CHAPTER XII 
INSECT PESTS AND OTHER TROUBLES 
T is to be regretted that the little word lice musi 
be writ so large in a poultry keeper’s hand book 
as is the case. Somebody has said that fleas 
should be welcomed by a dog because they help him 
to forget that he is a dog. Perhaps this is true of 
lice in their relation to the hen; at any rate, they 
encourage activity on the part of the poultryman, 
who is obliged for his own comfort to keep his 
poultry house comparatively free of this pest. Lice 
spell failure for the lazy amateur, as well as for 
the professional. The only way to be free of them 
is to keep everlastingly spraying and dusting — and 
above all, to keep the premises clean. 
Three kinds of lice are found in practically every 
poultry house, in spite of what some indignant ama- 
teurs may say. First, there is the common gray 
body louse, which feeds at the roots of the feathers 
and causes the fowls untold irritation. Then there 
is the head louse, a large and blood-thirsty insect 
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