POULTRY WORLD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 77, 13 March 1933, Page 11

POULTRY WORLD

LICE ON FOWLS SUGGESTED MEASURES. USE OF SODIUM FLUORIDE. Fowls affected with various species of lice are a source of trouble and annoyance, and also cause financial loss, as such fowls are not fully productive. Poultrykeepers should always adopt some system for prevention and controlling of lice, if fowls are to be run for profit. ,

At all periods of the year various species of lice cause much trouble and loss in tho poultry yard, but more than ever during tho summer months. Ex-, tensive tests in America have shown that nothing is so effective for the control of lice as sodium fluoride. The finely powdered commercial form is not only the least expensive, says a bulletin of the Ministry of British Agriculture, but also the best and most easily applied. It should contain 80-98 per cent, of pure sodium fluoride, one pound of which would be sufficient material to treat 100 fowls. The method of applying the sodium fluoride powder is to place small quantities on different parts of the birds, and to distribute it among the feathers by running the fingers through them. Care should be taken to cover every part, as the lice do not migrate freely, and those in places that aro not dressed may escape. This process should be done in a tray of some kind, so that any surplus material falling out of the feathers may De caught and used again. The powder may be applied by means of a shaker, but this method is not so economical as application with the fingers, and has the additional disadvantage of filling the air with the dust. Sodium fluoride is very irritant to the membrane of the nose and throat, and it is well for the operator to wear a wet cloth over the nose and mouth to filter out the irritating particles. For this same reason, the fowls should be released outside as soon as the dusting is completed. If used too freely on young chickens sodium fluoride may do harm and even kill them. Hens with young chickens and chickens less than two weeks old should not be treated. Care must also be taken to prevent the material from contaminating food or water, as when taken internally it is a poison.

When sodium fluoride remains in contact with the human skin for any length of time it is apt to cause burning and blistering, for which reason tho fowls should not be hold between the knees when being dressed, but should be on a table. It is also advisable to wash the hands carefully after handling the powder. The action of sodium fluoride on the lice is slow, but one thorough dressing will kill all present in the course of two or three days, and will remain in the feathers sufficiently long to kill any lice that subsequently hatch from eggs. A treatment that, has been used with considerable success is to paint tho perches with a 40 per cent, solution of the nicotine sulphate shortly before the fowls go to roost. This treatment should be repeated three times at intervals of three days. A warning must be given of the extremely poisonous nature of nicotine sulphate. The operator must be careful not to allow any considerable amount to get on his hands, and ample ventilation must be provided in the fowl house, or harm may result to the fowls. It is particularly dangerous in the presence of lime, and should not be used in poultry houses that have recently been whitewashed.

Dust-baths are useful, but sannot bo relied on as a remedy for mites and lice as some fowls seldom dust themselves, while those that do only got rid of some of the parasites. Pyrethrum powder or finely- powdered sulphur may be mixed with the dust bath, but where lice are present in numbers it is far better to eradicate them completely by the sodium fluoride method described above.