Arizona republican., 1922-05-21

the vermin from taking tolls that rep
resent the potential profits of the
flock.
Here in this warm climate where
man, animals and fowls thrive If
given a fair opportunity, it is just
as natural that all kinds of insects
will thrive, too. The insects that be-
come such pest in the poultry yard
do and will thrive if given any sort
of a chance. Putting it in another
way, in order to prevent the rapid
spread of poultry vermin, one musS
keep constantly on the alert.
1t is not necessary to say that any
one particular insect is the worst
that we have to contend with be-
cause there are poultry keepers that
find one kind more troublesome than
others. Likewise there are some in
sects that are easier to keep in sub
lection than others. Several years
ago farmer asked the writer to see
if he could find why his hens left
their nests after sitting for a week or
so. 1t was a little late in the season,
but with plenty of shade the farmer
thought that chicks, even late
hatched, would do well, and quite
likely they would if the hens had
been able to stay on the nests. a
close examination of the nests re-
vealed myriads of mites, the tiny
spider that infests nesting material,
the cracks in roosts, houses and
everywhere they can find lodge
Inent. Probably a patient hen can
stand a few of these pests, but when
they come in droves and armies, it is
too much and the hen has to quit.
Probably this is a satisfactory way of
breaking broody hen so far as ac
complishing the object is concerned.
but consider the drain on the hens
vitality, hardly to be commended.
Mites Easiest Rid
Mites. of all vermin that infest
poultry, are quite likely the most
easily eradicated. Frequent changing
of the nesting material and the litter.
frequent cleaning of the houses and
most important of all saturating nest
boxes (not nest materially. roosts. and
the corners and cracks of the houses
with coal OIL or carbolenium, are
effective measures that do the work
and do it quickly Whitewashing also
is beneficial The following is the
whitewash formula used by the
United States lighthouse board:
Make thin paste of so pounds of
hydrated lime in boiling water Cor
slake "a bushel of quicklime in about
715 gallons of water, keeping the yes
sci we'll covered and stirring occa-
sionally). Add ! peck of common
salt dissolved in hot water 3 pounds
of rice flour boiled to a thin paste
and stirred in while hot, n pound OF
Spanish whiting and ] pound of clear
glue thoroughly dissolved in boiling
water.
Mix we'll in the order given and let
the mixture stand for several days
before using. Apply as hot as possible
with a brush or spray.
There are several varieties of poul-
try lice. There are many breeders OF
these that have no idea what variety
they are breeding. While frequently
they are taken to the show room.
there is very little competition among
breeders and rivalry such as is COM
mon among breeders of standard bred
poultry is unknown Most of us are
fairly well satisfied to classify lice
generally into head lice and common.
or body lice. The head lice usually
do but little damage except to young
chicks. The chicks that are hen
hatched and hen raised are infested
far more than those that know only
the artificial mother. Grease or al
most any kind rubbed on the head
with the tip of the finger is an effec-
tive remedy. Lard. lard compound,
vaseline, and probably many other
kinds of grease are effective and sale
to use, If the application is not too
heavy Sometimes too much grease
will appear to make the chicks sick
for a few hours Treating the hen
el,n fss ell chr hn a
preventive but does not always seem
10 be. The head lice come like the
mea sles or the tax assessor. without
warning, unlimited and when least
expected.
Lice on Fowls
The common louise is commonly
found on all fowls, regardless OF
breed and previous condition OF
servitude is not always a guarantee
of freedom from these pests. of
course in the we'll regulated and up
to-the- minute Cor is ii DOWN yards
there are no lice (?). But most of US
will hesitate to bet that careful
census will not reveal at least few.
Persistent effort is the price that one
must pay for reasonable freedom, and
by persistent use of remedies ana
methods that are simple there will be
no appreciable loss or damage from
lice
Until a few years ago the most ei-
fective lice powders were proprietary
preparations or pyretheum powders.
Probably the first public or semi
public announcement Of more effec-
tive agent for lice was made by de-
partment of Agriculture officials to
the Maricopa County Poultry associa :
ton. Prof Wildermuth of the U. 5.
chronological laboratory at Tempe
had been asked to deliver talk on
lice and other vernin at one of the
meetings of the association. Permis-
sion had to be obtained from the de-
partment Word was received that
inasmuch as the department was then
working on experiments with sodium
fluoride as an agent for exterminat-
ing lice that it was preferred that
Prof. Windermuth defer his talk un-
til the experiments had been con-
cluded. Shortly after this the results
of the experimental work was given
to the public.
Sodium fluoride is now well known
and may be had put up in small car
tons with perforated tops ready for
use For the small flock the most
common way of applying is the dry
or pinch method. The powder