Baby silkies have lice!

[NancyD84]

Hello,
I am new to byc and I am a first time owner of 8 beautiful baby silkies. Unfortunately I brought them home only to realize 2 days later that they have lice! (they kept shaking their heads as they tried to sleep and looked it up here in byc and really opened their fluff to find them) I tried DE but it's not working. Starting to panic as I am so in love with them already I would hate for them to die or be in pain. I read so many reviews on things being safe, then not really and just so many options. I was wondering if bathing the chicks would help? Does bathing help to get rid of eggs and lice? They are about a week old. Two of them are about a week and a half. I know that also bathing them can get them chilled? I've started to give them boiled egg and meal worms for extra protein so they don't get weak, in addition to they're normal starter feed. I am thinking of getting prozap permethrin poultry dust. Is that a good step forward from DE? Or what is my best option? Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[Henriettamom919]

Sadly, bathing will not help and DE takes time to work and isn't 100% effective in all scenarios. You can safely use permethrin provided you follow instructions as specified by the type (spray vs. powder) and strength set by the manufacturer.

This is a great article on do's and don't and toxicity ( highly toxic to cats but very low with birds):

https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/is-permethrin-a-safe-treatment-for-poultry-lice-and-mites/

Sounds like you caught it quick and I'm sure they'll be fine!

 

[Henriettamom919]

Oh, and welcome!!! Sorry it's not under happier circumstances!

ETA- I'd contact wherever you got them and let them know they came home with lice. They need to be aware so they can treat the remaining chicks!

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

How young are the chicks?
If they are still very young I wouldn't suggest bathing them but if older I can help a little.

I've found dust bathing for Silkies not always effective. With their feathers literally just being fluff they really struggle to get dust moving through them. Also, if they have lice in their crest they most likely won't be able to get them out of there themselves either.

My Silkies are adults but whenever I take them to a show, they have to be 100% louse free or they'd be disqualified. So when they were out free-ranging and they caught them I was worried they'd be hard to get rid of.

However, in my case it wasn't to difficult and here's what I done.

I coated them in this livestock louse powder (https://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Barrier...kxi4q6BcMVJTn7Llj3VpRGlKPRV1CF2BoC-rQQAvD_BwE) then after a couple of days I gave them a bath.

You can get anti flea and lice shampoo I believe but I just used baby shampoo. When they're in the water, give them a good scrub. I used an old toothbrush to brush their feathers downward and this pulled off some of the lice. The toothbrush is also helpful here as you can give the crest a good clean too.

Of course, this doesn't remove all the lice or eggs but it does remove some.

Then after the bath, go onto the blow dry. Be warned, don't do this part in your house because the lice literally fly off your bird. The air from the dryer must force some of those lice off.

Then once they are completely dry, I re-coated them in the livestock louse powder. Making sure I got it right down to the skin. Mainly under the wings and around the vent.

For me, I also separated my birds before the show, this may also help?

I'm not guaranteeing it will work but in my case it cleared them up. I believe if it's a really bad case of lice you can get treatment from a vet but I've never had to get to that stage thankfully!​

 

[NancyD84]

Sadly, bathing will not help and DE takes time to work and isn't 100% effective in all scenarios. You can safely use permethrin provided you follow instructions as specified by the type (spray vs. powder) and strength set by the manufacturer.

This is a great article on do's and don't and toxicity ( highly toxic to cats but very low with birds):

https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/is-permethrin-a-safe-treatment-for-poultry-lice-and-mites/

Sounds like you caught it quick and I'm sure they'll be fine!

Thank you for the link. Very helpful. You mentioned the bath wouldn't help, why is that? The eggs and lice can't be washed out? Or because the chicks will get sick?

 

[Henriettamom919]

Thank you for the link. Very helpful. You mentioned the bath wouldn't help, why is that? The eggs and lice can't be washed out? Or because the chicks will get sick?

Similar to lice in human hair the bath won't do much to loosen the eggs and nits from the shaft of the feather. They're a critter meant to be water resistant, unfortunately. So, all that stress on your chicks and in the end no help in getting rid of the little buggers!

Plus, as young as they are it could chill them as well.

Just get some poultry powder for lice/mites and you can use a nasal bulb syringe (found in infant care in most any store) or the sock portion of old panty hose to dust your babies like a powder puff.

Good luck and share some pics of your lovelies when you get a chance!

 

[NancyD84]

I dusted them with DE very well, cleaned everything and I feel like it didn't help. I feel like they have more lice I don't know what else to do. How long does it take DE to kill lice?

 

[NancyD84]

Here are my little nuggets sleeping

 

[Henriettamom919]

I dusted them with DE very well, cleaned everything and I feel like it didn't help. I feel like they have more lice I don't know what else to do. How long does it take DE to kill lice?

DE would take days and probably won't work on an active infestation this bad. You'll need to get some permethrin spray or powder. Most people like the powder because it offers instant relief to the birds.

You'll need to apply it to all your birds and to the coop and run after its been emptied and scrubbed.

Good luck!

 

[NancyD84]

DE would take days and probably won't work on an active infestation this bad. You'll need to get some permethrin spray or powder. Most people like the powder because it offers instant relief to the birds.

You'll need to apply it to all your birds and to the coop and run after its been emptied and scrubbed.

Good luck!

So permethrin powder is ok to use one babies? I read a post that some birds maybe got overdosed with it and now I'm scared to put it on babies. Have you used it on babies by any chance? Thank you for all the advice!