How to stay Organic if there is an infestation

[honeydoll]

I like to have and sell organic eggs. I got some new chickens then the owner called and told me she found lice on one of her hens. Situation is taken care of here. But I got to thinking, how does a farmer stay organic if their chickens become infested with lice or worms. or whatever? Do they cull or have to stop selling for awhile? How is this handled in an organic setting? Or is there something I am missing. Hopefully someone knows the answer. I treated for lice with a poultry dust to be safe, I guess that means I am no longer organic?

 

[Dar]

you can get organic solutions to these problems... I am sure of it...


Organic wormer

http://poultrykeeper.com/reviews/other-reviews/verm-x-natural-wormer-for-poultry.html

lice control

http://www.ehow.com/way_5705373_lice-chickens-organic-treatment.html


I use DE faithfully... I also feed my chickens garlic, my chickens get plate scrapings and we eat a lot of garlic... I am NOT organic but I have had never had a problem with worms (knock on wood) and have only had lice on birds I brought in from the auction they were treated and once clean moved in with the flock

 

[dawg53]

I cant answer your question about staying organic or what people do when an issue like this arises. I'm a firm believer in keeping a healthy flock because mine free range most of the time...I use chemicals when needed to keep them healthy and productive. I dont want sickly chickens. I think as a backyard chicken owner, culling (depends what I'm dealing with) is a waste of time and money already spent on a chicken that might have something as simple as lice and can be treated in less than 10 minutes by dusting, problem solved. Perhaps some would cull, I dont know. Chickens would have to be caged to be parasite free, much like a commercial operation and housed as such to avoid contact with wild birds for transmission of lice/mites and other potential problems and no contact with the ground to avoid internal parasites.
Organic as a general term could also mean the type of feed that they are fed, not necessarily the use of chemicals to treat parasites etc... I also believe that the environment where you live plays a huge role in determining if organic is the way to go or not. I've even heard the term "free range" used as "organic" nowadays. I guess it has many definitions.
Maybe some of the organic BYC'ers will chime in as well.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
The link to the organic wormer tells of an ongoing observation by one user which is inconclusive. I've never seen any evidence that an organic wormer can deal with a real infestation. Same for lice/mites and DE; I've read of cases where a bird died of severe lice/mites while being treated with DE.

I used to try to garden organically. I don't like nasty poisons either. I suspect humans by various unwise actions have made them necessary.

 

[gmendoza]

We feed our chooks red pepper with their feed for rat/mice problems,and garlic for worming.No such probs here for a year or two.

 

[dawg53]

ddawn, I totally agree with your assessment.