PARASITES 



In looking for lice on a fowl, examine the head feathers carefully, one 

 by one, then look under the wings and along the shafts of the under side 

 of the large wing feathers, examine the feathers of the cushion and saddle 

 down to the skin, and then turn the fowl quickly and look beneath and 

 around the vent. If you have eyes to see, you will find them. If you 

 find only one or two, a thorough dusting of the bird will be all that is needed, 

 but if the lice are plentiful, more vigorous treatment will be necessary. 

 Lice breed on the fowl among the feathers where the warmth of the bird's 

 body can hatch the eggs, which are deposited singly or in clusters among 

 the soft feathers. They seldom if ever breed on young chicks, but are passed 

 along to the chick by some lousy adult bird. 



MITES 



The. moETt common is the red or gray mite, which breeds in cracks and 

 crannies about the poultry house. It wiU be found wherever filth is allowed 

 to accumulate, breeding under heaps of manure, in cracks or joints of the 

 roosts, in filthy nests and dirty straw. The adult mites are oval-bodied, 

 eight-legged little pests, with habits hke a bed-bug. They suck the blood 

 of the fowls, sallying out from their homes in the cracks to feast on their 

 victims. They are white or grayish when empty, and red when full of 

 blood. They are dangerous to the life and health of fowls of all ages, and 

 are a disgrace to any poultry keeper. There is no excuse for harboring them. 

 It is possible to keep the poultry house entirely free from them. They can 

 live almost indefinitely without poultry to feed on, and are commonly found 

 in old, filthy poultry houses. They attack farm animals and human beings, 

 and on some produce an irritating, itching skin eruption. They drive sit- 

 ting hens from their nests and kill chicks. 



FLEAS 



Two varieties of fleas are common to poultry. The common hen 

 flea which breeds in the nests, cracks and dark, dusty places about the 

 poultry house and attacks fowls and chicks, tearing and biting their skin, 

 and sucking their blood. The female of this variety buries itself in the 

 skin, and produces a warty growth, which may in time come away and 

 leave a scar like a burn. Their favorite seat of attack is the bare fleshy 

 part about the head, and if the fowl is attacked by many of these insects 

 at once, it may die. 



Prevention 



The general rules for prevention and riddance of these pests are the 

 same, If eggs are hatched in clean incubators, and the chicks reared in 

 clean brooders, and thereafter kept in clean houses and free from contact 

 with lousy or vermin-infested birds, they will be practically free from lice, 

 mites or fleas. No fowl should ever be added to a flock until it has been 

 quarantined and treated with remedies for lice. It does not matter Whether 

 you see lice on it or not. It should receive treatment on suspicion. For 



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