118 
The Australasian Book of Poultry. 
to combat if good results are desired in the management of chickens or adult stock. Kerosening and lime- 
washing roosts, nest boxes, and crevices is an excellent method of eliminating the red mite ; but all this class 
of treatment will not reach the body lice. The only method to destroy these pests is by the use of insect 
powder, worked thoroughly under the feathers to the skin. This plan will kill all the lice the powder 
reaches ; but, then, our ignorance of the " life history " of the eggs and incubation steps in 
to hamper us. The tiny eggs, in clusters at the roots of the feathers, still remain to hatch 
by the warmth of the Fowl's body. These cannot be destroyed but by measures which would 
inevitably kill the Fowl also. If the " period of infancy " were known, the birds could be 
dusted with insect powder, so as to kill them before they matured and deposited eggs. As there 
is no guide at present available, we strongly advise our readers to use the insect powder on infested 
bird at intervals of a week to a fortnight apart, doing this three or four times, or as long as eggs can 
be discovered. The commonest error made by nearly everyone is to dust the birds once. This, no doubt, 
removes those that are matured, but fails to affect those eggs which hatch later, and in a few weeks, if the 
weather is warm, the lice are as bad as ever. To show to what an extent this pest will multiply if given an 
opportunity : If a person should purchase eggs, hatching them in a new incubator, rearing them in a new 
mother or brooder, in a new house quite away from where Fowls had ever been kept, and not allow them to 
come into contact with other Fowls, the chickens would not have lice, and the birds would never be troubled 
with them unless lice were introduced from some other Poultry by their clinging to the clothes of a visitor, 
or being dropped by a bird flying over, or in some such manner ; but if one bird is introduced to the 
flock suffering from lice, in a few weeks at most the whole flock would be swarming with them. In other 
words, there must be contamination, no less a person than the Eminent Naturalist, Charles Darwin, stating 
that iherc is no such thing as spontaneous generation of animal life. Neither would it be possible for the 
lice nits, or eggs of lice, to be brought there attached to the shells of the hen's eggs. Nature arranges 
things differently, by the eggs of the lice being attached to the shafts of the feathers close to the skin, so that 
the warmth of the Fowls body will hatch them. There is not nearly so much difficulty in coping with the red 
"Spider" mite, or blood-sucker. This pest hibernates in the cracks, joists, and crevices of roosts, roost supports, 
nests, and the walls of the house and coops, attacking the birds at night only. This insect can be easily extermi- 
nated by pouring kerosene oil over roosts, nest boxes, etc., till it penetrates every crack and crevice. The oil will 
kill every louse it reaches, and destroy every nit or egg. I'he worst of all pests is, however, the sucker louse 
or tick. These are found mostly on the heads, necks, and throats of chickens when the latter are a few days 
old. They are dark in colour, elliptical in shape, nearly an eighth of an inch in length, with legs near the 
head. They move very slowly, and are a variety of tick which fasten on the head of the chicken, and 
literally suck the life-blood away if neglected. They hold on to the flesh with such tenacity that at times it 
is difficult to dislodge them, and almost invariably they bring a small portion of the flesh away with them. 
They also seek the under parts of the body, under the wings and the vent, where the flesh and feathers are 
moist and the heat most concentrated. When the chicks are first hatched they quickly find their way to the 
soft and tender parts of the body, and are totally unlike the smaller kinds which roam over the surface of 
the skin, mingle in swarms in certain spots, and are easily shaken off when the fowl dusts itself. The ticks 
will bury themselves partly in the flesh, making it difficult for the bird to dislodge them, and will draw their 
substance from the bird's flesh and blood until death takes place ; and the enormous mortality which annually 
takes place amongst chickens can be distinctly traced to the blood-suckers or ticks. To prevent the chickens 
being attacked, the hens should be thoroughly dusted with insect powder two or three times during 
incubation, the nest at the same time also being lightly strewn with powder. If insect powder dropped 
upon the heads of the chicks infested will not kill the lice, a rag dippjd in kerosene, then wrung out well and 
laid on the head for a minute or two, will effectually remove the lice and not injure the chicken, or by 
applying carbolic oil as directed in Chapter VI., on the management of chickens. 
Liver Disease arises from a variety of causes, indigestion frequently being the first step towards the 
disease, often being caused by insufficient exercise, over feeding, exposure to damp and cold, intense heat 
