72 TWENTY LESSONS ON POULTRY I^EPING 



liriwks. Sometimes they can be shot ; or often they can be 

 trapped with a steel trap phicecl on a high pole near the 

 place where the chicks range. 



Ch'ows often prove as dangerons as hawks. If they once 

 start catching little chicks, they will work diligently, 

 si:imetinies carrying off almost an entire flock in a single 

 day. It is much easier to trap or shoot a crow, however, 

 than a hawk ; for the crow seems to forget danger when 

 interested in its prey, while the hawk is always on the alert. 



Owls work at night. The screech owl, which makes 

 the Avild, weird sonnd at night, does very little damage to 

 poultry, as it feeds chiefly on mice ; but the great horned 

 owl is a powerful enemy. It knocks large fowls off the roost 

 at night, and makes short work of them, while they are 

 stunned by their fall. A steel trap on the top of a pole near 

 the hen roost is usually effective in putting- an end to the 

 owl robber. 



Although all of these larger enemies are powerful ones, 

 lice and mites are by far the most destructive foes of poul- 

 try. The louse is a parasite which makes its home on the 

 body of the fowl, and gets its living by sucking the chicken's 

 blood. There are two effective methods of killing lice. 

 One is by giving the chickens a dusty place to scratch in. 

 The dust fills the breathing pores of the lice, and smothers 

 them. Another way of getting rid of the pests is by the 



