Just hatched chick......broody hen has lice

sagulv

Hatching
Apr 30, 2017
4
1
6
We are new to the hatching and decided to let our broody bantam hen hatch 3 eggs. One just hatch this past night, we found him this morning
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But when we peeked in we noticed moons hen has lice. I'm planning on treating our flock, run and coop today with Permitherin 10. Broody hen is still sitting on an egg.

Should I remove the baby chick? Treat baby chick?

Should I treat momma hen?

HELP??
 
Hi
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Welcome To BYC

Hopefully the others will hatch soon so you can move them. Lice can overwhelm very young chicks and a sitting broody if there is a large infestation.

Clean all bedding and treat mom, chicks and their housing with a permethrin based poultry dust or spray. A spray may be easier in your case since you could take a qtip and rub/drop a little treatment at the vent, under the wings, back an neck of each chick. You could do the same with mom if need, but she need to be thoroughly treated. Read the label on whichever product you use for application instructions.

For an extra boost, provide some poultry vitamins in the water for your broody and the chicks.

Let us know how they are doing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1151513/pesticides-approved-for-poultry
 
I'm not at all sure this will help but after treating them as recommended you could try yogurt and garlic (mixed) such as a Greek Tzatziki sauce (used on gyros). You can make it yourself. My chickens love it and it has probiotics (which I believe helps them) and the garlic might deter pests. I think people use garlic to repel fleas on dogs and it is sprayed on plants to deter pests as well. In my experience it won't hurt them (i've been feeding it to them for years) but maybe someone here has other experience.
I just gave some to my broody for these reasons.
I also think that ample dusting areas helps. So you might need to set up dusting tubs if you don't have a dusting area. We are lucky enough to have a big area they use and we have not had any infestations of any kind.
Let us know how it works out.
 
Just wiped the diluted spray in each chick, hopefully we will get this under control.
 
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We sprayed momma hen last night, she's still off by her self.

Question: we checked the rest of our flock and we don't see any symptoms of lice, is normal for only the broody hen to get lice? We didn't spray them yesterday, because it was cool and overcast, I'm hoping to get them done today.
 
Broodies can be more susceptible to having an infestation. They usually don't take as much time as usual to take a dust bath and preen like they normally would.

If they are all housed in the same area that the broody is in, then re-inspect your flock for an infestation. Getting the bedding cleaned out and the housing treated is important, when you can do that.

I hope everything goes well.
 
Okay we sprayed the entire area, and changed the bedding, which we do at least once a week, as we have a small flock, I'll keep an eye on the rest.

I greatly appreciate talks help,!!
 
I'm not at all sure this will help but after treating them as recommended you could try yogurt and garlic (mixed) such as a Greek Tzatziki sauce (used on gyros). You can make it yourself. My chickens love it and it has probiotics (which I believe helps them) and the garlic might deter pests. I think people use garlic to repel fleas on dogs and it is sprayed on plants to deter pests as well. In my experience it won't hurt them (i've been feeding it to them for years) but maybe someone here has other experience.
I just gave some to my broody for these reasons.
I also think that ample dusting areas helps. So you might need to set up dusting tubs if you don't have a dusting area. We are lucky enough to have a big area they use and we have not had any infestations of any kind.
Let us know how it works out.
Garlic is not harmful to chickens.

But people feeding it to their dogs to repel fleas are misinformed... Garlic causes anemia in dogs and should be avoided. Stupid members of my extended family often treat their dogs with garlic... and still have flea infestations! Taking care of the environment is key.
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Using crushed garlic in a water spray bottle might be a deterrent just as well as feeding it to them (for dogs)... or simply use what works instead of fighting it forever trying to use a "natural remedy".

Also, some things may be more seasonal issues. Vet said winter time is great for lice in our area. I'm betting spring time is good for lots of things besides the ever present mosquito.

If I do treat someone in my flock, I usually treat all so the pest don't simply move onto the untreated bird. However that isn't always the case... some birds do seem to have better natural resistance, these are the ones I want to breed.
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