424 



PARASITES OF POULTRY. 



[March 1896. 



The young are at first silvery white, with six legs like a true 

 insect. They moult their skin a number of times, the exuvige or 

 cast skins forming a whitish or silvery powder often seen on the 

 perches. As the mites grow older they become darker in colour. 

 Light and air are distasteful to them ; damp, dark, and badly -ven- 

 tilated roosts are where they flourish best. Breeding is especially 

 rapid in spring and summer. This mite is often unobserved, 

 owing to its strict nocturnal habits, and hence the cause of the 

 fowls keeping backward, and even dying, is not understood. 

 Birds should, when looking dejected and emaciated, be examined 

 at night, and if mites are found treatment should be at once 

 resorted to. Transmission to man and other animals is not 

 unusual, but, although the mites for a time cause severe irritation, 

 they will not remaia for any length of time, and readily yield 

 to treatment. Hens should not roost in stables and sheds where 

 other animals are kept, as it is said that fowl lice as well as 

 mites may attack various animals. 



Prevention and Treatment of Fleas, Lice, and Mites. 

 — Infestation is always worst in dirty and neglected runs and 

 roosts, and such are a standing danger to more cleanly neigh- 

 bours. Cleanliness and freedom will always put these pests 

 under a disadvantage, not only cleanliness of the nests, walls, 

 and floor, but also of the ceilings and perches. To suppress 

 these pests the houses should be cleaned down at least twice a 

 year with a wash made of hot lime, sulphur and soft soap, 

 the ceilings, walls, and nests having a good coating. The wash 

 should be fairly liquid so as to run into every crack and crevice. 

 Early spring and autumn are the times for these applications. 

 The perches are best treated with boiling water and soft soap, 

 or with an emulsion of kerosene or creosote. This latter 

 insecticide is most beneficial, especially in regard to mites. 



Special attention should be paid to the nests ; they should be 

 frequently cleansed and changed to keep ofiT fleas and other 

 parasites. Neither nest boxes nor perches should be fixed, 

 relays of each should be at hand, so that they can be changed 

 to ensure com^plete disinfection. The nest boxes should be now 

 and then cleaned out, and dressed with hot lime and sulphur, 

 or with a solution of corrosive sublimate. Either dusting the 

 prepared nests with Persian insect powder, or putting a little 

 sawdust or sand soaked in naphthaline at the bottom, will keep 

 off* these depredators. Wood-shavings, or wood-wool, in the 

 nests instead of straw is most beneficial. No lice or fleas will 

 live in it, owing to the aromatic odour given oflf from the wood. 

 Care, of course, must be taken that the I'emedies employed do 

 not affect the eggs in the nest. 



Schneider's suggestion of fumigating the roosts with sulphur et 

 of carbon, put in small phials in the corners of the houses, &c., 

 where they cannot be upset, is very successful so far as killing the 

 pests goes, but this method is not quite safe to recommend. 



