lice!!!

[leenie]

If you only spray them with the VCO close to their skin there is nothing to shake off. They aren't being bathed in it. Dusting on top of the oil will cause the oil to be soaked up into the dusting material and may not offer all the coating destruction one would desire.

Once the lice are dead and the eggs are destroyed (wicked witch like) the hens should be good to go.

I haven't seen anyone on this thread need to repeat unless I missed something? It's a long thread . . . I certainly could have.

Best of luck getting rid of the buggers.

 

[stryker]

I would just apply the VCO and see how that works. It starts melting their exoskeletons along with the egg casements on contact. I would think VCO and any kind of dust (Sevin or DE) would only lead to caked up birds. A few days after the vco is absorbed into their skin let them dust away.

I dusted with diatacious earth and then applied VCO. You are correct that it was a mess and clumped up. .The poor birds looked like they blew their backside out. It was just gross.

So you used VCO and then dusted? You recommend doing both to the entire flock or do you just use the coconut oil on the ones you see the eggs on?

I would listen to leenie about the VCO from what she just posted. I would use the two separately because it caked up bad. I would treat the entire flock as it does not take that long. I had to currently nuke the chickens again but this time I used Y-TEX Livestock Dust from Python instead of VCO because I was out. I got the dust from TSC. It seemed to work and I didnt use that much. I liked VCO better because of the way it melts the eggs off the feathers instead of the hens trying to get those egg casements out by pulling their feathers with the dust.

Good luck.

 

[stryker]

I would agree with you leenie as long as you dont apply a ton of VCO like I did the feathers wont look bad.

 

[leenie]

So sorry to hear of the cake incident

You are correct stryker, just a spray will do. Summertime is easy as the oil stays liquid at 78 degrees. Fall and Winter is tricky as you need to keep that oil free flowing.

We all are here to learn from each other. I had never combined the dust w/ the VCO so my statement was just my hypothesis but now we all know what can happen if we do.

Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[kimthom66]

So sorry to hear of the cake incident     

You are correct stryker, just a spray will do.  Summertime is easy as the oil  stays liquid at 78 degrees.  Fall and Winter is tricky as you need to keep that oil free flowing.

We all are here to learn from each other.  I had never combined the dust w/ the VCO so my statement was just my hypothesis but now we all know what can happen if we do.  

Thank you so much for sharing. 

I dusted last night as well as cleaned the entire coop and dusted that. I will apply the VCO to the one hen I saw the lice on yesterday as I was dusting to help her get rid of them. I only really saw evidence on 1 bird out of 12

 

[Cluckies]

I would either dust the birds with seven or permithrin, or spray with VCO, but not both. If you do do both, like previously stated, wait a few days in between to avoid a big caked up mess.

 

[5770amber]

10 chickens would be manageable to coat with VCO. The VCO starts the fast kill on the eggs and lice immediately like the bucket of water on the wicked witch.


Wishing you fast and complete results on whichever course you decide to take.

Do you have to repeat this after x amount of days?

 

[leenie]

If you hit all of the problem spots it would be a one time kill off. I always check back to make sure there were no survivors. If there are no eggs and no buggers you are in the clear.

 

[5770amber]

Is this lice eggs? It's almost flat.

 

[leenie]

Eggs are usually attached to the base of the feather shaft.