102 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



ter over the birds and by pricking the skin can fill themselves with 

 blood. They are injurious not only on account of the blood they 

 draw, but because of the itching pain and loss of rest. They will 

 even kill young fowls and sitting hens. When they are discovered 

 vigorous means should be adopted to get rid of them. The Iowa 

 State Experiment Station gives a full description of the best and 

 cheapest way of exterminating these mites. At this station the 

 kerosene emulsion was found to be perfectly effective in killing 

 them. It is made as follows : 



KEROSENE EMULSION— In one gallon of boiling water dis- 

 solve one pound bar of soap or one pound of soap powder. Remove 

 from the fire, add immediately one gallon of kerosene, churn or agi- 

 tate violently for ten minutes, or until the solution becomes like a 

 thick cream. If the oil and water separate on standing, then the 

 soap was not caustic enough. Take one quart of this, add to it ten 

 quarts of water ; spray thoroughly the houses every three days with 

 this diluted emulsion until all the mites are exterminated. To make 

 it more effective, you may add one pint of crude carbolic acid to the 

 emulsion as soon as taken from the fire- The diluted emulsion (one 

 part to ten of water) is also used to rid fowls of lice. By using this 

 spray once a month always, the houses can be kept perfectly free 

 from vermin and thoroughly disinfected from disease- 

 Lice 



There are nine varieties of lice affecting poultry. Some of these 

 lice spread rapidly. One infested bird is capable of spreading the 

 vermin through a large flock. They cause dumpishness, drooping 

 wings, indifference to food and may stunt or even kill the chicks. 

 One of the best means of preventing lice is the dust bath. This 

 bath should be a wallow of freshly turned earth, mellow and 

 slightly damp, out of doors under some tree in the summer time, or 

 in a box six or eight inches deep in the hennery in the rainy weather. 

 Provided with a good dust bath, healthy hens will almost keep 

 themselves clean from lice. When fowls are badly infested with 

 lice they should be well dusted with a good lice powder, of which 

 there are a number on the market. 



In looking for lice on a fowl, examine the head feathers care- 

 fully, one by one, then look under the wings and along the shafts 

 of the underside of the long 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, a more vigorous treatment will be necessary. Lice 

 breed very rapidly 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 ever 

 breed on young chicks, but are passed along to the chick by some 

 lousy adult bird. 



