The gape worm may be termed the _bete noir_ of the poultry-keeper--his
greatest enemy--whether he be farmer or fancier. It is true there are some
who declare that it is unknown in their poultry-yards--that they have never
been troubled with it at all. These are apt to lay it down, as I saw a
correspondent did in a recent number of the _Country Gentleman_, that the
cause is want of cleanliness or neglect in some way. But I can vouch that
that is not so. I have been in yards where everything was first-rate, where
the cleanliness was almost painfully complete, where no fault in the way of
neglect could be found, and yet the gapes were there; and on the other
hand, I have known places where every condition seemed favorable to the
development of such a disease, and there it was absent--this not in
isolated cases, but in many. No, we must look elsewhere for the cause.
Observations lead me to the belief that gapes are more than usually
troublesome during a wet spring or summer following a mild winter. This
would tend to show that the egg from which the worm (that is in itself the
disease) emerges is communicated from the ground, from the food eaten, or
the water drunk, in the first instance, but it is more than possible that
the insects themselves may pass from one fowl to another. All this we can
accept as a settled fact, and also any description of the way in which the
parasitic worms attach themselves to the throats of the birds, and cause
the peculiar gaping of the mouth which gives the name to the disease.
Many remedies have been suggested, and my object now is to communicate some
of the later ones--thus to give a variety of methods, so that in case of
the failure of one, another will be at hand ready to be tried. It is a
mistake always to pin the faith to one remedy, for the varying conditions
found in fowls compel a different treatment. The old plan of dislodging the
worms with a feather is well known, and need not be described again. But I
may mention that in this country some have found the use of an ointment,
first suggested by Mr. Lewis Wright, I believe, most valuable. This is made
of mercurial ointment, two parts; pure lard, two parts; flour of sulphur,
one part; crude petroleum, one part--and when mixed together is applied to
the heads of the chicks as soon as they are dry after hatching. Many have
testified that they have never found this to fail as a preventive, and if
the success is to be attributed to the ointment, it would seem as if the
insects are driven off by its presence, for the application to the heads
merely would not kill the eggs.
Some time ago Lord Walsingham offered, through the Entomological Society of
London, a prize for the best life history of the gapes disease, and this
has been won by the eminent French scientist M. Pierre Mégnin, whose essay
has been published by the noble donor. His offer was in the interest of
pheasant breeders, but the benefit is not confined to that variety of game
alone, for it is equally applicable to all gallinaceous birds troubled with
this disease. The pamphlet in question is a very valuable work, and gives
very clearly the methods by which the parasite develops. But for our
purpose it will be sufficient to narrate what M. Mégnin recommends for the
cure of it. These are various, as will be seen, and comprise the experience
of other inquirers as well as himself.
He states that Montague obtained great success by a combination of the
following methods: Removal from infested runs; a thorough change of food,
hemp seed and green vegetables figuring largely in the diet; and for
drinking, instead of plain water, an infusion of rue and garlic. And Mégnin
himself mentions an instance of the value of garlic. In the years 1877 and
1878, the pheasant preserves of Fontainebleau were ravaged by gapes. The
disease was there arrested and totally cured, when a mixture, consisting of
yolks of eggs, boiled bullock's heart, stale bread crumbs, and leaves of
nettle, well mixed and pounded together with garlic, was given, in the
proportion of one clove to ten young pheasants. The birds were found to be
very fond of this mixture, but great care was taken to see that the
drinking vessels were properly cleaned out and refilled with clean, pure
water twice a day. This treatment has met with the same success in other
places, and if any of your readers are troubled with gapes and will try it,
I shall be pleased to see the results narrated in the columns of the
_Country Gentleman_. Garlic in this case is undoubtedly the active
ingredient, and as it is volatile, when taken into the stomach the breath
is charged with it, and in this way (for garlic is a powerful vermifuge)
the worms are destroyed.
Another remedy recommended by M. Mégnin was the strong smelling vermifuge
assafoetida, known sometimes by the suggestive name of "devil's dung." It
has one of the most disgusting oders possible, and is not very pleasant to
be near. The assafoetida was mixed with an equal part of powdered yellow
gentian, and this was given to the extent of about 8 grains a day in the
food. As an assistance to the treatment, with the object of killing any
embryos in the drinking water, fifteen grains of salicylate of soda was
mixed with a pint and three-quarters of water. So successful was this, that
on M. De Rothschild's preserves at Rambouillet, where a few days before
gapes were so virulent that 1,200 pheasants were found dead every morning,
it succeeded in stopping the epidemic in a few days. But to complete the
matter, M. Mégnin adds that it is always advisable to disinfect the soil of
preserves. For this purpose, the best means of destroying any eggs or
embryos it may contain is to water the ground with a solution of sulphuric
acid, in the proportion of a pennyweight to three pints of water, and also
birds that die of the disease should be deeply buried in lime.
Fumigation with carbolic acid is an undoubted cure, but then it is a
dangerous one, and unless very great care is taken in killing the worms,
the bird is killed also. Thus many find this a risky method, and prefer
some other. Lime is found to be a valuable remedy. In some districts of
England, where lime-kilns abound, it is a common thing to take children
troubled with whooping-cough there. Standing in the smoke arising from the
kilns, they are compelled to breathe it. This dislodges the phlegm in the
throat, and they are enabled to get rid of it. Except near lime-kilns, this
cannot be done to chickens, but fine slaked lime can be used, either alone
or mixed with powdered sulphur, two parts of the former to one of the
latter. The air is charged with this fine powder, and the birds, breathing
it, cough, and thus get rid of the worms, which are stupefied by the lime,
and do not retain so firm a hold on the throat. An apparatus has recently
been introduced to spread this lime powder. It is in the form of an
air-fan, with a pointed nozzle, which is put just within the coop at night,
when the birds are all within. The powder is already in a compartment made
for it, and by the turning of a handle, it is driven through the nozzle,
and the air within the coop charged with it. There is no waste of powder,
nor any fear that it will not be properly distributed. Experienced pheasant
and poultry breeders state that by the use of this once a week, gapes are
effectually prevented. In this case, also, I shall be glad to learn the
result if tried.