THE REALITIES ABOUT POULTRY The Modern Farm - The Realities About Poultry_Seco | Page 89

External parasites such as lice and mites need retreatment within 10-14days to break the lifecycle
and prevent re-infestation. For effective mite and some lice treatment, housing must be cleaned and
sprayed with an approved pesticide.
Lighting: To maximize egg production, regulate day length with supplementary light in very cold
weather. Aim for constant 15-16 hour day length.
Culling: Remove sick layers. Dry ‘powdery’ or blue combs and/or a ‘dull’ eye give a clue. Check
width of pin bones in laying hens - there should be at least a 50-60mm gap. The texture of the
abdomen should be soft and not overly fat or hard. Do not confuse the appearance of the abdomen
during molting, with a hen that does not lay eggs permanently - birds in molt will not be laying.
Good ventilation discourages the spread of diseases and pests. In overnight houses, the provision
of perches or loosely plaited bamboo mats (such as those used for sieving) placed on the floor can
help to keep them dry.
The practice of keeping chickens and ducks together should be discouraged. This results in wet
floors, giving rise to diseases such as Fowl Cholera. Ducks are also much more tolerant than
chickens to Newcastle Disease, and are thus often carriers of this viral disease. Adults and young
stock of any poultry should be housed separately to minimize cross-infections and injuries from
bullying.
Management of Free-Range Poultry
Sanitation: If the birds are housed inside, the floor should be swept daily. An outside chicken house
should be cleaned every week to break the breeding cycle of the common housefly. It takes about
seven days to complete the breeding cycle from fly egg to hatching of the adult housefly.
Wood ash and sand spread on the floor will discourage lice infestation. Mothballs (naphthalene)
crushed with ash can also be applied to the feathers or the wings of the birds, or placed where the
chickens usually take their dust baths. If the chickens are already infested with mites, the house can
be fumigated (while the chickens are outside) with a rag drenched in kerosene. Lice live on the birds,
and dust baths with naphthalene powder in the ash will be more effective than dust alone.
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