Are these some kind of egg clusters?

[suebgbr]

I was bathing my chickens as some have been loosing feathers and I have seen something that look the same as kids head lice on some of them. I decided to do all 60 of them.
After doing 20 I noticed this on one of my Welsummers. Different to all the others so far. I should know, I have nit combed and hairdried every feather!

By the way, I was on another thread some months ago that said I couldn't use Tea Tree on chickens.

The shampoo I have been using is Tea Tree shampoo and a separate Tea Tree conditioner. I add around 20-30 drops of Tea Tree Essential oil to it to make it extra potent. The bugs I have been scraping out have all been dead.

It is the same stuff I use on my kids hair as a head lice deterrent. I use it weekly and at 9 and 11 years old they have never had head lice!

Anyway I digress, here are the pics. They look like some sort of egg cluster but I don't know what kind of bug they are from (if at all). How do I treat them? The nit comb got some and my finger nails got more, but I am sure some are left.

 

[dawg53]

I've read that coconut oil will remove lice eggs from feathers. You're going to have to treat the inside of their coop and nests as well, then repeat treatment again in 7-10 days with whatever is available in your country for external parasites on poultry.

 

[speckledhen]

Watch using tea tree on your chickens! That can be fatal to avians, especially if ingested!

 

[centrarchid]

In addition to bathing, consider making so birds can dust bath in something like potting soil or ash.

 

[Michael Apple]

Emulsified concentrates containing permethrin/ Rabon-Vapona have guidelines for topical treatment of poultry as well as premises. In the US we have Permectrin II and Ravap EC. You can dip or spray, it has a residual, so you don't have to fool with dusts 7-10 days apart. Once you get a coop cleaning and treatment regiment started, you'll rarely see those nasty little parasites.

 

[centrarchid]

When my birds have access to good dust bathing opportunities there is no need for the more aggressive chemical methods that I try to reserve for brood pens.

 

[dawg53]

I've had birds get lice despite dust bathing and have used chemicals (sevin dust) to take care of it.

 

[centrarchid]

I've had birds get lice despite dust bathing and have used chemicals (sevin dust) to take care of it.

Having lice and having health issues associated with them are not always the same. My birds likely have low lice burdens but show no outward negative health issues. Management versus eradication can be different endpoints with former being less costly and easier on birds. Also, not all dirt types are the same with respect to their value for dusting.

 

[suebgbr]

so they are eggs! lice eggs at that. yuck!!

how long do they take to hatch? just so i know when to do a second treatment.

i am taking the birds home in coop batches. whilst the coop is empty the floors are getting bleached or shovelled to bare earth depending on the coop position.
i am spraying with pymethrin that lasts 3 months, it is a high grade insecticidal spray, not the usual off the shelf stuff.
DE'ing under and over the bedding.
the birds are being bathed one by one at home with tea tree shampoo and conditioner, dried with the hairdryer, picking all the dead bodies off as i am drying.
they stay at my house overnight to dry a little better.
the next day i have a pink powder for farmyard lice and other mites. i dust them and rub it down to their skin.
i hope i am doing enough.

 

[dawg53]

Quote: I never mentioned anything about health issues.