ENEMIES OF' THE SQTTAB PLANT 109 



They will climb on the boards withoUt help. Treat each old 

 bird in this manner and put them all out in the fly pen, then 

 have a bucket of whit''v\ash ready pud whitewasli the msidi' 

 of the nest room while the birds are drying. Ne^vs with ahy 

 young or eggs can be 'taken but during this operation. 



In order to keep from getting eggs or squabs mixed, and so 

 that you may know the exact nest they belong in, it is well to 

 provide some boxes to put them in, numbering the boxes to 

 tbrrespond with the nest numbers the squabs came from. Young 

 squabs that cannot walk will naturally be more easily cared 

 for than those that are old' enough to walk and will not stay 

 vyhere you put them. 



' I would advise that the old nest material be destroyed and be 

 replaced with nests made of fresh material, first covering the 

 bottom of the nests with air-slacked lime. A good plan is to dip 

 dach nest bottom, providing your nests sire of the reniovatlle 

 type, as they should be. ' [ 



After you have whitewashed the nest room, paint a strip six 

 or eight inches wide clear around the nest room next to thb 

 floor with crude petroleum or coal tar thinned with gasoline. 

 Yoii can use an ordinary paint brush for this. Then shut the 

 doors and windows tight and spray each nest with naptha or 

 formaldehyde, the latter being the best and can be obtained 

 from almost any fair size drug store. 



You should tie a sponge or wet cloth over your mouth and 

 nose before spraying, as the fornialdehyde is apt to make you 

 feick if you breathe too much of it. The Spraying can be done 

 With an ordinary insect sprayer or almost any kind of an ato- 

 mizer, the larger the better. 



Leave the'house closed up for twenty or thirty minutes, then 

 open up and let it air out before the birds are permitted to go 

 back, otherwise- the fumes of the formaldehyde will make them 

 deathly 'Sick and will even' cause them to throw up their feed. 

 As soon as one nest room is completed, proceed to another until 

 the entire plant has been covered. 



As previously stated, this is quite a severe method, but it will 

 do the work and thoroughly rid you of lice and mites if 'you 

 cannot g^t rid Of them any other wayl" If this operation is 

 performed on a warm day it will not be necessary to kee'ji' ^he 

 ■eggs or squabs warm iBxcept to throw a light cloth' over th'em 



