causing inflammation of the membraneous lining of the intestinal cavity.
SYMPTOMS.—The abdomen becomes enlarged, is tender to the touch and contains a watery fluid, the movement of which can be heard in most cases by pressure on the swollen parts. The bird appears stupid, the comb pale and the appetite poor.
TREATMENT.—Unless the bird is very valuable, treatment is not advisable. In case the bird is valuable, give one grain of Potassium Iodide twice daily in the feed or drinking water. Also feed nourishing food as beef-scraps, vegetables, wheat bran mashes, etc.
(_Difficult Laying; Obstruction of the Oviduct_)
CAUSE.—Due to the eggs being too large, the bird too fat, or to the absence of the secretions lubricating the oviduct.
SYMPTOMS.—The first signs are scarcely noticeable but soon the feathers appear rough, the bird becomes dull and moves slowly, making frequent efforts to expel the egg.
TREATMENT.—Remove the egg by injecting Sweet Oil, assisting the bird with gentle pressure. In some cases it is well to puncture the egg and collapse the shell. If the bird is very fat, reduce by careful feeding. If the bird is of normal size, the trouble is probably due to the absence of lubricating secretions of the oviduct, in which case the following tonic should be given: Pulv. Ferri Sulphate, Pulv. Gentian Root, each one dram. Mix and make into thirty powders. Give one powder two or three times a day in their feed for a week or ten days.