180 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



contagious disease and may be impart- 

 ed from bird to bird, probably also from 

 mice, rats, cats and dogs to birds. Young 

 birds appear to be more susceptible to 

 this disease than old ones. Put carbo- 

 lated vaseline on the comb, and in the 

 drinking water use twelve tablets of nux- 

 vomica and sulphur comp. 2X to each 

 pint of water. Continue the treatment 

 until cured. 



Wind in Crop — Will you please tell 

 me the cause and remedy of my little 

 chicks, from three to four weeks old, 

 having a gas gather in their crops? 

 When the crop is pressed, wind comes 

 from their mouth and they stand around 

 and gasp, but otherwise do not look 

 droopy. They eat well, but in three or 

 four days die. I lost quite a number 

 last spring, almost every case being fatal. 

 I have a hen with young ones and I 



would like to raise them without this 

 trouble.— B. C. 



Answer — The wind in the crop comes 

 from indigestion. . Indigestion comes 

 from lice, colds, dirty water, and chief 

 of all from wet mashes or from wrong- 

 ly balanced food, and lack of hard, sharp 

 grit to grind the food. I do not think 

 the chicks with the hen, if she is allowed 

 free range, will get it, but if there are 

 any symptoms of it, put some lime wa- 

 ter into the drinking water and give 

 them pounded up charcoal. Give them 

 also sweet skim milk to drink, as well 

 as water and plenty of nice, crisp lettuce 

 to eat. I am sure if you keep them quite 

 clean, feed clean dry chick feed with 

 plenty of green lettuce, grass or clover, 

 cut up fine, you will not have any wind 

 on the stomach with your chicks. A lit- 

 tle bicarbonate of soda in the drinking 

 water will sometimes help, but preven- 

 tion is the best cure. 



LICE, MITES, TICKS AND WORMS 



Body Lice — I have about 100 White 

 Leghorn chickens and I find that they 

 have a large body louse, large yellow 

 ones ; what can I do to get rid of them ? 

 I think they are keeping my chickens 

 from laying as they should. — Mrs. B. W. 



Answer — Paint the bottom of a box 

 or barrel with a good lice killer; put a 

 little straw in to keep the paint from the 

 feathers, then put the chickens in and 

 cover them three hours. Then examine 

 the hens and pull out all the feathers 

 that have nits (lice eggs) on them, put- 

 ting the feathers into a little can of coal 

 oil. Then dust the hens with a good in- 

 secticide once a week or until you are 

 sure all the lice are dead. Be careful to 

 give the hens a spot of ground, well 

 spaded up, mellow and a little damp. 

 They will bathe in this and usually keep 

 themselves clean. 



Dipping Hens — Would you be so kind 

 as to let me know about dipping hens, 

 etc? I have a flock of some five or six 

 hundred. I notice some of them have 

 lice and bunches of nits on their feath- 

 ers. Whenever I have caught a hen I 

 have greased her well, but this would 

 take too long to go through the bunch. 

 Is there any dip that would be strong 

 enough, and do no harm to the birds, 



that would kill the nits with one dip- 

 ping? — W. L. 



Answer— Lice are supposed to hatch 

 out the nits every five days, and when 

 but a few days old commence to lay 

 again and so keep on breeding indefinite- 

 ly. Dr. Salmon says it has been estimat- 

 ed that the second generation from a 

 single louse may number 2500 individu- 

 als, and the third generation may reach 

 the enormous sum of 125,000, and all of 

 these may be produced in the course of 

 eight weeks. I do not know of any dip 

 that will kill the nits with one dipping. 

 Dr. Salmon recommends a dip of one 

 per cent carbolic acid solution, or using 

 creolin, as it is equally efficacious in kill- 

 ing insects and is less poison to the 

 birds. It is used in the strength of two 

 and a half ounces mixed with a gallon 

 of water. I have used very successfully 

 in the summer time when the weather is 

 warm, the kerosene emulsion made as 

 follows : Dissolve one bar of soap or one 

 pound of soap powder in a gallon of 

 boiling water ; add to it a gallon of coal 

 oil, churn for twenty minutes or until 

 you wish to use it. Take one quart of 

 this top solution and add it to nine 

 quarts of water. Dip the hens into this, 

 being careful not to allow any of it to 

 go into their eyes or mouth, but thor- 

 oughly wet every feather to the skin. 



