DISEASES AFFECTING THE SKIN. 83 



A good supply of dry sand or road dust should always 

 be kept in a box in a warm, sunshiny place where the 

 fowls can bathe at will; a small amount of sulphur or 

 insect powder added to the dust will improve it. 



For the large head louse on small chicks, the appli- 

 cation of clean unsalted lard in which a few drops of 

 oil of sassafras has been mixed with each ounce, is 

 very effectual; a very effectual dip can be made by 

 mixing two or three ounces of creolin in a gallon of 



warm water; the fowl must be held in the water for 

 at least a minute and all the parts, even the head, 

 must be wet, but, of course, the head must not be im- 

 mersed into the dip; after applying lard, and after 

 dipping, the birds must be kept in a warm, dry place 

 for some time. 



Louse Killers, in powder form, or sulphur, are also 

 good, but sulphur must not be used on small chicks. 

 The roosts and nests should be carefully examined 

 every week or two and, if lice are found, they should 

 be scalded with boiling water, or saturated with coal 

 oil, and the walls should be whitewashed at least once 

 or twice a year. 



Fine road dust thrown about in the house occasion- 

 ally, is quite destructive to lice; fumigating, by burn- 

 ing sulphur in the closed house, when fowls are out, 

 will destroy mites. This is very good for small coops 

 that cannot be easily gotteninto. The droppings must 

 be removed often, especially during warm weather. 



To destroy those that affect the feathers only, either 

 the creolin dip, or the oil of tar, alcohol, and water 

 treatment for mange, is very effectual. 



Chickens which dust freely in wood ashes are seldom 

 troubled with lice. 



