VERMIN AND THIEVES. 



619 



of water, or may be touched here and there 

 under the wings, near the tail, and in other places 

 with sweet oil in which is mixed one part in 

 eight of either paraffin oil or oil of sassafras. A 

 more wholesale plan much used in America, 

 where this pest is serious owing to the numbers 

 kept, is to employ volatile liquid " lice-killers," 

 of which many are advertised. A fair example 

 of them is naphthalene dissolved to saturation 

 in kerosene. This is often applied now and then 

 to the roosts ; but when a lot of chickens are to 

 be treated a dozen or so are put into a large box 

 without a cover, the bottom and sides being 

 painted with the "killer," and the whole covered 

 over with a coarse canvas lightly sprayed with 

 the solution. The canvas is necessary, that the 

 birds may have air enough to breathe. The\- 

 stay in the box to be penetrated by the fumes 

 for half an hour to an hour, and the process is 

 repeated three times at a week's interval, in 

 order to destroy the produce of the eggs or 

 nits. They sometimes have a slight looseness for 

 a day after treatment, but it passes off in a few 

 hours. 



The red mite lives mainly in the crevices of 

 house and roost, coming out at night to feed on 

 the birds. It is naturally white, but becomes red 

 when fed with blood. The eggs are seen in 

 crevices, especially where ends of perches rest, 

 as white dust. All should be removable, and 

 the surfaces of such places washed daily with 

 kerosene, or still better the lice-killer above, 

 painting the perches themselves once a week ; 

 but fire must be specially guarded against. This 

 and frequent carbolic lime washing and removal 

 of manure will be effectual. The birds them- 

 selves may be partly protected by touching here 

 and there Vv-ith oil and paraffin as above, or by 

 the " dips " above given. 



Ticks have been sufficiently dealt with at page 

 96. Touching with carbolised sweet oil is also 

 pretty effectual. 



Cats. — The best methods of guarding against 

 these creatures have been mentioned at page 95. 



Foxes. — In some localities these animals 

 are a very serious hindrance to poultry farming, 

 or indeed any other kind of poultry keeping. 

 Just in the very districts where this is most felt, 

 the killing of a fox is regarded as a crime, 

 socially at all events ; but where serious pecu- 

 niary interests are at stake, those who maintain 

 a sport should be willing to pay fair value for 

 the losses which it occasions, and where this 

 is not done reprisals in kind cannot be wondered 

 at. Short of this, there are several very effectual 

 precautions which may be taken ; and it is 

 curious that one or the other seems the best 

 deterrent in one district, and quite a different one 



in some other, (i) A little asafoetida may be 

 sprinkled round the entrance to each house, and 

 about each gap in the hedge or fence where the 

 animals enter the field. The scent lasts well, and 

 the drug only needs resprinkling about once a 

 month. This has repeatedly proved effectual. 

 (2) Hang about six inches of iron chain in the 

 centre of the hole by which the fowls enter, from 

 the top. They will brush it aside: the fo.x dreads 

 a trap, being the most suspicious of animals. 

 Mr. T. C. Burnell vouches for the efficacy of this 

 plan. (3) Few foxes will cross even two feet of 

 wire netting, from the same dread of danger, and 

 they are still more deterred if it be roughly 

 brushed with tar now and then. (4) Bits of sack- 

 ing dipped in gas-tar and hung at intervals on 

 the hedge, will often protect the field thus 

 enclosed. (5) Another similar plan is to plant 

 short sticks or rods round the field, with hooks 

 about a foot from the ground, supporting any 

 rough cord well soaked in paraffin oil, and re- 

 dipped occasionally. (6) If the hole for entrance 

 is made at one corner of the house, and a sort of 

 tunnel be made to it along the side, from which 

 the birds turn in after walking about, i&v^ foxes 

 will venture, and a sprinkle of asafoetida increases 

 their dread. By day, of course, when the birds 

 are about, the best precaution is a dog at large 

 which has the proper animosity to " anything 

 with hair on't." 



Hedgehogs. — It is only of late that the ravages 

 of hedgehogs have become generally known, their 

 attacks having been put down to rats or other 

 vermin. But recently a mass of evidence has 

 accumulated to the effect that the hedgehog 

 in the country frequently attacks fowls during 

 the night, generally seizing on the hinder parts 

 and eating away the entrails. In any case of this 

 kind the best plan is to employ a professed 

 hedgehog catcher. 



Rats and Mice. — The former of these are often 

 most destructive amongst the stock, and the 

 latter to the food. Grain and meal should never 

 be kept in wooden receptacles, but in iron bins, 

 and never spilt about ; carelessness in this respect 

 is the principal attraction to the vermin. 

 Asphalt floors are seldom mined by rats, 

 especially if every hole is filled up with gas-tar 

 and ashes ; but when rats are known to be near, 

 it is worth while to lay inch-mesh netting under 

 the floor and a foot up the walls. When the 

 animals do abound there are various resources. 

 (i) Ferreting. This is very effective in ex- 

 perienced hands. (2) Poison. Phosphorus paste 

 is generally used, but means lingering torture, 

 and is dangerous to the poultry unless laid only 

 in the holes. If these last can all be located, 

 a plan often used in France is to stop all but one 



