POISONS 491 



are most frequently discovered about the perches or nests 

 where they Hve and breed in the filth accumulating in the 

 cracks and crevices. These tiny parasites multiply rapidly, 

 once the quarters have become infested, and one should be 

 constantly on the lookout for them. When discovered, 

 the roosts and nests should be at once thoroughly sprayed 

 with kerosene containing enough crude carbolic acid to 

 give it a very decided odor. This treatment should be 

 repeated again in nine or ten days if the weather is cool, 

 or in five or six days if it is very hot. The reason for 

 the second spraying is that it is usually impossible to 

 reach with a spray, eggs that have been laid far back in 

 the cracks. It is necessary "to spray the second time and 

 sometimes even a third time in order to destroy the mites 

 that hatch out from these eggs. The interval between 

 spraying depends upon temperature, because the eggs 

 hatch more quickly in warm weather than in cool. Mites 

 are found more often in dark houses than in light ones, 

 and cutting windows in a dark house not infrequently 

 proves a means of preventing fiu-ther infestations. 



Poisons. — ^There are numerous ways in which poultry 

 pick up sufficient poison about the farm to throw them out 

 of condition or even cause death to considerable numbers. 

 Among those most frequently reported are common salt that 

 has been put out for live stock; lead and zinc poisoning, 

 which result from the birds eating paint skins which form 

 on old paint buckets; arsenic, which is the basis of many 

 rat poisons; and copper, which appears in many mixtures for 

 spraying fruit ttees. Nitrate of soda used as a fertilizer 

 may be picked up in sufficient quantities to cause difficulty. 

 The symptoms of the various poisons differ somewhat, but 

 usually include loss of appetite, unsteadiness of gait, or 

 extreme nervousness followed by convulsions and death. 



The treatment is to first seek out and remove the cause. 

 In the case of poisons from fertilizers it will probably be 

 necessary to confine the birds to a grassy pasture where 

 the fertilizer has not been used. The whole flodk, including 

 the affected birds, should be given a heavy dose of Epsom 

 salts, which may be followed, in the case of the affected 



