Part 10

Swollen heads in turkeys seems to me to be the prevailing disease this spring of 1913. Complaints have come to me from all over the country, also sick birds have been sent to me to treat.

I do not know whether it would be called roup or canker, but the appearance of it is that of a common cold, a watery discharge from the nose, eyes half closed, and sometimes wholly closed, with a large projecting formation in the orbital cavity under the eyes, which, if left there, will cause the death of the turkey after the turkey loses its sight. Press your hand gently on the formation. If the formation has not become hard, but is still in a spongy condition, press firmly on both sides of the nose under the eyes, and force out the thick, foul discharge which has gathered. Wash the head with Sulpho-Napthol or Presto Disinfectant, dry well, and then disinfect with my salve. Repeat this every day until the turkey is well. In the meantime the turkey will have a little hacking cough that is caused by a watery discharge from the head, which flows down inside the nose and drops on to the windpipe. A human being has a chance to relieve the head and throat, but the turkey does not have this advantage.

If, however, the formation in the orbital cavity has become hard, an operation is necessary. Have some one hold the bird gently on its side, with its wings close to the body in natural form, for in the struggle, the bird is very apt to break its wing. Wash the head with Sulpho-Napthol or Presto Disinfectant and dry well. Have ready a good sharp operating knife, thoroughly sterilized, and also sterilize your hands. About one-fourth inch below the eye you will find one or two leaders. You must try to avoid cutting through these. Always try to avoid cutting through any veins. Make a clean cut about one-half inch in length, running straight down the orbital cavity to the beak so that when it heals up it will leave no scar. If the turkey is in good blood and a male bird, they are very apt to bleed quite a little. I would then stop the blood with cotton batten, or by bathing with water mixed with a little alum. Leave the bird for that day. The next morning open up the cut, take out the canker, which you will find to be a yellow, cheesy substance, with a very bad odor. Remove all this canker, wash out the cavity with peroxide of hydrogen, dry well, fill the cavity with Margaret Mahaney’s Salve, which keeps the head soft and clean. Wash the head lightly for a few days. When the wound heals up you will find a sort of dry core in the wound. Remove this, wash out, and your turkey is all well. Trust the rest to nature.

If you find that the lump under the eye has become hard and white before you operate, and that the blood has flowed back from the head, there is no need of waiting for the wound to stop bleeding. You can remove the canker at once.

In the meantime, in the feed put a half teaspoonful of sulphur each morning for a week in a warm mush made from Margaret Mahaney’s Turkey Feed. This will keep the bowels in good condition, and hasten the recovery of the turkey.

This canker is sometimes found in the rectum of the turkey. Syringe the bird with warm water in which has been dissolved a little piece of Castile soap. Add to one quart of water a half teaspoonful of boric acid, and after the bird has been thoroughly washed out, wash again with the above solution. Dry the vent thoroughly and sponge on a little sweet oil. Do this for a few days with sulphur in the feed, and you will find that the bird will be all right. Use about ½ teaspoonful of sulphur to ½ pint of feed.

SORE EYES AND HEAD

The eyes may become sore from dust, excessive heat, dampness and other causes, and give out a watery discharge. The whole head may become involved in the inflammation. Such mild afflictions are to be distinguished from canker and roup, but it is always safe to keep a sharp look-out for the latter when the eyes are sore.

Wash the parts with a weak solution of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc) or with alum-water, or with a solution of alum and camphor. If the discharge has become gummy or hardened, remove it with warm water and Castile soap, followed with alum and water. Dry the head well with a soft cloth, and then rub gently with Margaret Mahaney’s Turkey Salve, as it contains all the ingredients that heal and cleanse.

To about four turkeys put one-half teaspoonful of sulphur in the feed with a shake of red pepper three or four times a week, and a little tincture of iron in the water (about four drops to a gallon of water).

CONSTIPATION IN TURKEYS

Constipation is caused by indigestion, taking cold, too close confinement, too much dry feed and too little green, a deficient supply of good water and the like. It is indicated by frequent attempts to evacuate the bowels, either wholly unsuccessful or resulting only in hard, dark droppings. The turkey is uneasy and perhaps staggers.

Give an abundance of green food and a soft mixture of bran and oatmeal and ten drops of sulphate of magnesia to a pint of the drinking water. Along with these directions for the feed, it will be well to give two drops of aconite to a half glass of water, giving the bird a teaspoonful of the solution every hour until the fever disappears, following this with a solution made of two drops of nux vomica to a half glass of water, giving a teaspoonful of the solution every hour until well, or if a cold is the cause, use two drops of bryonia in the water instead of the nux vomica. I have often had this disease in my flock when the turkeys are about three months old, just before I let them out for a good day’s ramble, so that is why I always recommend plenty of good lettuce. It keeps the bowels in good condition, keeps the intestines cool, and makes up itself for all fever remedies.

DIARRHEA

This disease is often mistaken for blackhead in grown turkeys. It may result from an excessive use of tainted food, mouldy bread or mouldy grain, impure water, extreme heat, exposure in damp weather, filthy quarters and general indigestion, poison, or any inflammatory affliction of the intestines or the stomach.

The symptoms are loose droppings of different colors which befoul the feathers, lassitude, and a loss of condition. In dysentery which results from a diseased condition of the intestines, the droppings are more frothy and mingled with blood, and attended with rapid prostration.

A form of diarrhea essentially different from the two described, occurs in an old female turkey in which a white discharge comes away more or less constantly, often dribbling out, and keeps the feathers about the vent incrusted with a white, chalk-like deposit. It is doubtless due to some derangement in the shell-making function, and can best be treated by promoting the general health and using the means noted below.

Treatment: Have your pharmacist make up pills made of a mixture of five grains of powdered chalk, five of rhubarb, and five of cayenne pepper, adding a half grain of opium in severe cases. Give two pills daily. Another good remedy is camphorated spirits of barley meal, three to six grains for each bird according to age, or ten to twenty drops of the same may be put in a pint of the drink. For mild cases and in the early stages of others, powdered chalk on boiled rice may be sufficient. The remedy last named is recommended for the white discharge of old females, for which the pills described above should be used as well as a little lime water, made by allowing about ½ teaspoonful air-slacked lime to ½ pint water for a bird. Dissolve and then pour off the liquid for them to drink instead of plain water.

Restrict the drink in all forms of these disorders and put into it a little tincture of iron (four drops to a gallon of water).

Dysentery with blood discharges is a serious disorder. It is best to give a teaspoonful of castor oil, followed with three to six drops of laudanum every few hours, supplying an exclusive diet of mild food. It is important that the afflicted bird be kept quiet and apart from the flock, especially in dysentery.

Isolate the afflicted bird when you are at all doubtful regarding the nature of the disorder. Give a couple of tablespoonfuls of ground chalk to a pint of warm mash made from Margaret Mahaney’s Turkey Feed. This will also be found beneficial at any time to the laying turkey hens of five or six years old. Allow one pint of mash to four turkeys three times a day. A little camphor, about the size of a good sized bean, to four turkeys will hasten the recovery; dropped in the drinking water once a week, will help to keep the birds in good laying condition.

Diarrhea in Little Turkeys

Diarrhea in a little turkey is white, something the same as that trouble in a common chicken, and if you look very carefully you will see that the little legs are dotted with white, and the little turkeys will be lifeless and not appearing to thrive. That is the time to give them Mahaney pills (four to a quart of drinking water for 10 or 11 young turkeys). Boil a piece of meat, grind fine, and put in the feed, and that will help them get back their vitality. A drop of aconite in the drinking water on damp days will help to prevent fever of any kind.

GAPES

There are many remedies for gapes, but the following is always beneficial and dependable. It manifests itself first by the birds gaping around just as a person would yawn.

Fill a common, long-necked oil can such as is used for oiling a sewing machine, with kerosene oil; open the turkey’s mouth and wait until it breathes in order that the windpipe may be open, then inject a good spray of the kerosene, perhaps a teaspoonful in all. Three doses will usually cure the turkeys of the gape worm. Give treatment three times a day, in the morning, at noon and night. Shut the turkeys up in their run for about a week, then move them to new ground.

TAPE WORM

The tape worm is an entirely different thing and is rather more serious, and will produce substantially the same symptoms as indigestion. If they are in the bowels, costiveness or diarrhea may be more marked, while the turkey will be uneasy and picking at the vent if they are in the lower part of the intestine. In all cases there will be more or less loss of flesh and often diminished gloss in the feathers, while the bird has either an impaired or a voracious appetite. The only unmistakable symptom is the presence of worms in the droppings when they first pass out.