The discharge is thin and white, the down on the posterior portion of the body becomes matted and the vent clogged.

The chick stands drawn in and will occasionally waver and start convulsively in an effort to evacuate the bowels.

The efforts are apparently painful and are sometimes accompanied by a cry. They refuse to eat and they die in a short time.

Answer:

A fatal diarrhea such as described may be caused by different things. Lice are responsible for perhaps a majority of cases.

Some of the other causes are:

• The feeding of pepper and condiments
• Condition powders and other improper food
• Wet, raw and sloppy food and mashes
• Feeding too soon
• A lack of grit
• Confinement in close quarters where the air is foul and vitiated
• Eating food which has been thrown down in their own filth
• A chill resulting from exposure to cold or a too low temperature in the brooder
• Improper incubation before they are hatched.
  

The remedy is to first find the cause and remove it if possible.

Place the chicks in a good warm brooder and feed them properly.

Some good remedies for checking diarrhoea are as follows :

• Boiled rice upon which has been sprinkled a little cinnamon
• Lime water to drink
• Boiled milk
• Dry bran.

Medicinal remedies are:

• A half teaspoonful of tannic acid in a tablespoonful of powdered charcoal and mixed with sufficient soft food for about 30 chicks
• Dried cracker or bread crumbs upon which has been sprinkled a little powdered chalk
• A teaspoonful of tincture of iron in a quart of drinking water
• One-eighth grain of powdered opium and two grains of subnitrate of bismuth every four hours in the most severe cases.