14 FAEMERS BULLETIN 897. 



repel the fleas from bedding, and these substances, as well as oil of 

 pennyiwal and oil of tar, may be used about the household to drive 

 out the fleas. 



It should he home in mind that the methods of trafpinng and re- 

 jyelling just discussed are secondary to the more important measures 

 of destroying the hreeding places and freeing hosts from fleas. 



METHODS OF CONTROLLING THE STICKTIGHT OR CHICKEN FLEA. 



Many of the suggestions for controlling fleas in the household are 

 applicable to the stick-tight flea. As has been pointed out, this species 

 breeds largely in chicken houses and adjacent buildings frequented 

 by the fowls, although dogs and cats may be important sources of 

 infestation. 



As a preliminary step it is well to see that the poultry are kept 

 away from other animals as far as possible. Especial care should 

 be exercised to keep dogs and cats from lying about the chicken 

 yards or places frequented by the poultry. xVll animals, and the 

 poultry as well, should be excluded from beneath houses and barns, 

 as such places are favorable for flea development and difficult to 

 treat if they become infested. These precautions should be followed 

 by a thorough cleaning out of the chicken house and outbuildings 

 frequented by the poultry. All of the material should be hauled a 

 good distance from the buildings and scattered. The places where 

 the fleas are thought to be breeding should then be sprinkled with 

 crude oil., This species can not thrive in damp places, and if the 

 sprinkling is done two or three times a week no further breeding is 

 possible. One of the most satisfactory methods of preventing breed- 

 ing is to scatter salt freely about the chicken house and then wet the 

 soil down thoroughly. Fords should not he permitted to eat the salt., 

 as it is poisonous to them. 



It is rather difficult to destroy the sticktight flea on fowls without 

 injuring the host. It is desirable, however, in the case of heavy in- 

 festations to destroy as many of the fleas as possible. This may 

 be accomplished by carefull}?^ applying, carbolated vaseline to 

 the clusters of fleas on the fowls, or greasing them with kerosene and 

 lard — 1 part kerosene to 2 parts lard. In all cases care should be 

 taken that the applications of grease are confined to the seat of in- 

 festation. It is important that dogs and cats be freed from stick- 

 tight fleas. This may be accomplished by washing them in a saponi- 

 fied coal-tar creosote preparation, as has been described, or by greas- 

 ing the most heavily infested parts with kerosene and lard. Rats 

 sometimes harbor these fleas in considerable numbers, therefore their 

 destruction will aid in the control work as well as doing away with 

 another troublesome chicken pest. 



