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Rural School Leaflet 



Preventing parasites. — The chickens shuiild be examined occasionally 

 to see whether there are any lice on them. If lice arc found, a little 

 fresh lard should be rubbed under the chickens' wings and on their heads. 

 Sometimes young chickens are attacked by head lice, which so weaken 

 them that they soon die. 



Another parasite, which sometimes causes a great deal of trouble, is 

 the poultry mite. This mite does not like sunlight so it lives in the cracks 

 and the dark corners of the brooder, and at night comes out of its hiding 

 place to feed on the blood of the chickens. When the mites are present 

 in large numbers, the chickens soon show the effects by losing their ap- 

 petites, becoming weak, and huddling under the hover as if they were 

 cold. Mites should never be allowed to become established. This can 

 be prevented by painting the inside of the brooder with a good lice paint 

 at the time the brooder is set up and once every month while it is being 

 used. Care should be taken to get the lice paint into all the cracks be- 

 cause there the mites are most likely to be found. Nearly every drug 

 store has lice paint for sale, but a good one can be made by mixing one 

 quart of kerosene with one pint of crude carbolic acid. 



xi. feeding young chickens 



Clara M. Nixon 



The feed. — The egg yolk is enclosed within the body of the chicken 



just before hatching, and supplies nourishment to the chicken after it 



leaves the shell. For this reason chickens should not be fed until they 



arc thirty-six hours old. The 

 first meal may consist of rolled 

 oats, bread crmnbs, sifted beef 

 scrap, and bone meal mixed in 

 the following proportions: 8 

 pounds rolled oats, 8 pounds 

 bread crumbs, 2 pounds sifted 

 beef scrap (best grade), and 

 I pound bone meal. Take as 

 much of this mixture as is 

 needed for the first meal and 

 moisten it with a little butter- 

 milk or sour skimmed milk. 

 Use just enough milk to make 

 the mixture crumbly, not 

 sloppy. Sprinkle over this feed 

 a very little fine grit, such as is sold for pigeons, and some finely shred- 

 ded clover, lettuce, or chickweed. 



Chick feed-trays of different sizes 



