POULTRY PARASITES 



507 



The axle grease and resin should be melted and the other 

 ingredients mixed into the melted mass. Pour into a tin or mold 

 and allow to cool. 



POULTRY PARASITES. 



External Parasites. — The prevention or extermination of com- 

 mon external poultry parasites is a tedious and painstaking process, 

 necessitating constant watchfulness and preventive measures. 

 There are some thirty known species of insects and other forms of 

 animal life which are parasitic upon poultry, some living on the 

 skin, some boring under it, while others stay on the bird only long 

 enough to get their nourishment. The 

 presence of these insects forms an economic 

 factor in the health of a flock and the 

 profit from it. Birds infected with para- 

 sites do not grow as large, nor do adults 

 lay as many or as large eggs, as when not 

 infested. The parasites suck the blood of 

 the fowls and disturb their rest at night. 

 It is unnecessary for the poultryman to 

 know all of these different species in order 

 to protect his birds from them, but there 

 are four common types which will be here 

 discussed, namely: Lice (Fig. 210) ; mites; 

 scaly legs; depluming mites. 



Lice are the most common parasites of 

 poultry. There have been found at least 

 eight distinct varieties on domestic poultry. 

 Of these only three occur to a damaging 

 extent, the one shown in figure 210 being the most common. They 

 usually swarm over the body, always producing a scurvy-like 

 roughness of the skin, and sometimes destroying it. They cause 

 diarrhoea and general debility, manifested by a pale comb and 

 entire cessation of the reproductive function. Lice live on the 

 waste material thrown off by the skin and feathers. They breathe 

 through pores or openings in the sides of their bodies, and can be 

 killed by filling these pores with fine powder, hence the custom of 

 dusting with insect powder. A good powder should be used or 

 the effort will be wasted. 



Sometimes the fowls are dipped or the houses fumigated, but 

 these methods are not recommended, owing to the rumpling of the 



Fig. 210.— Body louse of 

 the domeatic fowl, Menopon 

 biserialum. Such lice live on 

 the fowl's body all the time. 



