148 EGGS AND POULTRY 
have used commercial roup cures more as a 
preventive than as a remedy, as I have found 
it almost impossible to save a hen once the 
disease has made much headway. “An ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” so 
above all things keep your house drv and 
clean and begin adding the roup cure to the 
drinking water before the disease shows 
itself. 
Lice and mites cause much trouble as well 
as loss of chickens. Lice do not really en- 
danger the lives of the hens but are a great 
annoyance, as you will notice if you watch a 
flock of hens pick the insects off with their 
bills. Lice stay on the hens, living on the 
scale of the skin, etc., but not sucking any 
blood from the chickens. If the hens are 
supplied with a dust bath of sand or ashes 
after they are enclosed for the winter they 
will not be seriously troubled. They will 
find some place to dust themselves in spring 
and summer, so lice will not affect them. 
Mites are a more serious menace to the 
health and vitality of fowls, as they work 
during the night when the hens are defense- 
less upon the roosts, sucking themselves full 
of blood and then sneaking off in the morn- 
ing and hiding in any crack or crevice that 
