The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-06-01
Poultry Pests.

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lice are beginning to be most trouble
some to poultry. Without question,
lice and mites are the greatest nuis-
ance Of the poultry business and their
raids on the fowls will do more to
destroy the prospects of q dividend
than anything else known. They are
constantly at work, never allowing
the fowls 4 minutes rest from the
everlasting torture. No wonder, then,
that the poor. suffering hen is not
laying her usual quota Of eggs. The
circumstances under which she is COM
PEELED to work are certainly the most
discouraging any one could imagine
trying to produce eggs and flesh from
the food supplied her, while legions
Of lice and mites are sapping her very
life blood. Very often a setting hen
will leave the nest or die thereon. II
the farmer, the owner, will blame the
fowl and say she is no good and if the
latter. he will say the death was
caused by cholera. when nine times out
VI lcu lue CuuSc NdS ipS.
If your hens are lousy you will find
that. although the lice are almost in
visible to the naked eye, they do an
immcnsf amount Of damage. So much
so thaJ(we feel safe in asserting that
the erson who is successful in rails
ing poultry and makes money in the
business is one who keeps down the
lice, one who will not tolerate them
about the premises. 1t is compara-
lively easy to rid fowls Of lice, by
the use of good insecticide and read
ers who are troubled with this pest
are advised to keep supply always
on hand and use it early and often,
for lice breed very fast.
There are many varieties Of lice
which infest poultry, the exact num-
Der being nine. These live and breed
on fowls. They lay their eggs or
nits on the down Of the feathers; the
nits hatch in ten days, so you see, ii
they are not kept down and continually
warred against you will have three
crops of them each month in warm
weather.
The hen louise does not suck the
blood of the fowls, but eats the skin
and feathers; thus they are source
of much irritation and discomfort to
the fowls.
BY the introduction of single
lousy bird among your fowls, this pest
is spread through the while flock. 1t
Is i good rule to look each new fowl
over carefully. and as prccaution-
ary measure give it good busting
with insect powder before allowing it
TO run with the rest of your poultry.
Hem are seldom free from lice en-
tirely, yet it should be the practice
of the breeder to keep them as free
from them as possible.
Another pest which is Of no little
Importance is the mite. This IS not a
louse, but is a blood-sucking creature.
There are several varieties Of mites.
They live in the nests. cracks OF the
houses. old knot holes. etc. These YER
min attack the fowls at night and suck
the blood of their victims. Cracked
roosts. dirty nests and cracks in the
walls are favorite breeding places for
them; in fact, they will stay and breed
in any place which will afford them
a hiding place by day and from which
they can attack the fowls at night.
In straws. filth. or behind the sheath
ing of the poultry house these mites
can be found. and they should be
avoided by careful methods OF the
breeder. who should not allow such
places to exist in his coops. These
mites will live for long time and
have been found in vacant poultry
houses long after the fowls have been
removed from them.
Don't try to find an excuse for the
existence of lice and mites on your
premises; there are no valid ones. These
yermin can be overcome. and it is the
duty every poultry raiser owes to
himself that his fowls be free from
yermin of all kinds.
Look for mites in al cracks of
the buildings, in the nests in the
cracks of the rooStS. and behind the
sheathing boards. They are sometimes
found on the fowls in the daytime, but
not often. as it is not their natural
abiding place.
Lice are always found on the birds,
and sometimes they will leave the
fowls and crawl over the hands of hu-
man beings when the birds are han
died. but they do not stay on or live
Oh the human body. To prevent lice
and other vermin, the poultry house
should be whitewashed, all cracks be
filled with plaster, and roost poles
and nests painted with kerosene. And
lastly, dust the birds with good in
sect powder.
To keep%own the lice and mite pest
is a work that will pay good divi-
dend.-Charlotte Observer.