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Show I SUGGESTIONS ON THE CARE OF CHICKENS t v ... - . , fa'. fl SUPERIOR FLOCK OF WHITE LEGHORNS. (By H. L. KEMPSTER. Missouri College of Agriculture.) If, for no apparent reason, there is a lack of thrift among your young chicks, perhaps the cause is lice, or worms in the intestines. Examine the chicks about the head for head lice. Lice are more likely to be present on hen-raised chicks. If lice are found, grease the heads of the chicks with lard which is free from salt. Do not use lard and sulphur. Apply the lard with the finger, rubbing the head, neck, under the wings and around the vent. The brooding hen should also be treated. One of the best methods of exterminating lice on the mature fowls is to rub a piece of blue ointment, oint-ment, the size of a pea, into the skin Just beneath the vent, and also under each wing. Do not daub it on, but rub it well into the skin, as blue ointment oint-ment is very poisonous and will kill the hen if she gets some of it into her mouth. If no lice are found, carefully examine exam-ine the intestines of a dead chick for intestinal parasites, such as tapeworms tape-worms or round worms. If worms of any kind are found, the chicks should be treated and removed to fresh ground where there are no worms in the soil. As long as the chicks remain on the old runs the danger of contamination contam-ination is always present. Treatment for Parasites. To treat for intestinal parasites feed should be withheld for 12 hours, and one of the following remedies given : Powdered areca nut, 30 to 45 grains for an adult bird. Powdered areca nut, 15 grains for Immature chicks. This can be mixed in a wet mash and fed so that each gets an equal amount. It can be fed to older birds in capsules which, can be forced down the gullet. Turpentine, one to three teaspoon-fuls, teaspoon-fuls, depending upon the age of the bird, is also effective;. It can be made less severe by mixing with an equal amount of cottonseed oil, but If ineffective, inef-fective, should be used full strength. The best method of giving turpentine is by forcing it through a small flexible flex-ible catheter that has been oiled and is passed through the throat into the crop. Good results have been reported also with the use of tobacco dust, using five to ten grains to a bird. This can also be fed in a wet mash. The droppings containing the worms should be burned or buried deep to prevent the chickens from picking them up. Dollar-and-a-Half Hen. There is profit in keeping a good poultry flock. This was shown by a flock of White Leghorn pullets at the University of Missouri. From 50 to 60 birds were housed in an open front poultry house with a yard 100 feet square which was sowed to wheat in the fall. This furnished green food in the late fall and early spring and was not charged against their feed bill. In a year's time the fowls consumed 2,693 pounds of grain and 962 pounds of mash. The total cost of the feed was $66.27. In estimating this cost the following prices per 100 pounds were used : Wheat, $1.66 ; corn, $1.60 ; bran, $1.20; cornmeal, $1.75; shorts, $1.40; and beef scraps, $3,25. These prices are higher than the feed would bring if sold by the farmer, but at that the flock returned a good profit. They produced a total of 8,057 eggs at a food cost of 10 cents a dozen. At the prevailing prices the eggs sold for $157.17, thus giving a total profit of $90.90. At an average price of 23.4 cents a dozen the hens returned a profit of a dollar and a half apiece above the cost of feed. Even at an average price of 20 cents a dozen the hens doubled the value of the feed. They were fed as a scratch food a mixture of two parts cracked corn and one part wheat. The mash consisted of equal parts of bran, shorts, corn-meal corn-meal and beef scrap. Grit, oyster shell and water were kept before the birds all the time. |