I30 POUI^TRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



Treatment.— Sanitary surroundings and liberal range help the 

 birds in their attempts to keep themselves free from lice. The 

 dust bath is very efficient in holding the pests in check. It is 

 doubtful, however, whether the dust boxes which used to be 

 almost universally kept in the poultry house are of any real 

 value. It is a noticeable fact that dust boxes are much less used 

 now than formerly. This Station has not made use of them for 

 a number of years. As commonly made these boxes are too 

 small, and too shallow, and are not filled with the proper kind 

 of material. Hens will use them, in most cases, only as a last 

 resort if at all. 



When possible, birds should be given access to dry, sandy 

 ground, and they will provide their own dust bath. Some au- 

 thors advise adding insect powder to the earth in dust boxes for 

 bad infestations. It is doubtful whether under the best of cir- 

 cumstances this does anything but waste the insect powder. It 

 is better to apply the powder directly to the bird and furnish 

 clean earth for the dust bath. 



When hens are used for incubating and brooding it is neces- 

 sary to give some individual treatment to brooding hens and 

 young chicks. It is also necessary to treat sick hens which are 

 not able to use the dust bath. While it is theoretically possible 

 to exterminate the pests and keep the flock free from them by 

 avoiding the introduction of infected birds, this ideal condition 

 prevails in very few poultry plants. In almost all flocks there 

 are enough lice present to cause trouble if conditions favor their 

 development. Robinson gives a very good method for prevent- 

 ing troublesome outbreaks in the following words : 



"Treat with insect powder every sick fowl, every fowl that 

 has been cooped for some days where it could not dust itself, 

 every sitting hen when set, and at least twice again during the 

 period of incubation, the last time just before the eggs are due 

 to pip; treat the young chicks and hen when a brood is taken 

 from the nest, and at intervals of a week until 3 weeks old." 



How to Make an Effective and Very Cheap Lice Powder. 



When the treatment of individual birds for lice becomqs neces- 

 sary some kind of powder dusted into the feathers thoroughly, 

 seems to be, on the whole, the most effective and advisable 

 i-emedy. The powder used must be of such nature, however, 

 that it will be effective. There are so-called "lice powders" on 



