POULTRY PARASITES 507 
The axle grease and resin should be melted and the other 
ingredients mixed into the melted mass. Pour into a tin or mold 
and allow to cool. 
POULTRY PARASITES. 
External Parasites.—The prevention or extermination of com- 
mon external poultry parasites is a tedious and painstaking process, 
necessitating constant watchfulness and preventive measures. 
There gre some thirty known species of insects and other forms of 
animal life which are parasitic upon poultry, some living on the 
skin, some boring under it, while others stay on the bird only long 
enough to get their nourishment. The 
presence of these insects forms an economic 
factor in the health of a flock and the 
profit from it. Birds infected with para- 
sites do not grow as large, nor do adults 
lay as many or as large eggs, as when not 
infested. The parasites suck the blood of 
the fowls and disturb their rest at night. 
It is unnecessary for the poultryman to 
know all of these different species in order 
to protect his birds from them, but there 
are four common types which will be here 
discussed, namely: Lice (Fig. 210); mites; 
scaly legs; depluming mites. 
Lice are the most common parasites of 
Fia. 210.—Body louse of 
poultry. There have been found at least the domestic fowl, Menopon 
eight distinct varieties on domestic poultry. béseriatum. Such lice live on 
the fowl’s body all the time. 
Of these only three occur to a damaging 
extent, the one shown in figure 210 being the most common. They 
usually swarm over the body, always producing a scurvy-like 
roughness of the skin, and sometimes destroying it. They cause 
diarrhoea and general debility, manifested by a pale comb and 
entire cessation of the reproductive function. Lice live on the 
waste material thrown off by the skin and feathers. They breathe 
through pores or openings in the sides of their bodies, and can be 
killed by filling these pores with fine powder, hence the custom of 
dusting with insect powder. A good powder should be used or 
the effort will be wasted. 
Sometimes the fowls are dipped or the houses fumigated, but 
these methods are not recommended, owing to the rumpling of the 
