42 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GEORGIA. 



more trouble and annoyance than any other hindrance to poultry 

 keeping. The quarters often become literally alive with them be- 

 fore the breeder is aware of their presence. They sap the life-blood 

 from the fowls and reduce to skeletons and debilitate a flock to 

 such an extent as to make the season unprofitable. Working only 

 in the night, they escape notice and have things their own way. 



" Fowls that are sitting upon eggs are generally the greatest suf- 

 ferers, for these lice instinctively seek out such hens as are about to 

 hatch their brood, and many a hen sacrifices her life to her mother- 

 hood. 



" In this case the hen becomes sallow in the face, and comb actu- 

 ally bloodless, the lice having consumed the blood to such an extent 

 as to cause death, and many fowls, whose death has been attrib- 

 uted to disease, have been murdered by these pests. 



" The quarters should be constantly watched, and all the cracks 

 and knots on or about the roost saturated with coal tar and kero- 

 sene oil or carbolic acid. The houses must be kept free from them, 

 for the exhaustive influence of these marauders not only entails the 

 loss of blood to the fowls, but by reducing their strength renders 

 the flock more liable to the diseases we have described. 



" It is therefore the best and surest step, toward warding off dis- 

 ease, to have an absolutely clean poultry house. If from one to 

 three pounds of sulphur be mixed with the loamy sand and gravel 

 covering the floor, in which the fowls may dust themselves, and ker- 

 osene oil used as described, the fowls occasionally dusted while on 

 their roosts with a dredging box filled with sulphur and Persian in- 

 sect powder, or carbolic powder, their quarters will soon be cleansed. 

 Cleanliness, coupled with judicious feeding, is what makes fowls 

 profitable. So great a nervous irritant are these species of vermin, 

 that in two flocks, equally well feed, the flock which occupies quar- 

 ters infected with lice will not lay at all, while those free from this 

 annoyance will lay nearly every day. This fact proves them to be 

 an expensive enemy to the breeder. We do not go so far as some 

 writers, and say that all disease is caused by lice, but will say that 

 many a fowl would not have suffered disease were it not for this 

 barn or spide louse. Breeders, look for them at all times. Do 

 not wait for them to make themselves known and force their ac- 

 quaintance upon you." 



