LICE, MITES, TICKS AND WORMS 



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spots, as though he had dandruff, and 

 it spoils his appearance. I feed your 

 well proportioned mash, wheat, alfal- 

 fa, crushed green bone, lettuce and 

 cabbage; a mash every morning and 

 corn or wheat for the evening meal. 

 He is vigorous and active, the only 

 trouble being with his comb. If you 

 will kindly tell me how to treat him 

 for this trouble, it will be highly ap- 

 preciated. E. R. T. 



Answer Your rooster has what is 

 called "White comb." It usually comes 

 from close air in the hennery and a 

 total absence of all green food. It is a 

 contagious disease and may be im- 

 parted from bird to bird, probably 

 also from mice, rats, cats and dogs to 

 birds. Young birds appear to be more 

 susceptible to this disease than old 

 ones. Put carbolated vaseline on the 

 comb, and in the drinking water use 

 twelve tablets of nux vomica and sul- 

 phur comp. 2X to each pint of drink- 

 ing water. Continue the treatment un- 

 til cured. 



Wind in Crop Will you please tell 

 me the cause and remedy of my lit- 

 tle chicks, from three to four weeks 

 old, having a gas gather in their crop? 



When the crop is pressed, wind comes 

 from the mouth and they stand 

 around and gasp, but otherwise do not 

 look droopy. They eat well, but in 

 three or four days die. I lost quite a 

 number last spring, almost every case 

 being fatal. I have a hen with young 

 ones and I would like to raise them 

 without this trouble B. C. 



Answer The wind in the crop 

 comes from indigestion. Indigestion 

 comes from lice, colds, dirty water, 

 and chief of all from wet mashes or 

 from wrongly balanced food, and lack 

 of hard, sharp grit to grind the food. 

 I do not think the chicks with the hen, 

 if she is allowed free range, will get it, 

 but if there are any symptoms of it, 

 put some lime water into the drinking 

 water and give them pounded up char- 

 coal. Give them also sweet skim milk 

 to drink as well as water and plenty of 

 nice, crisp lettuce to eat. I am sure if 

 you keep them quite clean, feed clean 

 dry chick feed with plenty of green 

 lettuce, grass or clover, cut up fine, 

 you will not have any wind on the 

 stomach with your chicks. A little bi- 

 carbonate of soda in the drinking wa- 

 ter will sometimes help, but preven- 

 tion is the best cure. 



LICE, MITES, TICKS AND WORMS 



Body Lice I have about 100 White 

 Leghorn chickens and I find that they 

 have a large body louse, large yellow 

 ones; what can I do to get rid of 

 them? I think they are keeping my 

 chickens from laying as they should. 

 Mrs. B. W. 



Answer Paint the bottom of a box 

 or barrel with a good lice killer; put a 

 little straw in to keep the paint from 

 the feathers, then put the chickens in 

 and cover them three hours. Then 

 examine the hens and pull out all the 

 feathers that have nits (lice eggs) on 

 them, putting the feathers into a little 

 can of coal oil. Then dust the hens 

 with a good insecticide once a week or 

 until you are sure all the lice are dead. 

 Be careful to give the hens a spot of 

 ground, well spaded up, mellow and a 

 little damp. They will bathe in this 

 and usually keep themselves clean. 



Dipping Hens Would you be so 

 kind as to let me know about dipping 



hens, etc? I have a flock of some five 

 or six hundred. I notice some of them 

 have lice and bunches of nits on their 

 feathers. Whenever I have caught a 

 hen I have greased her well, but this 

 would take too long to go through the 

 bunch. Is there any dip that would be 

 strong enough, and do no harm to the 

 birds, that would kill the nits with one 

 dipping? W. L. 



Answer Lice are supposed to 

 hatch out the nits every five days, and 

 when but a few days' old commence 

 to lay again and so keep on breeding 

 indefinitely. Dr. Salmon says it has 

 been estimated that the second gener- 

 ation from a single louse may number 

 2500 individuals, and the third genera- 

 tions may reach the enormous sum of 

 125,000, and all of these may be pro- 

 duced in the course of eight weeks. I 

 do not know of any dip that will kill 

 the nits with one dipping. Dr. Salmon 

 recommends a dip of one per cent car- 

 bolic acid solution, or using creolin, as 



