Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1880-06-03
DESTRUCTION OF vERM1N IN POULTRY

The following interesting remarks on the
above subject are from the pen of NJ. Lecou-
teuX. the talented editor of French con-
temporary:
One of the chief causes Of the frequent
failure of those who attempt to rear young
chickens is, that so few people attach suf-
ticient Importance to the desirability OF
keeping them free from vermfn. Scarcely
any fowls are entirely free from these para.
sites.
Artificial mothers. even, cannot be kept
entirely free from these dangerous enemies,
although the lice found upon the chickens
hatched in an incubator are not to be COM
pared to those that infest birds hatclled and
reared under the wing of their mother.
The louse that have found i'll chickens
that have been kept free from contagon is
comparatively large one. 1t is said their
appearance is spontaneous. They are usu-
ally found in the head, and in groups OF six
or eight for a solitary one is rarely met
with. They are easily seen, and may be
known by their size and black color, and
they stick fast TO the down of young chicks.
so that it is necessary to use tweezers or Il
piece of thorn to dctach them. II, during the
first twenty days after Matching, care be
taken to search young birds well to keep
them free from these pests, there will be no
more difficulty. for these lice are not bred
upon chickens which are more than three or
four weeks old. OF course, it is important
that the eggs should be destroyed, and this
could not possibly be done with the hand on
account OF the small size and the number of
these eggs, and the way in which they stick
to the down Of the bird, therefore little oil
should be put in different parts of the body
of the chick, and this will do all that is de
sired.
But supposing that young chickens are
freed from this particular parasite, there is
another to be guarded against, and one that
is still more dangerous because it is smaller
and comes in larger numbers. speak of
the small louise that is found in adult poultry
under the wings, in the down of the tail, and
indeed in every part where the heat is con-
centrated.
"A HCll lIidi IS lHlCSlcu WIFI lIlesc NeflnlH
will waste away even when we'll fed, and if
she sits will leave her eggs. on account OF
the torment she endures from them. This
louise lays an enormous number OF eggs, and
generally deposits them in groups, which
stick to the small feathers of the neck and
it is best to take some scissors and to sacri.
flee these feathers, being careful always to
throw them in the fire, SO thar the eggs may
be quite destroyed.
Many remedies nave been tried in order
to get rid of these verlnin in fowls, but none
have been entirely successful. The pests
may have been reduced in number, but not
destroyed.
Cinder dust, insect powder and snuff, all
sprinkled ON the skin and in the feathers.
have been used, and of late years it has been
that the fashionable remedy,
petroleum, should be employed for that pur-
pose. Experience, however, proves as fol-
lows:
Cinder dust, snuff and insecticide are pal
liatives. They destroy large number of
lice. but the treatment needs to be repeated
at least every fortnight. Petroleum certain