153 



TO RID A HOUSE OF MITES. 



You should never permit your house, the nests, the droppings 

 boards, or the litter to come to such a state of uncleanliness as to 

 breed mites in the first place. Every poultryman should clean and 

 disinfect or whitewash his houses early in the spring and fall seasons. 

 He should paint his roost poles and nest boxes regularly every month 

 with a solution of one gallon crude carbolic 

 acid and two gallons of kerosene. For killing 

 mites in your poultry houses after they have 

 once infested it, we advise you to use the fol- 

 lowing on the interior walls and roof: Shave 

 one ten-cent cake of laundry soap into a pint of 

 soft water; steep it until a paste is formed, stir 

 in one pound of commercial cresol, and beat or 

 allow to stand until the paste is dissolved, stir 

 in one gallon of kerosene. Double the quanti- 

 ties if you wish. Cresol may be obtained from 

 the druggist at about thirty cents per pound. The re mi^roscope der the 

 Care should be taken not to get any on the hands 

 and face. Apply the undiluted mixture to the walls with a brush. 



Before painting the w r alls with the above solution, it may be best 

 to burn a pound of sulphur for every one hundred square feet of floor 

 space in the house. Use an iron vessel and put it up on bricks or 

 stone so there is no danger of fire. See that all windows, doors, cracks 

 and crevices are closed and the house made tight. Put a few shavings 

 in the vessel, light them, then pour in the sulphur. Do not open the 

 house for several hours. 



EGG EATING. 



If you keep a few china nest eggs on the floor about the laying 

 room or in the yard, the hens will pick at these, and it will discourage 

 them from attempting to eat the eggs in the nest. It is also advisable 

 to place your nests away from the light, as the hens are not apt to 

 eat the eggs if the nest is rather dark. Keep your nests up off the 

 floor. Supply oyster shell and some meat food. If the hen persists 

 in this bad habit, trim the point of her beak until it bleeds. Keep 

 the hens busy. Avoid broken eggs, as this is usually the beginning 

 of this trouble. 



FEATHER EATING. 



Make an ointment consisting of a teaspoonful of extract of aloes, 

 to a cupful of lard, the two being well mixed. Treat the feathers round 

 the portion of the bird which has been plucked with this ointment, 

 and usually one or two bitter doses of feathers will stop the guilty 

 bird. Feather eating is caused by overcrowding and insufficient ex- 

 ercise, and the birds should be kept busy in search of their food. Trim 

 the beak of any bird found guilty of this habit. 



TO PREVENT FIGHTING. 



If two birds persist in fighting, tie one leg of one bird to a leg of 

 the other bird. Let them be about twelve to eighteen inches apart, 



