The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-08-01
Poultry and Bees
THK POULTRY YARD IN AUGUST.

The POULTRY YARD IN AUGUST.
If there is any time in the year that
special attention is required more than
at any other, it is during the month Of
August, or say rather from the first OF
July until the last of September. There
are more diseases contracted and pro-
duced at this period than at any other,
and by a little c-arelessness we can
have enough disorders on our hands to
either destroy our flock, or keep US the
rest Of the year getting rid Of it.
Bad water is the foundation Of many
Of the troubles and difficulties we have
to contend with, and while we may
think the fowls well supplied in this
particular, we are apt to be at fault.
Ordinarily, poultry on the farm is more
poorly supplied with water than any
other stock, and not only poorly sup
piled, but &C srely supplied at all. How
many farms or farmers will you fad
that have a special watering place
fixed up in first class order where the
fowls can have clean, fresh water to
drink three times a day, as they would
water other stocks lido not mean by
this that there are but very few of
such, but there are q great many, and
whenever you find n of these you
will find that such farmers make poul,
try pay. A poultryman that will thus
provide proper watering places for his
fowls, also keeps his poultry house
clean and attends to all The other
necessary details.
The next trouble, and perhaps the
greatest evil is lice. I should attach
almost every disease that poultry falls
heir to to lice and bad water, and I
want to tell you if you attend strictly
to both of these little matters, you will
have profitable poultry keeping cor
nered. The period above named is the
time you must fight lice. There are
two particular places to look for lice.
Some look In the poultry house, about
the roosts and nest boxes, and there
stop. Others do not even think of this,
until they go to hunt the eggs and get
covered with mites and every one is
forbidden to 60 near the chicken house
for fear Of getting mites on them, and
they use a long pole to pull the eggs
out Of the nest with. No one loves
lice, it is very true, but to achieve sue
cess we must battle with our enemies,
be it lice or whatever it may, and
when all the preventions we have used
have failed, and the lice are present, it
is necessary to get right after them,
not with long poles, but short ones, and
do not give up until you have posses
sion Of the inside of the house your
self. Mites, or the kind of lice that in
fest the poultry houses are not the only
destructive kind Of lice. Perhaps the
worst are the body lice that stay to
tally with the fowls. These cannot be |
detected IN any way except a close ex
animation Of the fowls, and with an
experienced eye only can they be fully
compreheuded. Flocks after f0cks of
little chicks have died from the effects
Of them before they were two weeks
old, when the blame was perhaps at
tributed to other causes, not even
once thinking of the real trouble.
Not in every case may the weakness
of little chicks be attributed to lice, but !
in nine cases out Of ten, and we may
say nineteen cases out of twenty, 1t Is |
an absolute necessity to free every
mother hen of lice before che matches |
a brood Of chickens, and this can easily
be done by busting her feathers thor
oughly with insect powder, which may
be found at any drug store, and ten
cents worth will clean a dozen or more
Of them. It will take not lees than
three applications to do a thorough Job,
as the egg is not affected and must
have time to hatch out.
The proper weapons to fight lice with.
are insect powder, carbolic acid and
coal oil. The latter is the most effectual,
but the insect powder is perhaps the
safest to use on sitting hens, as the
other might endanger the Matching of
the eggs.
The melting period with old fowls is