748 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



manure should be collected daily, mixed with an equal quantity of 

 freshly slaked lime, and put where the fowls will not have access to it. 

 It is considered preferable by some poultrymen, in the case of a 

 badly infested flock, to kill' off all the birds and begin a new flock on 

 fresh ground" with chickens hatched in incubators or with fowls from 

 a flock known to be healthy. 



MANG5 (scabies). 



Fowls and pigeons are affected by scabies, but the disease is not com- 

 municated from pigeons to fowls, nor vice versa, as the parasitic mites 

 are not identical. 



Causation. — The mites which cause the disease are introduced into the 

 poultry yard by affected fowls, and they spread rapidly from fowl to 

 fowl until nearly or quite all of the birds are affected. The mite lives 

 at the base of the feathers, where it bites the skin and causes intense 

 itching. 



Symptoms. — This form of mange is often called depluming scabies 

 on account of the rapid destruction of the feathers. It generally begins 

 in the spring, is most active during the warm weather, and disappears 

 in winter. The most prominent symptom is a loss of feathers from 

 spots of various sizes on different parts of the body. It usually begins 

 on the rump and spreads rapidly to the back, thighs, breast, neck, and 

 head. As the mites progress from the starting point over the surface 

 of the body their advance is indicated by the falling of the feathers, 

 until finally the fowl becomes nearly naked, the large feathers of the 

 tail and wings being all that remain. 



The skin which is bared in this manner is smooth, soft, and little 

 if any changed by the disease. However, if the stumps of the feathers 

 are examined soon after the breaking of the quill they are found sur- 

 rounded by scales and crusts, and by pulling out the adjoining feathers 

 they are seen to be similarly affected. 



The irritation produced by the mite leads the fowls to pull out their 

 feathers, and they often acquire the habit of feather pulling, attacking 

 the plumage of other birds as well as their own. Depluming scabies is 

 often mistaken for the vice of feather pulling or for irregular molting. 

 Usually the general health of the affected birds does not suffer greatly, 

 but if the disease is allowed to continue untreated some of the hens 

 lose flesh and become unproductive, while the males may show great 

 weakness and anemia. 



Treatment. — Apply to the affected spots of the skin and for some 

 distance around them an ointment made by thoroughly mixing 1 part 

 of flowers of sulphur with 4 parts of vaseline or lard, or 1 part of car- 

 bolic acid with 50 parts of vaseline. A convenient liquid preparation 

 is made by mixing Peruvian balsam 1 ounce, alcohol 3 ounces. One of 

 these preparations should be selected and applied at least twice with 

 an interval of about a week. A good lice powder should be applied to 

 all of the fowls a day or two before beginning the other treatment, and 

 at the same time that the latter is applied the houses should be thor- 

 oughly cleaned and disinfected. 



