LICE, MITES, TICKS AND WORMS 



183 



at the time. This spring I had a splen- 

 did looking flock of 100 females and 

 twelve males. They were beauties, but 

 recently developed the feather-pulling 

 habit and are now a sight. Never in 

 moulting time have I seen poultry look 

 worse. Many of the hens look as though 

 plucked for market, and not one of the 

 roosters has a vestige of tail. The hens 

 still keep up laying as well as before 

 (from fifty to sixty-five daily) ,_ but I 

 cannot believe this will hold out in their 

 present condition. 



I have them, on a two-acre range and 

 feed them cut green bone in large quan- 

 tities four times a week in addition to 

 all the other grains obtainable. My ex- 

 perience can only suggest two causes 

 for such a state of affairs : 1, Insufficient 

 animal food. 2, Close confinement. But 

 neither of these causes enters into the 

 present state of affairs. Can you ad- 

 vance a reason and suggest a remedy? 

 By so doing you will greatly oblige one 

 who is getting interested in raising fine 

 looking birds.— F. S. S., Tucson, Ariz. 



Answer — Your birds have what is 

 called "Depluming mites." The principal 

 symptom of this trouble is a _ loss of 

 feathers from spots of various sizes, sit- 

 uated on different parts of the br-V 

 The feathers break off at the surface ^ 

 the skin, and at the root of the feather is 

 seen a 'small mass of epidermic scales 

 which is easily crushed into powder. A 

 microscopic examination of this powder 

 reveals numerous mites and the debris, 

 which they produce. 



The disease appears in poultry yards 

 as a consequence of the introduction of 

 one or more birds already affected. It 

 is readily communicated, develops rapid- 

 ly and in a few days a whole flock is 

 contaminated. It usually begins on the 

 rump and spreads rapidly to the back, 

 the thighs and the belly. An infested 

 cock will rapidly infest all the fowls in 

 a poultry yard. Often the head and the 

 upper surface of the neck are affected 

 early in the course of the disease. The 

 feathers fall off at all these points and 

 finally the skin is denuded over a a large 

 extent of surface. The large feathers 

 of the tail and wings and the wing co- 

 verts are generally retained. 



The denuded skin presents a normal 

 appearance; it is smooth and soft, of a 

 pinkish color and not perceptibly thick- 

 ened. By pulling out the feathers which 

 remain near the invaded parts, it is easy 

 to find, with fowls, a mass of epidermic 

 scales at the end of the quill, which con- 



tains a number of parasites. The gen- 

 eral health of the birds is apparently not 

 disturbed. They remain in good flesh 

 and continue to lay as though they were 

 not affected. It seems, probable that 

 much of the irregular moulting, feather 

 pulling and feather eating are due to the 

 irritation caused by the Sacroptes 

 Laevis. 



The treatment for this is not very 

 difficult, but must be persisted in until 

 a cure is effected. Carbolic salve should 

 be rubbed over the affected portions ot 

 the skin and the adjacent parts, or a 

 salve may be made by mixing one part 

 of carbolic salve, one part, of flour of 

 sulphur, one part of powdered aloes with 

 ten parts of lard or vaseline. 



A large surface of the body should 

 not be covered with strong carbolic acid 

 preparations, on account of the danger 

 of absorption and poisoning. The af- 

 fected parts of the body may be rubbed 

 every fourth day until a cure is effected. 

 It is well to finish the treatment by dip- 

 ping the birds in a two per cent creoline 

 bath and to whitewash the houses with 

 carbolated whitewash. This will kill 

 any mites which may be left in the feath- 

 ers or about the roosts. 



Worms From Wild Birds — Some 

 years ago my fowls became afflicted with 

 a round worm, also tape worms, and in 

 one article you mentioned several rem- 

 edies, such as santoine, turpentine and 

 tincture of male fern. I dug up the 

 yards and seeded to green feed, but all 

 to no purpose ; it has practically driven 

 me out of business. Last spring I in- 

 vested in some outside stock (just 

 hatched baby chicks), but they also be- 

 came infested, although they were on 

 new land. However, I managed to keep 

 down those pests by occasionally dosing 

 the hens with the above mentioned medi- 

 cines. We do not feed anything unclean 

 to our fowls and it always has been a 

 puzzle to me where such worms came 

 from. 



A few days ago our house cat brought 

 home a small bird, which she began to 

 devour on the house porch, but leaving 

 the intestines, out of which crawled two 

 good sized round worms such as fowls 

 have. As we live in the woods, do you 

 think this has anything to do with it? 

 I am almost afraid to start my incu- 

 bators this season, as it may only result 

 in future failure. — W. E. B. 



Answer — Your fowls undoubtedly get 

 the worms as the wild birds do, from 



