A SELF-SUPPORTING HOME 



to prevent their developing uncontrollably 

 during the coming winter, when the birds 

 may have to be imprisoned for days at a 

 time during heavy snows. Few amateur 

 poultry raisers know that there are several 

 distinct varieties of vermin which seem spe- 

 cially created to torture fowls into an un- 

 profitable state of debility. 



The man who examines his fowls and, 

 finding them free from vermin, congratu- 

 lates himself, little guesses that after dark 

 an army of blood-sucking, fiendish mites 

 swarm from every crack and crevice of old 

 or neglected houses to steal the vitality of 

 his fowls. 



Theobald says there are eighteen varieties 

 of mites. Dr. Woods (one of th^ best au- 

 thorities) assures us only five are common 

 something to be thankful for. The bird 

 tick, Dermanyssus Avium, an imposing name 

 for something not larger than a grain of 

 sand, usually infests pigeon lofts; but as 

 it is carried by all wild birds, the nests of 



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