The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-10

or lady hen doesn't object to scratch ing for a living, but she balks on scratching for worms all day and then having to scratch all night at vermin which delight in strolling over her during the era Of darkness 'Tis pity that the returned soldiers who fought cootieS in France can not be converted into pGultrymen, as without doubt they would work overtime in promoting hen comfort by battling and routing lice and mites from the flocks.
 Fowl lice and mites reduce egg pro- duction,. hinder the growth and reduce the quality of flesh of all classes of poultry. Mites are particularly bad among farm fowls, as these blood ing insects often gain firm foot hold in flocks before the farmer is aware of their presence The hens be- come irritable and decline in egg pro- duction and healthy condition as d result of losing blood to the mites. In heavily infested cpops it is not unusual for the chickens to become droopy and weak. with pale combs and wattles. Sitting hens desPrt their nests and thus ruin the eg5gs, while in extreme cases they are found dead on the nests, being killed outright by the attack of thousands of mites The mites feed almost entirely at night, except that they attack hens lon the nests during the daytime. They secrete themselves in cracks and cr crevices around the chicken house during the day, and hence their presence is often over looked until a heavy infestation has developed
 ROUT MITES FROM BOOSTS
 In controlling mites it is first of all +.-I roosts, nests and Interior of the poui- try house, which should be sprayed with a mixture of one part kerosene and four parts off crude petroleum or crude creosote. Ordinarily one appii- cation is sufficient but as an extra precaution it is advisable to spray a second time about one month after the first treatment. Poultry should be kept out of the treated buildings until the material has well dried into the wood
 Arsenical dip, as a spray. such as is used to destroy cattle ticks, is also fairly satisfactory as a control for chicken mites; several applications arc required to eradicate the mites from the poultry roosts The mites which cause scaly leg usually can be eradi- cated by applying crude petroleum to the legs with a brush or dipping them
 
 enough, although in severe cases it may be repeated at the end of 30 days. Chiggers, which are bad on poultry in the southern and central states, are controlled to a certain extent by dust ing the chickens with flowers of sul- phur and where the fenced range is infested the application of 50 pounds of sulphur an acre with a dust blower aids in eradicating these pests. TTCE IK E DnITT If poultry escapes infestations of mites they are still exposed to the vis- itations of lice which, unlike the mites, remain constantly with the fowl. More than 4D different kinds of lice attack domestic fowls and feed on portions of the feathers or on scales from the skin, their presence in any considerable number resulting in se- rious injury.
 Throughout the southern states the loss due to lice is probably the great est among young chickens. Chickens matched after April 1 and brooded by hens experience high mortality, much of which appears to be due directly to lce the insects being transmitted from the mother to her young. Body lice, head lice and feather lice, like the