The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-16
uphur pyrethrum powder is effective against lice ium fuorid remedy, will kill all lice fowls.
By MRS. JOHN C. MOSES

By MRS. JOHN C. MOSES There should be 100 hens on every farm in the United States. And we should
 obtain 100 or more eggs from every hen. With approximately 6,00o000 farms that
 would mean 6o0,o 600 hens and 6, ,o00, 000,-
 oOo eggs per year. according to the call culation of the expert writers, who then add that that number of eggs consti- tutes military resource not to be ig nored.
 One hundred hens on every farm is not a particularly big contract There is hardly farm in the United States but could support that number of hens prac- tically on it's waste materials and with- out materially added cost. One hundrs mems to farm is considerably less tha the average number of hens to farm Tn many of the better poultry producing sections of the country. It is an aver
 age that could easily be maintained in the sections of the country where the average per farm is now lower. One hundred eggs from every hen, while far below what could be obtained With proper encouragement of fowls, is considerably more than the average egg production.
 LICE AND MITES
 Fowls are infested by two kinds of body paraStes-lice and mites Live live continuously upon the birds. The com
 mon mite feeds upon them on the roosts at night, and after feeding secretes it. self in the cracks and crevices about the roosts
 There are many different kinds of poul- try lice Those most common on fowls are: The body louse, yellowish in color and about one-tenth of an inch in length, which remains on the skin of the fowl; 1 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 very large gray species which is most frequently observed on I the heads of young chickens
 I Lice are not usually very abundant on healthy fowls which are kept under sani- l tary conditions and provided with dust baths They multiply rapidly upon birds of low vitality and sluggish tempera-
 ment, and are quickly distributed through
 flocks upon premises where attention to cleanliness is indifferent.
 For novices in poultry keeping and
 with small flocks generally, it is advis-
 able to make sure that the flock is free I from lice by giving the birds individual | treatment which will secure that result. l The most universally procurable article | for this purpose is powdered sulphur. The method of applying this is. to hold the plfu py the Ieel--nedQ uOWn--and aust l the sulphur freely into the feathers, using either small insect powder gun, or a can with a perforated cover Pyrethrum may be used in the same way. Neither \ of these remedies vii thoroughly and permanently rid poultry of lice. When they are used treatment must be repeat | ed at more or less frequent intervals, I as may appear necessary.
 SODIUM FLUORID 1 By using commercial sodium fluorid
 in the form of powder, or as dip, all species of poultry lice my be de- 1 stroyed at one application As the | high efficiency of sodium fluorid in destroying lice on poultry is of recent discovery the material is not ordinar- 1 fly found in all drug stores. With d demand for it, however, local drug gists will secure supplies. Poultry i keepers who desire to thoroughly eradicate lice from their flocks should l write the United States department of agriculture, Washington, D. C.. for farmers bulletin sol, which gives, with full details of the use of sodium fluo-