PARASITES UPON POULTRY. 191 



with a hot-lime wash, and the roosts are rubbed with a 

 mixture of kerosene oil and lard, the lice will be made un- 

 comfortable, and if this treatment is repeated a few 

 times, the house and also the fowls will be quite free from 

 vermin. If the house is, as all poultry houses should be, 

 detached from barns and other buildings, it may be 

 fumigated. Shut it up tight and close every opening; 

 then place a pan of live coals on the ground (or if it 

 must be on a wooden floor, put down a few shovelfuls of 

 earth, or cold ashes to hold the pan). Throw on a 

 handful of lumps of brimstone, and get out quickly, 

 closing the door tightly. If the work has been done 

 thoroughly, no lice can be found at the 

 end of a few hours. The white- wash- 

 ing, etc., may then be done. 



In regard to the use of kerosene, it is 

 not more effective perhaps than some 

 other remedies, but is applied more 

 easily than lard, tobacco, sulphur, or 

 whitewash. We apply it to the perches 

 in the hennery from the common 

 lamp-filler. Turn a very small stream 



- ,, , j ,1 Fig. 80. LARGE PALK 



from the spout, and move the can HEN-LOUSE. 

 rapidly from end to end of the perch. 

 The oil gets upon the feet and feathers, and is soon dis- 

 tributed all over the fowl. The lice leave on very short 

 notice, and the fowls are entirely relieved. It is a greater 

 safeguard against lice on chickens, when first hntched, to 

 use the oil in the boxes, before the nest is made for the 

 sitting hen. It takes but a small quantity, applied to the 

 corners of the box, to keep away insects. Tnke care that 

 the oil does not touch the eggs. In using a substance 

 like kerosene about the farm buildings, remember that it 

 is inflammable, and must be employed with caution, 

 avoiding every chance of fire. 



"While the kerosene will destroy vermin by the thou- 



