Answer:

There is large mortality among young chicks resulting from inherited weakness or abnormal development of some of the organs of digestion, or the same effect may be produced by improper incubation.

The chicks may seem all right in every way till bowel trouble sets in and results in death. The only method of discovering the trouble is a post-mortem examination.

Just before the chick breaks the shell, it takes into the proper cavity the balance of the yolk of the egg. This yolk is gradually fed into the intestine, until at the end of four or five days it should be entirely absorbed.

If on account of weakness or abnormal development, as mentioned above, this yolk is not normally digested and absorbed, it finally decomposes and poisons the chick and fatal bowel trouble is the result. There is of course no cure for it.