The Question Box.* 187 



space between the walls with swale hay or straw to keep the house 

 dry, as vermin thrive in a damp, filthy house. Then keep the 

 house thoroughly clean and apply kerosene oil and carbolic acid, 

 to the nests and perches every week. A good dusl bath will keep 

 the large body lice from becoming so numerous as to cause much 

 damage. 



Question. — Is there any cure for feather-pulling? Why do 

 hens do it ? 



Dr. Smead. — Yes, before it becomes a confirmed habit. It 

 can be cured. If they pull their own feathers, lice may he the 

 cause, in trying to get the louse. They pull a feather and get a 

 taste of the blood, which their appetite may crave. Get rid of 

 the lice and feed once daily fresh meat run through a chopper. 

 If they pull the other fowls' feathers, they do it for the blood 

 they get, as a rule. Feed them fresh chopped meat. Prepared 

 animal meals will not take the place of chopped fresh meat for 

 this purpose. 



Question. — • "What is the cause and remedy for chickens that 

 have the gapes ? 



Dr. Smead. — Prevent the gape worm getting in the throat by 

 always setting the chicken coop on a flour or boards, and using 

 lime freely about the place where the coops set, moving them once 

 in a week or at least two weeks. When not too far down the 

 windpipe, the looped horse hair can be used to dislodge them. 

 Turpentine and lard or olive oil and turpentine used equally can 

 be used by dipping a feather in it and swabbing out the throat. 

 This will remove some of them. But a better cure is to prevent. 

 Mr. Pice. — Gapes are caused by a worm in the throat of the 

 chicken. The remedy i* not to allow it to get there, but if 

 it does, it may be snared out with a horse hair, or the chicken 

 may be made to sneeze it out by inhaling some pungent substance, 

 like slaked lime dust. The worm conies from the angle worm in 

 the soil, or from eating food on soil that contains the gape worms. 

 Therefore, the young chicks should be kept on board floors or on 

 new sod. Do not allow them to run there long before the coops 

 are changed, and if gapes have appeared in the flock, do not 

 place the coops on the same ground again. 



Question. — What is the cause of hens' becoming blind, and what 



is the remedy? So far as can be seen, there is no roupy symptom; 



no swelling; no effusion: the general health of the fowl is good. 



Dr. Smead. — Either catarrhal disease will cause the blindness, 



