50 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
They can easily be discovered (being of a dark grey colour) by turning back the fluff on the head, neck, 
and throat, when, if they are present, some movement will be noticeable. We have taken from a dozen 
to 20 off the head of a single chicken, but found that operation very laborious where a number required 
attention. After experimenting with quite a number of different preparations, and killing many a 
promising chicken before we discovered an unfailing remedy, we tried eucalyptus oil to anoint the 
heads of the chickens, but found that many were smothered while under the hen by using this. 
Kerosene oil also killed a good many. We now use carbolic oil, using a camel's hair brush dipped in 
the oil, anointing the head, neck, and throat. A number of chickens can be attended to, and the 
operation can be done speedily, night-time being the best. This will be found an unfailing and effectual 
method of ridding the chickens of the ticks, and is instantaneous in its action, though giving the 
chickens a more or less dirty and bedraggled appearance for a few days ; but it will be found that the 
morning after the operation they will be as lively as crickets. This remedy serves a twofold object, as 
the little ones running under the hen with the oil on the heads and necks gives quick intimation to any 
ticks that may be on the hen's breast and underparts that their presence is not desirable. We never 
had to repeat the operation again with the same brood. It acts instantly and effectually. 
After some time, which varies with the different hens, they commence to beat or peck the chickens. 
When this is noticed, if they are not fully fledged, an artificial mother must be provided, which can be 
made in an hour from a small box and with a few strips of flannel tacked lengthwise from the top, and to 
hang down just clear of the ground or bottom. (See Fig. 39.) The top and sides should have holes 
Fig. 39 —Artificial Foster Mother for Chickens. 
bored for ventilation. With this simple and inexpensive arrangement the chickens will manage to get 
along well until they are well able to take care of themselves, and run about with the rest of the flock. 
One thing to remember in the feeding of chickens : Under no circumstances should soft food be 
left about, as it often becomes sour, and is then very unwholesome and injurious. It will be found that 
once a chicken's growth is retarded by unwholesome food, or from any other cause, it never comes to 
any good. Pure, clean water must always be kept handy, and in a cool spot, and if a little sulphur and 
a little salt are occasionally added to the soft food they will get along famously. 
It is useless to attempt to cure chickens that contract Tubercular disease, which may be detected by 
a watery discharge from the nostrils ; or, on opening the beak the throat and tongue will be found more 
or less covered with a slimy, cheesy substance. When this is noticed they should at once be destroyed, 
and the bodies burnt, not buried, as the disease is most contagious, and will often carry off a whole 
brood. 
We must now proceed to explain the system of rearing chickens hatched in incubators. The 
methods laid down for feeding will be similar in every respect. It is the nursing which requires careful 
attention, as the chickens often are made most hot and uncomfortable by the variations of the 
atmosphere. The scientific manner and large percentage of chickens hatched at the present day by 
incubators has done much to explode the fallacy that it is easy to get chickens hatched, but next to 
impossible to rear them. They are, in f^ct, reared artificially in the easiest manner by receiving the 
