154 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



Maine Station's bulletin on poultry management says 

 the sprays recommended for mites will destroy ticks 

 as well, but California poultrymen have found paint- 

 ing or spraying the infested house with corrosive 

 sublimate sohition (8 ounces of corrosive sublimate 

 to 20 gallons of water) the most effective remedy. 

 When houses can be tightly closed they may be fumi- 

 gated with sulphur or formaldehyde or with the 

 cyanide process used for citrus trees. 



With ticks as with other pests, the best remedy 

 i» prevention. A house that is kept perfectly clean is 

 not likely to be infested. 



Fleas 



The common hen flea (Pulex gallinae) is also 

 found in dirty houses and runs, and especially in 

 nests where straw is used. Theobald recommends 

 the use of excelsior or shavings for nesting material 

 because fleas do not breed as readily in them as in 

 straw. 



The most effective remedy for fleas is perfect 

 cleanliness. Whitewashing with a wash to which 

 crude carbolic acid has been added (1 pint acid to 

 12 gallons whitewash) , and throwing or spraying it 

 into all the cracks and dark corners will usually 

 drive them out, but the houses must be watched and 

 cleaned again and again. To get the fleas off the 

 hens dip them in Zenoleum or a good sheep dip. 



For sticktight fleas and sand fleas spray or wash 

 the houses with hot salt water and apply corrosive 

 sublimate to the fleas found on the chickens. In 

 handling corrosive sublimate care must be taken to 

 keep it out of the chickens' or the attendant's eyes, 

 for it is a very deadly poison. 



