LICE, MITES, TICKS AND WORMS 



181 



This will kill every living louse, and if 

 repeated in about five days will prob- 

 ably kill those that are hatched out in 

 the meantime and prevent their laying 

 any more nits. Tobacco water has also 

 been strongly recommended as a dip, and 

 chloro-naphtholium used as directed on 

 the bottle. 



THE SAND FLEA How can I rid my 

 chickens from a small insect known here 

 as the sand flea? I have tried coal oil 

 mixed with lard without effect. The 

 hens scratch their heads so they become 

 sore and some have died; others have 

 had to be killed. Mrs. F. A. F. 



Answer Those fleas are very hard to 

 get rid of. Spray the henneries well 

 with either the kerosene emulsion or 

 good hot salt water, and while the 

 ground is still wet, scatter on it air- 

 slacked lime. Those hens that have sore 

 heads should have carbolated salve put 

 on them, after swabbing them off with 

 corrosive sublimate. This will kill the 

 fleas and cure the sores. Be careful not 

 to let any of the corrosive sublimate get 

 into the eyes or mouth of the fowls. 



STICK TIGHT FLEAS We have noticed 

 a tick or louse on a few of our chick- 

 ens and have discovered some of the in- 

 sects on the perches. They resemble 

 small black beads and are firmly im- 

 bedded in the skin. On some of the 

 fowls we have used for the table we no- 

 ticed a few red blotches on the skin. We 

 would like to know how to get rid of 

 the insects, particularly how to get them 

 out of the hen house. An Inquirer. 



Answer You have the stick tight fleas 

 in your hennery. They are very hard to 

 get rid of, being in some places a perfect 

 pest. A friend of mine lost 500 out of 

 700 chickens last fall from this. I told 

 him to spray very thoroughly with salt 

 and water and he purchased 600 Ibs. of 

 salt, scattered it all over the hennery and 

 yards and then turned a hose on them 

 for several days in succession. He tells 

 me now there is not a stick tight flea 

 on the place. I advised him to get some 

 corrosive sublimate diluted with alcohol 

 at the drug store, take an old tooth brush 

 and carefully apply with it the corrosive 

 sublimate on any fleas he might see on 

 the chickens, being careful not to allow 

 any of the solution to get into the chick- 

 ens' eyes (it would blind them) or into 

 their mouths, as it is very poisonous. 

 You can paint the perches with this; it 



will kill everything it touches. A sat- 

 urated solution of salt and vinegar ap- 

 plied to the fleas on the chickens' heads 

 or bodies will drive them away or kill 

 them. 



HEAD LICE This time I write in des- 

 peration, hoping you may be able to give 

 me a remedy. It is head lice I am fight- 

 ing, and after working for almost five 

 months, I am as far off from being rid 

 of them as at first. I have done every- 

 thing that I have ever heard of. I still 

 find they have head lice and red mites 

 besides. I hope no other beginner has 

 had the trials I have had. Mrs. W. F. K. 



Answer The red mites live in the 

 houses or coops, except when they are 

 feeding off the chickens, usually at night. 

 The cure for them is to spray the coops 

 thoroughly and constantly. You can 

 keep them out of the coops by spraying 

 once every three weeks, but if they once 

 get in, you will have 4 to spray twice a 

 week until you get entirely rid of them, 

 then once every three weeks, to keep rid 

 of them. The head lice live on the heads 

 of the chickens. They lay two or three 

 white silvery nits (eggs) at the root of 

 the feather. The eggs hatch in about 

 five days after they are laid by the lice, 

 consequently to completely destroy them, 

 you should treat the chickens that have 

 them at least once a week. The best way 

 I know of is to take an old tooth brush, 

 a bowl with nice hot soap suds in it and 

 a few drops of the best carbolic acid; 

 brush the chicken's head with this, being 

 sure to touch all the lice and mites. This 

 I know, is an excellent remedy, for 1 

 have tried it. Another given by a friend 

 of mine is, get the druggist to mix some 

 corrosive sublimate with the best pure 

 alcohol, take the tooth brush and brush 

 the chickens' heads with this, being care- 

 ful not to let any of this get into the eyes 

 (or it will blind them) or into the 

 mouth, as it is very poisonous. This will 

 not only kill the head lice and their nits, 

 but it will also kill stick tight fleas, ticks 

 and any insects. It is very difficult when 

 once the pests get into henneries or on 

 chickens to get rid of them. It is far 

 easier to keep the enemy out by constant 

 and thorough cleaning at frequent inter- 

 vals, especially in the summer time. I 

 find using tobacco stems for making the 

 nests of setting hens a good prevent- 

 ive; besides this, I see that all the fowls 

 have good dust baths in damp and mel- 

 low earth. 



