FARM AND GARDEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 347, 25 March 1911, Page 6

FARM AND GARDEN.

POULTRY LICE. In keeping- a poultry plant free from lice there are two points of attack—one, the birds themselves: the other, the houses, nest boxes, roosting boards, etc. For the birds themselves experience has shown that the best way to get rid of the lice is by the use of dusting powder to be worked into the feathers. In using any kind of lice powder on poultry it should always be remembered that a single application of powder is not sufficient. When there are lice present on a bird there are always unhatehed eggs of lice ("nitts") present, too. The proper procedure follow up a first application of powder with a second at an interval of four days to a week. If the birds are badly "infested at the beginning it may be necessary to make still a third application. To clean the cracks and crevices of the woodwork of houses and nests of lice and vermin a liquid spray or paint is probably the most desirable form of application. The lice powder which the Maine experiment station uses is made at a cost of only a few pence a pound in the following way:—Take three parts of gasoline and one part of crude carbolic acid. Mix these together and add gradually with stirring enough plaster of Paris to take up all the moisture. The liquid and the dry plaster should be thoroughly mixed and stirred so that the liquid will be uniformly distributed through the mass of plaster. When enough plaster has been added the resulting mixture should be a dry, pinkish brown powder, having a fairly strong carbolic colour and a rather less rronounced gasoline odour. Do not use more piaster in mixing than is necessary to blot up the liquid. This powder is to be worked into the feathers of the birds affected with vermin. The bulk of the application should be in the fluff around the vent | and on the ventral side of the body ' and in the fluff under the wings. Its I efficiency which is greater than that of any other lice powder known to the writer, can be very easily demonstrated by anyone to his own satisfaction. Take a bird that is covered with lice and apply the powder in the manner just described. After a lapse of about a minute, shake the bird, loosening its feathers with the fingers at the same time, over a clean piece of paper. Dead and dying lice will drop on the paper in great numbers.

Don't start poultry farming with- j out practical experience. Good eggs are just as essential in the incubator as under the hen; do not try to get a chick from a stale one. Keep the chicks busy hustling for all they have to eat; this is the way to get them strong on their feet. In fattening dudes and geese powdered charcoal in the proportion of one-fifth in the mass has been found useful. Do not use sawdust for a scratching litter, as the hens are bound to pick some of it up; it is no use for them. Scald all the vessels from which the fowls drink frequently, and before putting in fresh water empty out the old. The laying life of a hen is about three years; after that the bird becomes poultry suitable for boardinghouse use. Sir Walter Gilbey, an eminent authority, condemns he use of simulans of "any kind to force egg-produc-tion of competitions. Keep a little charcoal where the chickens can peck at it as soon as they want to; this is one of the best bowel correctors. In a good hatch the chicks begin to pip their shells about the 20th day and should be out before the 21st. CONSTIPATION IN FOALS. This is a common trouble in foals, especially very young ones. The contents of the rectum after birth, called the "meconium," should be expelled very soon after birth, but where it is retained, measures should be immediately adopted for. its removal. The meconium of foals is naturally somewhat stiff in consistence, but when it comes away it is normally followed by much softer faeces. Retention of the. meconium in foals is most frequently seen in those whose dams have been fed on dry food during pregnancy. If the bowels do not i operate within two or three hours I ai'lxv birth it becomes necessary to adopt measures for emptying the rectum. Treatment. —With a weli-oiled finger as much of the hardened meconium as possible should be removed, and afterwards an enema of soapy water about three-quarters of a pint in quantity should be injected into the rectum. This is best done with a brass syringe, made for the purpose i with a long well-rounded nozzle, but in an emergency it can be satisfacj torily effected by passing a piece of | ordinary half-inch rubber pipe into the rectum and pouring the water down it through a funnel inserted in its end. If in the course of an hour or so matters are not remedied, another enema should be given of half a pint of warm water and V> oxz. of glycerine. This .usually has the required effect. It is best, especially in the case of very young foals, to avoid giving medicine by the mouth for the relief of constipation. In the few cases where this is really necessary caster oil is the most suitable for that purpose, in doses of 1 oz to 2 oz. Manna used to jat employed for this purpose, and is a fairly etteetual and harmless agent. Its action, however, cannot be always depended upon. It is better, however, at all times to operate upon the pQ\ve|s of the foal through its dam's milk.,, und thia can in most cases be done readily enough by a little careful attention. The mare should have an abundance of pure water to drink, and she should be fed only on sloppy food such as bran-mashes and boiled roots. For medicine which will act upon the foal through the milk, the mare should

receive from 2 oz. to 0 oz. of sulphate of soda. Some mares will drink this in their water, but in most oases it is necessary to administer it, dissolved in water, as a draught.

RUPTURES IN FOAI.S. ! The two commonest ruptures in foals are umbilical or navel hernia and scrotal hernia. The first is a very common form of rupture in Otago, and, although I am not in practice (writes a correspondent to the "Journal of the Department of Agriculture,") I have operated on over twenty of these cases during the last twelve months at the special request of farmer who could not obtain the services of a veterinary surgeon otherwise. I threefore have some reason to infer that there must be a considerable number of ruptured foals born in this province. The best age at which to operate is from nine to eighteen months old. Many cases of small navel ruptures spontaneously reduce, but if they persist and show no signs of diminution in size by the time the foal is nine months old the sooner they are operated upon after that the better. The practice in England is to perform these operations after weaning time, and before the winter sets in. Unbilical hernia in foals consists of an opening in the abdominal wall in the vicinity of the navel through which a portion of either bowel or omentum protrudes and makes a bag for itself between the skin and the abdominal wall. Very many of these ruptures consist of a portion of the great omentum, or, as it is called, the caul fat, and it is a few of these cases brincipally which spontaneously recover. There are two methods of operating on these cases —one, which is adopted for the more extensive ruptures, consists of opening the sac and suturing the abdominal walls with kangaroo tendon, after freshening the edges of the opening; the other, which is adopted for mild cases, consists in taking up the sac with strong steel pins or skewers and a stout ligature. These remain in position usually from ten to twelve days, and after that the bowel will not come down again. Both of these operations may be said to be practically uniformly successful. Scrotal hernia in foals is not so common as umbilical. It consists of the escape of a knuckle of bowel into the scrotum, and many of these cases recover without treatment. I have seen quite large scrotal ruptures in very young foals disappear when the animal gets to be six or eight months old. So long, however, as a scrotal hernia exists there is always a certain amount of danger from strangulation. On the whole it is better, except in very bad cases, to leave the ruptures until the first year is over, and if the hernki persists it should be remedied by operation when the animal is castrated. This is done by what is termed the "covered operation," which I need not describe here, as no one but a veterinary surgeon would be likely to attempt it. I may say that in my experience there is but little danger attached to the operation, and that it is a radical cure for the hernia.