CHAPTER XIV. 



SANITATION IN POULTRY HOUSES SPRAYING AND 

 DISINFECTING POULTRY HOUSES 



HENS have their enemies. These parasites must be controlled if 

 highest results are obtained. To control these pests requires certain 

 systematic efforts which are not difficult if followed. Woe to the 

 poultryman that neglects these precautions. An ounce of prevention 

 is better than a pound of cure. It is better to see that these enemies 

 never start than to keep them down when once established. 



Blood -sucking Mites 



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Perhaps the worst enemy the hen has to contend with is the little 

 red mite or spider lice that lives in the cracks and walls of the poultry 

 house and harbors in clusters under the perches. These breed very 

 quickly and soon infest all the cracks and even crawl up into the roof 

 and breed by the millions. Sometimes the nests and r'^en the soil on 

 the ground floor becomes alive with these terrible parasites. They can 

 live for long periods on filth if the hens are not accessible. They do 

 their bloody work at night wTTen the hens are on the perches, crawling 

 from long distances to the perches. There have been many inventions 

 to keep them from reaching the perches, such as little oil cups at the 

 end of each perch so that they must pass through the oil before reach- 

 ing the hen. Perches swung on wire is a common way. But with all 

 these precautions none is better than a complete spraying of the whole 

 house with strong solutions that penetrate every crack and crevice. 

 Perhaps the best solution known to poultrymen is that composed of 

 crude oil and crude carbolic acid thinned down with stove oil so that it 

 will spray easily. 



About one part c-r 7 " carbolic acid to ten parts of crude oil and 

 stove oil. The proportions of stove oil and crude oil can vary, even to 

 using all stove oil without any crude oil. Crude oil is heavy and hard 

 to spray without thinning with stove oil, and also tends to soil the 

 feathers of. the hens more or, .1 ess. It makes a better body for the spray 

 and lasts longer when applied. The oftener a house is sprayed with 

 this strong spray the less liable it is to become infected. After a few 

 sprayings the cracks are filled with crude carbolic acid and this is the 

 part that is the most deadly. It is a good plan to paint the perches 

 with a brush with crude carbolic acid undiluted at different periods, say 

 twice per year. 



If the poultry house is thoroughly sprayed with this solution about 

 three or four times duri ig the warm months of the year, there will be 

 no trouble for mites, if the houses are not sprayed the mites will 

 simply eat the hens alive and egg production will be impossible. 



The hens will also become more liable to disease from the weakened 

 condition caused from loss of blood. Many a would-be poultryman 

 has gone on the rocks from a little neglect in spraying the poultry 

 houses. 



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