LICE, MITES, TICKS AND WORMS 



163 



thickened. By pulling out the feath- 

 ers which remain near the invaded 

 parts, it is easy to find, with fowls, a 

 mass of epidermic scales at the end 

 of the quill, which contains a number 

 of parasites. The general health of 

 the birds is apparently not disturbed. 

 They remain in good flesh and con- 

 tinue to lay as though they were not 

 affected. It seems probable that much 

 of the irregular moulting, feather 

 pulling and feather eating are due to 

 the irritation caused by the Sacroptes 

 Laevis. 



The treatment for this is not very 

 difficult, but must be persisted in until 

 a cure is effected. Carbolic salve 

 should be rubbed over the affected 

 portions of the skin and the adjacent 

 parts, or a salve may be made by mix- 

 ing one part of carbolic salve, one part 

 of flour of sulphur, one part of pow- 

 dered aloes with ten parts of lard or 

 vaseline. 



A large surface of the body should 

 not be covered with strong- carbolic 

 acid preparations, on account of the 

 danger of absorption and poisoning. 

 The affected parts of the body may 

 be rubbed every fourth day until a 

 cure is affected. It is well to finish 

 the treatment by dipping the birds in 

 a two per cent creoline bath and to 

 whitewash the houses with carbolated 

 whitewash. This will kill any mites 

 which may be left in the feathers or 

 about the roosts. 



From Wild Birds Some years ago 

 my fowls became afflicted with a 

 round worm, also tape worms, and in 

 one article you mentioned several 

 remedies, such as santoine, turpen- 

 tine and tincture of male fern. I dug 

 up the yards and seeded to green feed 

 but all to no purpose; it has prac- 

 tically driven me out of business. Last 

 spring I invested in some outside 

 stock (just hatched baby chicks), but 

 they also became infested, although 

 they were on new land. However, I 

 managed to keep down those pests 

 by occasionally dosing the hens with 

 the above mentioned medicines. We 

 do not feed anything unclean to our 

 fowls and it always has been a puzzle 

 to me where such worms came from. 



A few days ago our house cat 

 brought home a small bird, which she 

 began to devour on the house porch, 

 but leaving the intestines, out of 

 which crawled two good sized round 



worms such as fowls have. As we 

 live in the woods, do you think this 

 has anything to do with it? I am al- 

 most afraid to |tart my incubators 

 this season, as it may only result in 

 future failure. W. E. B. 



Answer Your fowls undoubtedly 

 get the worms as the wild birds do, 

 from the droppings or eggs of worms 

 from the other birds. By the persist- 

 ent use of turpentine, using thirty 

 drops in a quart of water, or mixing 

 it in that proportion in the food, for 

 a week at a time, you can get rid of 

 them. Also disinfect the ground. 

 The only thing that I can see is for 

 you to keep up this treatment, for 

 a week every two months, giving tur- 

 pentine either in the food or water. 

 I would not be discouraged because 

 that is a sure remedy and by watch- 

 ing and noticing the droppings, you 

 need not fail in rearing the chickens. 



From Pigeons My chickens' giz- 

 zards are affected by red worms about 

 the size of a pin. All the stock I 

 raised last year seemed affected, al- 

 though the eggs came from different 

 places. I have the Brown Leghorns, 

 Brahmas and R. I. Reds. I feed all 

 the various grains, plenty of greens 

 and good meat and bone. The only 

 thing you recommend that I have not 

 fed is charcoal, still as chicks they 

 got it in the chick feed. I have given 

 them turpentine in food and water at 

 various times and it seemed to. have 

 the desired result, but today I learned 

 different, the gizzard is penetrated 

 and has a sore spot caused by these 

 worms. All the stock in different 

 yards are affected. 



I get plenty of eggs and the chick- 

 ens look good, combs nice and red, 

 nevertheless I find them all affected 

 the same way. Mrs. G. S. L. 



Answer I have been through the 

 same trouble myself and so can help 

 you. The difficulty is to find the 

 source. I found out that my chickens 

 were getting the worms or the eggs 

 of the worms from neighboring pig- 

 eons. The droppings of the pigeons 

 contained the eggs of the worms and 

 in a short time the droppings of the 

 chickens also had them and the other 

 chickens ate them and so on they 

 kept increasing. First of all I gave 

 the chickens the turpentine which I 

 recommended to you. A teaspoonful 



