PARASITES CAUSE HEAVY LOSSES 267 



they puncture the skin and the blood vessels beneath. 

 They are a constant drain on the health and strength of 

 the adult fowls, fastening themselves on their heads and 

 sucking the blood from a position over the brain. As the 

 chicks are hatched, these lice leave the old hen and fasten 

 on the chicks. If you pick up a droopy chick and examine 

 its head, you are almost sure to find these lice fast by 

 their bills, busily sucking the blood. You must look close, 

 or you will mistake them for pinfeathers. They cause 

 such extreme weakness that often the bodily organs are 

 unable to perform their functions properly, and people 

 think the chicks are dying of cholera or other diseases, 

 when it is really the head lice that are killing them. To 

 destroy these, rub some sweet oil or lard well into the 

 feathers and skin on the heads of the chicks, and of the 

 older fowls also. 



Mites are even worse than these others. They hide 

 during the day in the cracks and crevices of the hen 

 houses, especially about the roosts, and attack the fowls at 

 night, after they have gone to roost. Mites are very small, 

 and if you see them, you are likely to mistake them for 

 dust, for they have that appearance. They, too, are 

 blood-suckers, and rapidly deplete the health and strength 

 of the fowl. To destroy them, a liquid is much better 

 than a powder. Paint the roosts and spray the dropping- 

 boards and walls with a preparation of crude carbolic 

 acid and coal oil (kerosene), mixed half and half. 



There is another parasite belonging to this family, 

 called the depluming mite. It usually appears in the 

 spring and summer, and attacks the roots of the feathers, 

 causing them to break off and leave a bare spot. 



The mite is quickly passed from fowl to fowl, and soon 

 spreads through the entire flock. You will not see any- 

 thing suspicious on the bare spots, but if you will pull out 

 some of the feathers and examine the roots, you will see 

 these mites. 



