Gapes In Chickens

A World correspondent writes : ■ 'I Lave liever met a poultry keeper yet wbo was notinterested in gapes uid couldn't name a new remedy for them. There are of coime severa] approved methods of combating this trouble. That these still continue to be recommended is pretty good evidence tbat, in somej cases at least, they prove eiïective. As gapes will be to the f ore now and for some time to come auiong the young chickens, I will mention a few of these remedies. 'One authority saj's: If cases occur, at once put fluid carbolate, camphor or lime in the water. If there are inany cases place the Chicks in a cold pit (garden frame) and fumígate with vapor of carbolic acid till they are nearly suffocated by the fumes. Care must be taken to libérate the chicks at the right moment or death will ensue. but if this is well done it is an effectual cure. "Stoddard says that camphor has been used with success given in the form of a pea, and that alum and sulphur in the form of line powder blown down the thrpat will destroy the worms. Lime in the air will also effect the purpose, and may be applied by putting the chickens into a box covered with fine muslin and sifting fine lime through this, but not so fast as to smother the chickens. '■Another remedy is spirits of turpentine, a few drops at a time. By some persons a diet of crushed corn, soaked in alum water or kerosene, is considered good. This last remedy does not appear at all reasonable to me. Gapes are caused, as everv poultry keeper is likely to learn some tiine in the course of his experience, by small red vorms in the windpipe, which obstruct the passage, so that iinally the cliick chokes and dies. To remove the cause is to remove the disease, and the chicken, if not too much weakened, will recover. 'For a few chickens, I think the f eather treatment ought undoubtedly tobe called the best and surest cure. This consists in stripping the feather from a quill five or s-ix inches long to within about an inch of the top, then doublé this portion over. Wet this with turpentine a little diluted with water, or with a mixture of twenty drops carbolic acid to one ounce glycerin. Push the feather down gently through the valve of the windpipe as far as it will go; then draw it, up, at the same time twisting it quickly aronnd. If you have perforined the operation dexterously, the worms, or a part of them, will come up with the feather. It may be necessary to repeat the proeess in order to get the worms all out. Of course this remedy is somewhat spvere on the chicken, if not skillfnlly and gently done, and it cannot be applied to large flocks because it requires too much time. There is, I jelieve, an absolute preventive for this Touble, viz., keep the chickens on dry ground and keep the yard and houses clean. Wet and filth are the greatest enemies of the poultry yard."