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. These parasites are found more 

 or less on nearly all birds. The strong, 

 healthy fowl in clean quarters with ample 

 space for dusting will probably not be 

 bothered much. But lice seem to thrive best on weak, stunted 

 birds, and intensify this weakness. 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 powde~. 



Sometimes the fowls are dipped or the houses fumigated, but 

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



Fia. 210. Body louse of 

 the domestic fowl, Menopon 

 biseriatum. Such lice live on 

 the fowl's body all the time. 



