HEALTH AND DISEASE OF POULTRY 561 



Dampness, filth, and warm weather favor the increase of these 

 lice, and a setting hen in a foul nest is their paradise. At night they 

 crawl about on the roosts, going from one fowl to another, so that 

 one infested bird will soon cause the infestation of an entire flock. 



The chickens do not suffer from loss of blood, but from the 

 nervous exhaustion induced by the biting of their scales and the 

 scratching and pricking from the claws, often resulting in sores or 

 ulcerations. The continual worry and loss of sleep produce debility 

 and bowel troubles. Little chickens are, of course, more susceptible 

 and often die from the attacks. Unlike mites, lice are usually con- 

 fined to one kind of host, and the lice on ducks, geese, and pigeons 

 are of kinds different from those on chickens. 



Remedies. Many people who keep a few hens consider the in- 

 festation by lice a natural state of affairs, and so long as the lice are 

 not so excessively numerous as to interfere seriously in egg produc- 

 tion no attempts are m-ade to exterminate them. Lice, however, are 

 readily killed by a number of substances, although there is more or 

 less difficulty in getting at them. Hidden among the feathers or 

 close against the body the parasites are secure against any remedy 

 unless it be applied very thoroughly. Moreover, one application is 

 not enough. What will kill the lice may not affect the eggs or 

 "nits," so it is necessary to repeat within a few days any method of 

 treatment that may be used. 



Carbolic acid, tobacco, sulphur, naphthaline, or any oily sub- 

 stance will kill the lice if it touches them. Carbolic acid must be 

 handled with great care, for it is a burning poison. It is used mixed 

 with lime or kerosene. To make the lime mixture, stir 2 ounces of 

 90 per cent carbolic acid in 1 pint of cold water, sprinkle it in a half 

 bushel of lime, and leave the lime to air slake. This can be sprinkled 

 anywhere about the henhouse, but is most effective if put in the nests 

 and mixed with the dust in the "wallow." If kerosene is used, take 

 2 ounces of carbolic acid to 1 gallon of kerosene, stir it thoroughly, 

 and paint the mixture upon the roosts and nests, keeping the poultry 

 out of the house until the mixture is dry. 



Tobacco is used as an infusion, made by pouring hot water on 

 tobacco stems. The hens are dipped into the liquid thus made. This 

 is not a pleasant method to practice, and care should be taken to pre- 

 vent the fowls from taking cold. Tobacco dust is the basis of vari- 

 ous powders which are advertised to be used against lice. Their value 

 depends largely upon the strength and freshness of the components. 

 They are often used successfully, although frequently they are ex- 

 pensive. 



Sulphur mixed with air-slaked lime, 10 pounds of sulphur to a 

 half bushel of lime, is also often used against lice. This may be 

 scattered everywhere in the house, or mixed in the dust wallow. Sul- 

 phur can also be used in fumigation. To avoid danger from fire, 

 the sulphur or sulphur candle should be put on an old tin can or 

 something similar, and this placed in the middle of a pan of wet 

 ashes or earth. Light the candle and shut the house tightly for sev- 

 eral hours ; then air it well before allowing the hens to enter. 



