58 NATURE AND ITS 



and make the leg's nice and smooth. This should be rubbed 

 on three or four times. Keep the roosts well oiled with 

 kerosene to keep off the lice. You will find millions under 

 the roost poles. 



Egg Eaters. 



Nests should be in a dark place and so low that the hens 

 cannot stand up in the nest and pick at the eggs. Keeping 

 the hens scratching 1 in straw will prevent egg eating. Close 

 confinement causes this trouble. 



Feather Eating. 



. This is also caused by close confinement, and being 

 penned in a yard with nothing to do. Give them free range. 

 Free range is what is wanted by poultry. If they are yarded 

 up they get into all sorts of trouble. 



PIP. 



This is caused by overcrowding and old runs, where 

 fowls have been kept for years. A new location is a preven- 

 tative. Gapes is also caused by filthy quarters. Put lime in 

 water, and also throw air slaked lime in the houses and all 

 over the poultry. Do this at least once a month. To all 

 poultry, if not sick, lime, air-slaked, in powdered form, is the 

 best disinfectant there is. It sweetens water, houses, and 

 prevents lice and dampness. 



Gasoline is the best lice killer, sure and safe to old and 

 young poultry. It never disturbs them nor makes them sore* 

 nor will it kill them. Spray it all over them with a sprayer, 

 but be careful not to have a lamp or a match near it_ 



Never hatch late chicks. Anything hatched after June 

 1st is not worth having. The late hatched chicks never will 

 amount to anything. In the fall they are small and puny, 

 and liable to diseases and colds, because they are not full 

 feathered and not matured. 



