The Florida agriculturist., 1905-12-20
Figh ting Lice and Suppressing
BrOodineSS.

batting the insect enemies of his
Ohio Poultry Journal:
| have been very busy getting things
i'm shape at my yard and fighting lice,
which is a sort of recrea ton for most
pOultrymen But with several hun
dred birds to keep laying, one must
fight the lice if the egg basket is to be
kept full. This means work, and with
me it has been quite a problem. L
have been experimenting in this line,
and have hit upon a plan that does
the work, and does it well. What L
mean is that doing it once will last for
some time 1t does not have to be
done all over the following week.
Formerly 1 used lice powder on the
chickens, fumigated the house and
painted the perches, but this was not
thoroughly effective, because it did
not get every louise or kill the eggs.
My plan now has been to take one
pound of napthaline flake and dissolve
it i'm about one and half gallons of
coal Oil, letting it stand for day or
two, then fill small Spinwall sprayer
with the mixture and go for the lice.
Have an assistant to use the pump.
Put an apron over your lap. Then
start in, running your fingers through
the fowls feathers, just as you would
in busting with powder, but have your
attendant force a fine spray through
the feathers. After a little practice
this can be done very rapidly, but
care should be taken not to get on
too much of the solution, as it will
blister, but a fine spray will do no
harm to the bird or feathers, and will
effectually rid the bird of every louise,
every nit or egg that is on it. Care
should be taken to spray the head,
neck and every section of the bird.
The fumes of this solution will kill
the vermin, but direct contact is a
sure thing. The odor will last for
several days, and the conditions are
such that no louise can live, even
after several days from the time of
treatment.
If the pens are cleaned and new
litter or straw put in, even white
birds will look no worse for the ope-
ration, provided they are kept in
clean place for day or two. When
this is done properly and the pens
are cleaned and given the same treat
ment, which requires but a few min
utCS. ohC VIII ldSI lOI
months, providing your chickens do
not mingle with others that are lousy,
as one lousy chicken will soon inOcu-
late an entire flock.
The question of how to keep down
the lice has been quite a problem,
and has been the direct cause of many
failures in the poultry line. The lice
pest is not so bad with a few, but
with large number it constantly be-
comes worse, and soon OverrunS the
place and eats up the profit. Few
pOultrymen would stand up and let
some one take money out of their
pockets without looking for an oppor-
tunity to fight back, but practically
this is the same condition when they
allow their stock to become infested
with vermin, as all the nutriment of
the feed is used up in order to supply
sustenance for the lice, and then eggs
and meat soon become scarce articles.
L hope this will be a benefit to some
of the readers of the Ohio Poultry
Journal, as it has proven a success
with me.
L also want to say few words i'm
regard to breaking up broody hens.
as this is the time of the year when
pOultryman's patience taxed to
its full capacity if he does not want
fn yiOIafa tba IaUc of tho ,roo1 bonl-