Lice cure??? Mrs. Stewarts Liquid Bluing

Today I decided to give a couple of my hens some TLC - they needed a bath, big time.
I brought my orpington in and started giving her a bath, standard procedure, put her in a bucket of warm water and a little dish soap, lathered her up, rinsed her off, towel dried and blow dry. She unfortunately is crawling with lice. I rubbed some coconut oil onto her skin and around a lot of her feathers, per another post suggestion to get rid of lice. Blow dried her a little more and put her in solitary in our spare room.
When I retrieved hen #2, on my way back into the house and idea popped into my head. "Why not try adding a few drops of my brand new bottle of Mrs. Stewarts Liquid Bluing to this little white silkie?" (Their website boasts of pet owners using it to whiten fur and that it is non-toxic; though they do not personally recommend using it on animals because they have not tested it)
So I strayed from my standard procedure bath with her and added about 5-6 drops into my full 5 gallon bucket and then continued as normal.
To my amazement, when I lifted her out of the water I noticed a handful of dead lice intertwined in her feathers. I rinsed as many as I could out with fresh water and began to dry her. Every one I saw was dead!!! After she was fully dried, I inspected her some more. I did find one sluggish one on her, and another very small one near her face (which I did not wash). I wonder if I sprayed her face with the solution it would kill them? And the other live one could have possibly transferred from me to her .
Obviously their coops would need to be taken care of as well, either spraying down with this solution or another (like seven)
What do you think? Has anyone else ever tried this, or willing to try and report back?

Is this what you used? If so, here's the MSDS on the product. Please read:
http://mrsstewart.com/wp/wp-content...y-Data-Sheet-for-Mrs-Stewarts-Bluing-2014.pdf

dawg53 said:

Is this what you used? If so, here's the MSDS on the product. Please read:
http://mrsstewart.com/wp/wp-content...y-Data-Sheet-for-Mrs-Stewarts-Bluing-2014.pdf

Click to expand...

X2. I wouldn't use it. You can't cure mites & lice, but you can eliminate them on birds and prevent them from inhabiting premises. This is one of many that works well: http://www.ivescopoultry.com/Attachment/4/1012_4_Rabon_50_WP_Brochure.pdf

Having read the Material Safety Data Sheet for Mrs Stewart's Bluing, and looked up the ingredients online, I am of the opinion that the few drops you added to the water have probably not done any long term harm to your girl. However, I don't know that it is something that I would want to use on a regular basis - with no controlled tests on animals, and the 'use at your own risk' warning on the website, I would prefer to stick with known and tested products, especially given the list of side effects that the ingredients of Mrs Stewart's Bluing can have.

Here in France I can buy 'Rhodeo poudre aviare', which is a poultry specific lice powder, at my local vet. It isn't cheap - 20€ for a 250 gram tub, but that gives me several treatments for a backyard flock of around 7 girls. It contains pyrethrin - an insecticide of vegetable origin (from chrysanthemums), and is amazingly efficient.

I bought three new girls this summer from a supposedly reputable breeder - the two girls I bought from her in the spring were a picture of health, so I had no reason to suppose that in August things would be a lot different. However, when I got them home I could see lice the size of ants running all over their bodies It was disgusting! I immediately took each girl in turn and gave them a thorough dusting with a stocking full of the powder (a powder puff bath!) I made certain to get everywhere - under the wings, vent, right down to the skin all over their bodies. I even covered their eyes with my hand and dusted their combs, which had lice all over them. As I took the third girl out to dust her I could see lice literally falling off the first one that I had dusted! And I mean literally falling off onto the floor dead! It is the most dramatic insecticide I have every used on my girls. (I have tried Ivermectin in the past but found it a waste of time and money as far as lice are concerned).

I now add a couple of spoonfuls of Rhodeo to their dust bath from time to time, and (touch wood) have not had a lice problem since. For any lice problems I would seriously recommend getting a pyrethrin based powder - tried, tested and extremely effective!

You're right about ivermectin being ineffective in treating poultry lice. Unlike lice on other livestock, poultry lice do not bite and suck blood, rendering the ivermectin in the bloodstream ineffective. However poultry lice are opportunistic if they come across blood from a wound for example; they will suck it up.

I've tried a pyrethryn spray this past summer and it did not seem to help. I've used seven and DE. I must just not be doing a thorough job. I'll try to find a powder based pyrethryn formula to add to their dust bath, and dust individually.

chick inn said:

I've tried a pyrethryn spray this past summer and it did not seem to help. I've used seven and DE. I must just not be doing a thorough job. I'll try to find a powder based pyrethryn formula to add to their dust bath, and dust individually.

Click to expand...

You have to clean out the coop, and spray the entire inside of the coop in addition to treating birds. With dusting, you will have to dust once, then again 7-10 days later. Some permethrin sprays are mixed weak and repel flies, but not much else. Something like Atroban 11% EC will at least have a residual as a spray for premises or birds. I stopped wasting time with dusts years ago. A few spritzes below the vent, along the belly, mid-back, and base of neck is all that is needed and has a 28 day residual. People make the mistake of not following label instructions, and mix it too weak or too strong, then wonder why they have problems. That's why the nanny state courts banned Black Leaf 40 because some dummy poisoned himself, or left it laying around for kids to play with, then hired a lawyer to sue the manufacturer.