Dust-boxes and Insecticides 135 



way in which the poultryman can better combat 

 the body-lice than by providing dust-boxes for 

 his fowls. 



Dust-boxes are objectionable because their use 

 makes the houses so dusty and dirty. If space 

 will permit, a special room or closed dust-bath with 

 window facing the south can easily be constructed, 

 and will keep the house comparatively free from 

 dust, and the bath will be kept free from the litter 

 used in the poultry house. 



It is true that the fowls may be kept compara- 

 tively free from these pests by the occasional use 

 of insecticides dusted thoroughly among the feathers 

 of the various parts of the body, but as this method 

 necessitates the handling of each bird several times 

 during the season, most farmers will prefer to have 

 the fowls use the dust-bath. If an insecticide, as 

 powdered sulfur or insect powder, is used, it should 

 be dusted through the feathers next to the skin, 

 preferably in the evening when the fowls are quiet 

 and on the perches, in order that the material may 

 remain in the feathers for several hours. 



Yards and parks. The question of confining 

 fowls is perhaps somewhat undecided in the minds 

 of many farmers. Because the fowls of a compara- 

 tively small flock, when given their liberty or the 

 run of the farm, thrive well and produce many eggs 

 with very little attention on the part of the owner, 

 it should not be inferred that large flocks will prove 



