Lice?! What did I do wrong?

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serendipity22

serendipity22

Songster
12 Years
Jul 1, 2007
617
3
149
NC
I picked up one of my 'old' girls today cause the side of her face is a little swollen. I think maybe she got stung by a wasp or something. Anyhow, since I already had her in my lap, I gave her a once over and... YUCK! These little bugs were darting around her vent area! I was so surprised and kinda angry. I thought I was doing everything right. Their hen house has a dirt floor that I rake and shovel a couple of times a week. I dust with DE once a week. All of their nest boxes have clean shavings with DE sprinkled in them. They free range on acres of grass every day.... What did I miss?
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So I checked all of my other older birds and couldn't find any more bugs. Did a spot check on my 5 month old chickens and none of them had it. Finally did a spot check on my 2 month olds and none of them had it. (I didn't check my 2 ducks...) I am perplexed as to why this one chicken had the bugs and no one else has them.

Tonight I raked the coop out, dusted it with seven dust and dusted the nest boxes. Also dusted all my old chickens liberally as well as several of the other chickens. I'll try and find some orange oil to treat the wood in the building.

Should I treat everyone with Ivermectin or Valbasin? Does that treat lice? Do I need to dust everyone again in a couple of weeks with seven dust? Should I incorporate seven dust in my cleaning routine?
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Help!!!
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Personally, I would treat everyone with Ivermec ( I do injectables). JMO though...can't hurt! I dont know much about externally bugs on chickens, I just worm yearly to try to avoid you. It sound like your much more up on it than I am.
 
What do you mean by injectable? Do you inject the birds? Or use the Ivomec cattle wormer? When you worm the chicken, how do you do it? Just put it in their water or rub it under a wing? What's the dosage? Agggg, I'm so confused!

Thanks for the reply!!
 
Did you actually dust the bird herself with the DE? It does work, but may take a couple of times, a week or more apart to get the ones that hatch later on. I treated a rooster I bought with just DE for lice and it worked well, but he didn't have large egg sacs like Southern28Chick's did. In that case, you'd have to pull those off as well as dust.
 
Do lice actually 'dart around'??? I thought they were slow. I think mites dart around.
Just thought i would mention that because i think mites might be easier to take care of too.
I hope you are able to get ahead of them what ever they are. Good Luck!!!
 
Lice, Mites, Man, I don't know... They darted around so they must have been mites. They were gross and made me itch just looking at them!

No, I've never dusted the birds themselves with DE, but tonight I did dust quite a few of them with the Seven Dust. I'll do it again in a week or so, I guess... I didn't see the large egg sacs like were on Southern28Chicks. But my chickens feathers were falling out really easily around her vent area as I was looking her over so does that mean mites?

How long does it take for the mites to die? If I look at her tomorrow, would they be gone?

Why would one bird have them and no one else? She's one of my oldest hens and I have had her for over 2 years.

How does a chicken get a mite?

Thanks everyone for your input, ya'll are so helpful!!
 
I think they get mites from the birds in the trees. They look microscopic and fast moving like you said. I have not had them on my birds so i dont know about getting rid of them. Id seven safe to put on the birds? Mypetchicken sells the DE we are supposed to be using.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for the input.

I use DE alot, so that's why it surprised me to see them on my bird.

As far as seven dust, I got the idea from this website. I was quite careful with it and my birds are doing great. So, I'll redust again in a week and a half or so, so that I'll catch any bugs that happen to hatch from any eggs.
 
First of all, you have done nothing wrong. Chickens get mites/lice. They just do.
When we see an outbreak we dust with Poultry Dust from the feed store and then a week or 2 later dust with half Poultry Dust and half DE. Then we use DE to keep it under control til the next big outbreak. We usually only have to use the full strength Poultry Dust 2 or 3 times a year, but consistency is the key to keeping it under control. We try to dust no less than once a month, but you know how these things get away from you, so sometimes it is a bit longer.

And dont forget the treats.
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Thanks for the input. It makes me feel better. I had no idea that they would get infested and need treatment so often. I thought that with my preventative measures that they wouldn't get them at all. But it makes sense. They free range and are exposed to nature every day.

Ya'll do good work. Thanks for everything!
 

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