Bugs on my chicks!

[Britney M]

 

[MasAhora]

I am quite new with chickens. We bought a property with an existing flock and coop a year ago, We got a bad infestation of something similar and our friend sprayed the coops (no hens inside, out free ranging for the day). Sure enough the infestation returned twice and we had a mum with new chicks in a separate section but covered in the critters.
We then used a little wood ash to bathe the chicks and mother, then changed the litter and put a little dried tobacco in it and a small amount of wood ash under the wood shaving litter. This WORKED instantly!!
The tiny critters crawled all over me every time I went to the coop, it was horrible and I get allergic reactions to most stuff so it looked like I had chicken pox for a few days despite showering and washing all clothes and linen.
Where I live its impossible to get most things described on this forum so I was grateful for the ash advice from someone here and the tabacco advice from a local lady. But I use only a small amount of each and the wood ash under the litter I only did twice, the tobacco we use each time we clean out all the coop bedding (once every 7-8 days as they free range daily and the wood shaving cost about $1 and go into the compost pile to build up our garden soil).

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not use ACV on the birds. It is far too irritating to the skin. Wood ash seems like a good option

 

[n8ivetxn]

Today I made a fresh dirt bath for my new pullets, I poured a small bag of play sand in the run and spread it around, thick and then topped it with wood ash from the burn pile.

I'm thinking of ordering a bottle of Elector PSP spray. It's sooo expensive, but it appears to do an awesome job....