Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 130, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1918 — FIGHT PESTS OF CHICKEN FLOCKS [ARTICLE]

FIGHT PESTS OF CHICKEN FLOCKS

Mites Must Be Combated With Sprays of Insecticides in Poultry Houses. DUSTER FOR UCE TREATMENT Powdered Sulphur Is Best to Use for Eradication of Llce^—High Efficiency of Sodium Fluorid of Recent Discovery. R p? - —— Fowls are infested by two kinds of body parasites —lice and mites. Lice live continuously upon the birds. The common mite feeds upon "them on the roosts at night, and after feeding secretes itself in the cracks and crevices about the roosts. There are many different kinds of poultry lice. Those most common on, fowls are the body louse, yellowish in I color and about one-tenth of an inch in length, Which remains on the skin of the fowl; the shaft louse, somewhat smaller and very pale in color, which is usually seen on the shafts of the feathers; and the head louse —a large gray species which is most frequently observed on the heads of young chickens. Lice are not usually very abundant on healthy fowls which are kept under " sanitary conditions and provided with dust baths. They multiply rapidly upon birds of low vitality and sluggish temperament, and are quickly distributed through flocks upon promises • where attention to cleanliness is indifferent For novices in poultry keeping, and with small flocks generally, it is advisable to make sure that the flock is free from lice by giving the birds individual treatment which will secure that result. The most universally procurable article for this purpose is powdered sulphur. The method of applying this is to hold the bird by the feet —head down —and dust the sulphur freely into the feathers, using either a small insect powder gun, or a can with a perforated cover. Pyrethrum may be used in the same way. Neither of these remedies will thoroughly and permanently rid poultry of lice. When they are used treatment must be repeated at more or less frequent Intervals, as may appear necessary. By using commercial sodium fluorid in the fdrm of powder, or as a dip, all species of poultry lice may be destroyed at one application. As the high efficiency of sodium fluorid in destroying lice on poultry is of recent discovery the material is not ordinarily found in all drug stores. With a demand for it, however, local druggists will secure supplies. Poultry keepers who desire to thoroughly eradicate lice from their flocks should wtite the United States department of agriculture, Washington, D. C., for Farmers’ Bulletin 801, which gives, with full details of the use of sodium fluorid, complete Information on the control of mites and Mce. Mita Is Very Small. The common chicken mite is a very small gray Insect which, when it has Ailed Itself with blood, becomes bright red. hence, the name “red rifte” by which it Is often called. It may be discovered, if present, by looking on the under sides of the roosts and nest supports, and in the wall crevices near r them. Where the mites are very abundant they may be found in large masses In such places. They also fre-

quent the nests of sitting hens. With reasonable attention to the cleanliness of poultry houses, mites are not likely to be troublesome except in warm weather. - > Treatment for mites consists in applications of liquid insecticides or disinfectants to them and to the places where they harbor, repeating the applications at intervals of about a week until all are destroyed. Any of the petroleum products commonly used for disinfectant purposes will be found effective for the destruction of mites.