Chapter XII 

 INSECT PESTS AND OTHER TROUBLES 



IT is to be regretted that the little word lice must 

 be writ so large in a poultry keeper's hand book 

 as is the case. Somebody has said that fleas 

 should be welcomed by a dog because they help him 

 to forget that he is a dog. Perhaps this is true of 

 lice in their relation to the hen; at any rate, they 

 encourage activity on the part of the poultryman, 

 who is obliged for his own comfort to keep his 

 poultry house comparatively free of this pest. Lice 

 spell failure for the lazy amateur, as well as for 

 the professional. The only way to be free of them 

 is to keep everlastingly spraying and dusting — and 

 above all, to keep the premises clean. 



Three kinds of lice are found in practically every 

 poultry house, in spite of what some indignant ama- 

 teurs may say. First, there is the common gray 

 body louse, which feeds at the roots of the feathers 

 and causes the fowls untold irritation. Then there 

 is the head louse, a large and blood-thirsty insect 



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