Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1918 — BACKYARD POULTRY KEEPING [ARTICLE]

BACKYARD POULTRY KEEPING

If the best results are to be expected from the flock, the hens must not be allowed to become overijpn with lice or the house with mites. Usually there will be a place in the yard where the hens can dust themselves in the dry dirt. If such a place is not available, a box large enough (about two feet square) for the hens to get into it shpuld be provided in the house and a quantity of dust such as ordinary road dust or fine dirt placed in it to allow the hens a place to dust themselves. A dust bath aids the hens in keeping lice in check and therefore adds to their comfort. Usually the lice are not present on the birds in sufficient number to.prove particularly harmful. However, it is better to keep the hens as free as possible from this pest, and if they are not able to keep them in check by dusting themselves, other measures can be undertaken.

To rid the hens of lice, each one can be treated by placing small pinches of sodium fluorld, a material which can be obtained at most large drug stores, among the feathers next to the skin —one pinch on the head, one on the neck, two on the back, one on the breast, one below the vent, one at the base of the tail, one on either thigh, and one scattered on the underside of each wing when spread. Another method is to use a small quantity of blue ointment, a piece about as large as a pea on the skin one inch below the vent If mercurial ointment Is used ..instead of blue ointment, It should be diluted with an equal quantity of vaseline. Any of these methods will be found very effective In ridding the hens of lice and should be employed whenever the lice become troublesome. Two or three applications a year usually prove sufficient Mites are more troublesome and -more harmful than lice. They do not live upon the birds like the lice, but during the day hide In the cracks and crevices of the roosts and walls of the house, and at night they come out and get upon the fowls. They suck the hen’s blood, and If allowed to become plentiful—as they certainly will If not destroyed—will seriously affect her health, and consequently her ability to lay eggs. They may" be eradicated by a few thorough applications of kerosene or some of the coal-tar products which are sold for this purpose, or crude petroleum, to the interior of the poultry house. The commercial coaltar products are more expensive but retain their killing power longer, and they may be cheapened by reducing with an equal part of kerosene. Crude petroleum will spray better if thinned with one part of kerosene to four parts of the crude oil. Both the crude petroleum and the coal-tar products often contain foreign particles, so should be strained before attempting to spray. One must be sure tht&athe spray reaches all of the cracks mid cfevlces, giving especial attention to the roosts, dropping boards and nests.