224 Diseases of Poultry 



of coal oil or kerosene and 2 parts of raw linseed oil. If a 

 quick cure is imperative a half-and-half mixture may be 

 used. Robinson in Farm Poultry, May, 1907, recommends a 

 quick and easy method of applying this. It is to take a 

 tall quart measure of the liquid to the hen house at night 

 and dip both legs of each infected bird into the measure of 

 oil, holding them there for a moment and then allowing 

 them to drip for a moment more and then replacing the hen 

 on the roost. With any treatment which involves the use 

 of kerosene care must be taken not to wet the feathers of 

 the leg,' as this causes irritation and sometimes burns the 

 skin much as the human skin is burned when it is rubbed 

 with kerosene and covered with flannel. 



A second method of applying kerosene is to put a teaspoon- 

 ful of the oil in a quart measure of water and treat the birds 

 by the method given above. The same care should be taken 

 not to wet the feathers. 



The advantage of these treatments is their easy and rapid 

 application to a number of birds. 



Depluming Scabies 



The mite Sarcoptes lavis var. gallinos (Fig. 46) is the cause 

 of a kind of scabies in fowls which causes the feathers to 

 break off at the surface of the skin. 



Symptoms. — This disease usually appears in spring and 

 summer and is characterized by the dropping off of patches 

 of feathers on different parts of the body. It usually begins 

 at the rump and spreads to the head and neck, back, thighs 

 and breast. The large wing and tail feathers are not usually 

 lost. The exposed skin is normal in appearance. Around 

 the stumps of the lost feathers and at the end of the quills 

 of feathers near the bare spots are masses of epidermal 

 scales. On microscopic examination these scales are found 



