How to check for lice and mites?

[ChickensAreSweet]

Well I am starting to have second thoughts about my hen I mentioned previously. When we were blow drying her from a warm water soak, I saw this little light tan bug crawling on me, and so did my hen and she pecked at it. I swear I felt bugs crawling on me the rest of that night in my hair. And I have felt it a few nights afterwards. I spend quit a bit of time in the evenings with my hen, feeding her food and treats and cleaning out the towels in the bathtub she poops on during the day while I am at work. I tired checking her again tonight but it is hard with one hand since I have to help her balance. Just now I found another little bug running in my hair that looked like the other bug I found. Would it be lice? And are chicken lice and mites transferable to other pets such as my kitty that is sitting on my lap?

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
"poultry lice cannot survive on non-bird domestic pets"

Light tan sounds like poultry lice from what I have read.

 

[BeccaSmith]

Well at 5AM my hen (I don't name my hens due to emotional attachment reasons) in quarantine got a bath to wash her rear (due to runny poops) and then blow dried and then dusted with diatomaceous earth. I tried to get her as good as I could, I didn't have any way to apply it other then by hand and trying to fluff it into her feathers and get to the skin area....she isn't capable of fluffing and preening on her own right now (she has a distended abdomen and is severley under weight and can't really balance her self very well. I hope the DE will be enough, I have it on hand, just never got around to using it. Upon drying her (hubby had been drying her after bath time) I got a good look at the skin around her abdomen and leg areas and noticed what looked like a crusty scabby looking area that I am assuming is mites or something. I made sure I got that area good with the DE. I will be cleaning the coop and treating the rest of the hens as soon as possible.

 

[kristenm1975]

You're wise to be paying such close attention to this issue. I very UN-wisely did not do a search of birds I purchased and within a month or less, not only were most of my flock of 8 infested and dying, but my home was overrun with biting mites that nearly caused my marriage to fail due to the resulting stress. We were forced to destroy or sell most of our possessions and move out of our home into an apartment in the city.

I know that this sounds melodramatic, but its all true. Whatever effort it may seem to thoroughly check your birds out, IT IS WORTH IT!

 

[BeccaSmith]

Well having an ill chicken is definately and eye opener! I wouldn't have started checking unless I was trying to read up on everything and anything that could possibly be causing my hen to not be well. I do have to admit that I always feel like I have little bugs crawling on me. If it turns out to be a problem hubby will make me put her back outdoors. I'm hoping the DE will help, but not sure how long it will take!

 

[dodochick92]

Chicken lice can be transferred only by very close contact but they really can't bite because they are a completely different from head lice. I would treat for lice by first trying some FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth. I use it as a dry shampoo on my cat and it works good. Just dust by her vent, under the wings and in the coop. If that doesn't work, use sevin dust but make sure you wear a mask and gloves and make sure your hen cannot breath it in because it is a pesticide. Hope this helps

 

[CharlieScherrer]

A huge downpour of rain recently means that my (usually dry) chicken area in my garden is swamped! I am not sure what to do!? They seem happy enough but I am scared of them having constant wet feet and becoming more cold because of it, which also might make them more prone to mites etc!? I have put a large wooden pallet on the floor and created a new dry area for them to stand on (and of course they have their usual totally waterproof nesting box and stone bench they like to stand on) but is this all I need to do? Can I do more? I thought about putting straw down but I’d literally need to buy a bale of hay! Any suggestions hugely welcome – sorry I’ve only kept chickens for 6 months so a bit of a newbie to it all.


I also had a recent outbreak of red mites in their Coop – deep cleaning it twice (as they kept coming back) got rid of the majority but my girls started refusing to go into their Coop at night (they would rather sleep outside so I had to physically pick them up to put them away) so they are telling me they don’t want to sleep in there. The red mites have gone – I keep checking daily for movement….but it’s like its put my chickens off going in the house. Also my husband thinks I should chuck their Coop (it cost £110!) because it’s a wood and plastic design and he’s convinced (after my crazy thorough cleans and the mites STILL coming back after) that they are living in the corrugated plastic sealed units. Any help on this would be appreciated too!