Hens with Poultry Lice living beside drakes

[ayeitsmeme]

Hey all,
I just noticed a few of my hens started showing some poultry lice symptoms and I wasn't sure what I should do for them since the drakes live right beside them and I read somewhere some of the treatments are potentially deadly to waterfowl. I don't want to harm the boys by putting something on the hens and also I wasn't sure if I needed to do anything for them concerning the lice (The ducks look fine so far and don't have any bald spots). This is my first time dealing with these things so I'm not really sure what path to take especially with the ducks. Thanks!

 

[Amiga]

@Miss Lydia
@RavynFallen

 

[Ravynscroft]

For ducks I use Ivermectin Pour On... I use that for chickens as well, but if it's a bad infestation I prefer to use the permethrin spray and spray them on the roosts one night, the coop in the morning so it airs out really well before they go back in to roost...

 

[ayeitsmeme]

We have the permethrin 10 concentrate from using it for flies on the horses and we were debating using this as a spray or picking up the powder form so the chickens aren't wet in the cold. Is there any major differences between which form you use on the bird? Also, would I need to treat the drakes too even if they aren't symptomatic currently? Sorry for all the questions haha

 

[Ravynscroft]

I would go ahead and get the pour on for the drakes, since you have an active issue going on... but usually it's uncommon for waterfowl to get external parasites as long as they bathe and preen regularly...we get a lot of wild birds around here so I do the drops on the ducks every 6 months just to keep ahead of it...

I don't like the dust around ducks at all, they're super susceptible to eating the dust that gets shook off since they dabble everywhere... dunno if the spray would or would not be bad in the cold, you only spritz a bit on the front and across their backs... there's a thread on it, I'll find it for you...

 

[Ravynscroft]

Here it is... you can ask Mary (Folly's Place) about using the spray in the cold, she's in a cold area...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1134783/permethrin-spray

 

[ayeitsmeme]

Thank you for finding that thread that was really helpful, apparently I had overlooked it when I was searching earlier haha. The powder sounds like a real mess, I'm glad I didn't get any of that with the ducks being so close. I will definitely mist the girls down tomorrow with that spray, and considering they go out in the rainy weather I doubt they'll even notice a little bit of spray.

I'm glad the ducks aren't at the risk the chickens are for it and I'll see about getting them some of pour on. Thank you for the advice hopefully these bugs will be gone quickly

 

[Ravynscroft]

Very welcome! Mary was a big help for me and many with that issue... I was kinda thinking the same thing about the spray and cold, lol... seen mine stand in downpours and not have a problem as long as they got a chance to dry off, and you don't drench them with the spray, so...

Yeah, the dust is much messier and it doesn't go as far as that spray does... I used maybe 1/3 of the small bottle of concentrate for my entire flock and all my coops (which is a LOT) when it took 2 bottles of dust just to do half my chickens and not even the coops... :/

Since we got our ducks, I haven't touched the dust, lol...

 

[ayeitsmeme]

Haha yes our sex link hens identify as ducks I think, they both stay out in the rain no matter what until its time to roost; even if I'm freezing cold they are out running with the boys getting soaking wet. Surprisingly they are the only hens not showing symptoms and looking rough currently haha. I think I care more about them getting wet and cold then they do at times lol

It's nice that the permethrin concentrate is so versatile too, when we mix it for the horses it really keeps the flies down and we've had that bottle for a while.