This disease is caused mainly by cold and moisture; but it is often
ascribed to improper feeding and want of cleanliness and exercise. It
affects fowls of all ages, and is either acute or chronic; sometimes
commencing suddenly, on exposure; at others gradually, as the
consequence of neglected colds, or damp weather or lodging. Chronic roup
has been known to extend through two years.
[Illustration: SWANS.]
The most prominent _symptoms_ are difficult and noisy breathing and
gaping, terminating in a rattling in the throat; the head swells, and is
feverish; the eyes are swollen, and the eye-lidsappear livid; the sight
decays, and sometimes total blindness ensues; there are discharges from
the nostrils and mouth, at first thin and limpid, afterward thick,
purulent, and fetid. In this stage, which resembles the glanders in
horses, the disease becomes infectious.
As _secondary_ symptoms, it may be noticed that the appetite fails,
except for drink; the crop feels hard; the feathers are staring,
ruffled, and without the gloss that appears in health; the fowl mopes by
itself and seems to suffer much pain.
_Treatment._ The fowls should be kept warm, and have plenty of water and
scalded bran, or other light food. When chronic, change of food and air
is advisable. The ordinary remedies--such as salt dissolved in
water--are inefficacious. A solution of sulphate of zinc, as an
eye-water, is a valuable cleansing application. Rue-pills, and a
decoction of rue, as a tonic, have been administered with apparent
benefit.
The following is recommended: of powdered gentian and Jamaica ginger,
each one part; Epsom salts, one and a half parts; and flour of sulphur,
one part; to be made up with butter, and given every morning.
The following method of treatment is practised by some of the most
successful poulterers in the country. As soon as discovered, if in warm
weather, remove the infected fowls to some well-ventilated apartment, or
yard; if in winter, to some warm place; then give a dessert-spoonful of
castor-oil; wash their heads with warm Castile-soap suds, and let them
remain till next morning fasting. Scald for them Indian-meal, adding two
and a half ounces of Epsom salts for ten hens, or in proportion for a
less or larger number; give it warm, and repeat the dose in a day or
two, if they do not recover.
Perhaps, however, the best mode of dealing with roup and all putrid
affections is as follows: Take of finely pulverized, fresh-burnt
charcoal, and of new yeast, each three parts; of pulverized sulphur, two
parts; of flour, one part; of water, a sufficient quantity; mix well,
and make into two doses, of the size of a hazel-nut, and give one three
times a day. _Cleanliness_ is no less necessary than warmth; and it will
sometimes be desirable to bathe the eyes and nostrils with warm milk and
water, or suds, as convenient.