TREATMENT.—Remove the egg by injecting Sweet Oil, assisting the bird with gentle pressure. In some cases it is well to puncture the egg and collapse the shell. If the bird is very fat, reduce by careful feeding. If the bird is of normal size, the trouble is probably due to the absence of lubricating secretions of the oviduct, in which case the following tonic should be given: Pulv. Ferri Sulphate, Pulv. Gentian Root, each one dram. Mix and make into thirty powders. Give one powder two or three times a day in their feed for a week or ten days. EGG EATING. CAUSE.—Is usually due to lack of shell-building material in the food; in such case the shell of the egg is thin and easily broken and the fowl craving the lime contained in the egg shell, naturally contracts the habit. TREATMENT.—Supply ground bone and oyster shells. Feed green food such as cabbage, kale, potatoes, carrots, etc. EGGS WITHOUT SHELLS. (_Soft-Shelled Eggs_) CAUSE.—Deficiency of shell material; or it is possible that fright sometimes causes premature expulsion of the eggs before the shell is formed. TREATMENT.—Feed ground bone, oyster shells. They contain egg shell producing material. Perhaps the best results are obtained when mixed with wheat bran. Also feed vegetables such as cabbage, potatoes and carrots. FEATHER PULLING. (_Feather Eating_) CAUSE.—Irritation of the skin due to lice, mites, or to lack of exercise and improper food. TREATMENT.—Feed meat, ground bones and vegetables. Place the food where the fowls are compelled to scratch and work to obtain it. Dust the fowls with Powdered Aloes. If due to lice, treat the same as recommended under the heading of Lice. GAPES. (_Verminous Trachea Bronchitis_) CAUSE.—A red, parasitic worm, the male measuring about one-fifth of an inch and the female one-half an inch in length. Fowls become infected by eating worms containing this parasite or its eggs, and by coming in contact with other birds suffering from the disease. SYMPTOMS.—The most noticeable symptom is frequent gaping; the Gapeworms attach themselves by their mouths to the walls of the windpipe where they suck the blood which nourishes them; they cause irritation and inflammation of the windpipe, bronchial tubes and lungs; breathing is difficult and the bird loses strength rapidly; windpipe eventually becomes totally obstructed and the bird dies from suffocation and exhaustion. Young, weak chickens are more susceptible to this disease than strong ones.