Do poultry lice favor one color of chicken over another?

[Kasey]

I have been treating my flock for lice the past couple weeks. My younger birds who are kept in half of the coop my older birds share had visible lice on them (tiny yellow bugs). One in particular had them very noticeably, my older hens and Roos had none that I could see but I treated them any way.

When I treated them again a week after the first treatment the only bird that still had any that were visible was my one and only white bird. The same one that had them so bad the first go round.

Do lice prefer one color over another? Coincidence? Or does she maybe just have poor grooming skills?

 

[Kasey]

Any one have any thoughts?

 

[crazycluck86]

Hi, I think your right with the poor grooming skills. Most of my hens keep themselves mite/lice free by taking daily dust baths-but theres always one that doesnt bother, and this is the one-'vanessa' who always has lice! So I treat mine with harka-mectin for pigeons.

 

[jak2002003]

They are attracted to the body heat, chemical smell, and carbon dioxide from the living birds, rather than colour.

Its much easier for us to see the parasites of white birds, as they stand out more.

Also a sick bird, or an unhealthy one will not be able to clean itself as well as it should, and this allows the parasites to take over.

Even overweight birds will suffer, as they have trouble reaching all their body to preen properly.

It could also be that the white bird sleeps or rests in an area that is heavily infested with the parasites.

Good luck getting all them horrid thing away.

 

[Kasey]

Thank you both for your responses. That really helps and makes sense as I have wondered if these younger birds just haven't been dust bathing like they should as they were not caught doing it often. But it seems like they have been doing it more and more lately.