IN THE POULTRY YARD. 165 
Dermin. 
Why |-L during the summer and fall we never saw any parasites - 
NM} on our chickens, though perhaps this was because we 
a= did not look for them. One day, however, we were 
horrified to see a number of lice crawling over the eggs of a hen 
that had left her nest for feed. ‘The hen had been set about the 
end of January, so that the weather was quite cold and the fowl 
did not seem to use the dust bath as freely as during warmer 
weather. When we caught the hen and examined her she pre- 
sented a sorry sight; lice all over. What was to be done ? 
First of all, we put the hen in a barrel with a little fine straw, 
for the present, and placed her in another building. The eggs 
were then removed from the nest one by one, wiped, and put in a 
clean basket. Fortunately we had another hen just ready to sit. 
She was carefully examined, no lice were found, and so we placed 
the eggs under her. The old nest, box and all, was then taken 
away, carried to an open place, dusted with sulphur and set on 
fire. When that fire died out there were no lice in that nest, and 
the slightly charred box was as good as new. 
Our attention was next given to the hen. She was carefully dusted 
with insect powder and returned to the barrel, a fresh setting of eggs 
being placed under her. Next day she was again dusted, fed and 
placed in a clean barrel with clean straw. She was too weak to 
make much resistance to these changes, and settled down on the 
eggs very peaceably. ‘The barrel in which she was first placed was 
carried out doors, the straw dusted with sulphur and set on fire. 
We had the most orthodox faith in purification by fire and brim- 
stone.* 
* A recent writer expresses a doubt in regard to the efficacy of sulphur, but as 
he tells us to ‘“put two or three pounds of brimstone or sulphur in an iron pot, 
in such a way as not to endanger the building ; apply a match; shut it [the 
