LICE AND MITES
While we have interior fixtures of the poultry house fresh in mind let
us turn our attention briefly to the study of parasites that live on
the hen, and that are detrimental to her progress. There are quite a
few various insects that depend upon the hen for their existence, but
for our purposes we can consider them in a general class of lice and
mites, as the treatment for each class is practically the same.
Let us first consider the case of lice. These insects live upon the
body of the hen, eating the flesh, and dead skin as it peels off. They
never leave the hen, and if conditions are favorable, will lay their
eggs on her body, thus multiplying rapidly if precautions are not taken
to look after this matter. It is always well to treat a setting hen for
lice before she is placed on the nest, and then once or twice after she
has started her job, because these lice will very readily transfer from
the mother hen to the young chicks, as soon as hatched, and a great
many chicks die every year from these lice. It is a splendid idea to
grease all baby chicks, especially those hatched by natural incubation,
with blue ointment, around the head parts, and wings. The hens can also
be greased in a similar manner over the whole body.
Here is where the dust box that we discussed briefly in the previous
chapter comes in, as the birds, wallowing in the box of dust, smother
the lice, by shaking the dust into the pores of the bird’s body. A
rather recent method of combating lice on birds is now fast gaining
favor. This is the Sodium Floride treatment. This is best used only on
a mild day, however, as the birds are quite wet after their treatment
under this method. The treatment is usually given as follows: Take an
ordinary wash tub, and fill nearly full with not too cold water. For
every gallon of water in the tub, add one ounce of sodium floride,
obtainable at any drug store. Dip the hen in this solution, tail
first, being sure to have a firm grasp on her so she will not splash
the water over. Dip her in this manner about three times, so that the
solution comes up in under the feathers. This method has been found
to be very effective. In extreme cases, where the lice are very bad,
another similar treatment can be given each bird about a month later.
Other good materials to apply to the bird’s body, besides those already
mentioned, are sweet oil, vaseline, and lard.
Now we come to another pest that is a little harder to get rid of
than the body lice. The mites, which are so bothersome to most
poultry, have the peculiar habit of staying on the birds only during
the night, creeping down at daylight to some crack or crevice to hide
until darkness again forces the birds to go to roost. These mites are
even more destructive in their work than are the body lice. They are
generally found in any crack or crevice about the perches. Here they
can obscure themselves, and be very close to their prey when ready to
begin their work at night. While the lice are eating insects, the mites
are sucking insects, and suck the blood of the birds during the night.
When the mite is hungry, he is of a yellowish color. When filled up,
however, with a good meal of blood, he is red. The mite is very small,
and is similar in construction to a spider.
If a flock of chickens are believed to be suffering from mites, and
there are very few, by the way, that are not troubled with these
pests, then it would be advisable first, to whitewash the poultry
house thoroughly, not only the roosting quarters, but the walls and
other fixtures inside the house. Kerosene is quite frequently used to
spray the nests with, but has not the lasting power that some of the
coal tar products possess. Recently, wood preservatives have been used
for the purposes of ridding the poultry house of mites, and very good
results have been obtained from this method.