PESTS OF A POULTRY YARD 



Fleas 



The common hen flea (pulex avium) is prevalent in the Pacific 

 States- It is found in filthy hen houses, especially those located 

 on sandy soil. Dirty nests, cracks, dust and dark corners are fa- 

 vorite breeding places for them. They produce great irritation of 

 the skin and in young birds the growth may be permanently stunted 

 and many young chickens killed by them. 



For treating flea bites, bathe the bites with vinegar and water, 

 or lemon juice, and apply carbolated vaseline or lard in which a 

 little carbolic acid has been mixed — 5 drops of carbolic acid (90 per 

 cent) to a tablespoonful of lard. 



To free poultry houses and yards of the fleas, use whitewash 

 freely, adding a pint of carbolic acid to every twelve gallons of 

 whitewash. Spray it or slop it thoroughly into all the corners and 

 cracks. Dark dusty places in the poultry yard afford favorable 

 breeding places for fleas. These corners should be soaked with 

 hot soapsuds or boiling salt water to kill the young broods of fleas. 

 Use carbolized lime, tobacco dust and moth balls in the nests. 



Bedbugs and Ticks 



Bedbugs sometimes attack poultry on their roosts and suck their 

 blood. In Calitornia there is also a species of tick that is fatal to 

 poultry which somewhat resembles the bedbug of the East. To 

 destroy them fumigation is usually employed, either fumigating 

 with sulphur, or, better still, the cyanide process used for the scale 

 on citrus trees. 



To fumigate with sulphur close every door and window and see 

 that there are no cracks to admit the air. Burn one pound of sul- 

 phur for every 100 square feet of floor space in the house. A house 

 10x10 will require one pound of sulphur; one 20x10, two pounds, 

 and so on. The sulphur must be burned in iron vessels which 

 should be set on gravel or sand, so there may be no danger from 

 fire. Into each vessel put a handful of carpenter shavings saturated 

 with kerosene and upon these sprinkle the sulphur. Apply a 

 match to the shavings and hastily leave the house, closing the door. 

 The house should remain closed for 5 hours- Fumigation may be 

 followed by thoroughly whitewashing the inside of the house. 

 Painting or spraying the house with corrosive sublimate is also 

 very effective. Care must be used in handling this poison. 



Mites 

 There are several varieties of the tiny blood-sucking mites to be 

 found in carelessly kept henneries. The red mite is the most com- 

 mon and active of all parasites which attack birds. It is about one 

 thirty-fifth of an inch in length, white or grey in color, except when 

 filled with blood, when they will be red or black. It hides by day 

 in the corners and crevices of buildings, nests, perches, floors, etc., 

 where they may be found in clusters. At night these clusters scat- 



