Baby silkies have lice!

[Henriettamom919]

I have a question about all of this. When we moved to NC, we had our first experience with people lice. We learned that lice here are VERY resistant to the normal treatments.
We were in a tiny town, on vacation when I discovered that one child had them again. Before I drove over an hour to get what had worked before, I stopped at the local, Mom and Pop pharmacy. The pharmacist said that LiceAway, at $8, was the same ingredient as the $27 stuff I wanted to drive an hour, each way, for, and that the reason they both work is because they are, basically sodium/salt water.
Apparently, lice can be killed by lack of moisture, very quickly. It also kills the eggs. We used the cheap stuff and withing 15 minutes, nothing was alive and we didn't even have to retreat in 14 days, or at all.
So-if LiceAway is basically just salt water, and all you have to do is let it dry on the hair (or down), wouldn't it be safe for chicks? I have never heard of salt water hurting an animal unless they drank it.

I used sodium gel when my daughter got lice years ago and while it worked a treat I can't see it working on baby chicks for several reasons; with shampoo it's leaving a sodium residue behind which they'll eventually ingest during grooming and the gel version has to be thoroughly combed through, you still had to pick out nits and it had to sit 60 minutes, minimum. Plus, it had to be SLATHERED on super thick. I just think all the fuss would end up being more stress for the chick; it sure does work great on kids though! I'd been through the whole regimen of RID brand crap which costed a fortune and didn't work. The sodium gel was one step and worked after one application. Messy, though.

I don't think in the long run, even if it did work, it would end up being any safer and certainly not more effective than permethrin powder which offers immediate relief against several parasites and is mostly chick safe (with of course rare, freak occurrences.)

 

[tn_artist]

This stuff?
https://www.uncleharrys.com/lice-away-shampoo

Sorry, I had the name wrong. This is it. It is a thin spray, so it's very easy to apply. As long as they get wet, it's left to dry then rinsed out, I would think it would work.

 

[aart]

I used DE to dust actual chicks. I put that and DE in their sand dust baths they take on their own.

And so are all the lice gone for how long. DE is a respiratory irritant, I wouldn't want them dust bathing in it.

I have use permethrin spray and powder on very small chicks and they were okay.

I have too, just a little pinch.

 

[NancyD84]

And so are all the lice gone for how long. DE is a respiratory irritant, I wouldn't want them dust bathing in it.

I have too, just a little pinch.

I have read many post of people adding DE to diy sand dust baths. I won't add anymore to it, I don't want to harm them. So far DE hasn't worked. I just received the permethrin powder, so I might do that this evening close to roosting time.

 

[aart]

I have read many post of people adding DE to diy sand dust baths

Yep.....but

So far DE hasn't worked.

it doesn't work.

 

[Henriettamom919]

I have read many post of people adding DE to diy sand dust baths. I won't add anymore to it, I don't want to harm them. So far DE hasn't worked. I just received the permethrin powder, so I might do that this evening close to roosting time.

You'll want to remove all bedding and ideally burn it; bag it if you can't burn. Treat the bare coop as well as fresh bedding with permethrin and hopefully you'll only have to do it once! A nasal bulb syringe is great for applying tiny puffs to baby chicks!

 

[NancyD84]

You'll want to remove all bedding and ideally burn it; bag it if you can't burn. Treat the bare coop as well as fresh bedding with permethrin and hopefully you'll only have to do it once! A nasal bulb syringe is great for applying tiny puffs to baby chicks!

I put it with a small paint brush and there wasn't powder everywhere. I wrapped their head with rag so they wouldn't breath it or get it in their eyes. I did it right before they sleep so they don't move a lot and dust everywhere. Thank you all for the advice!

 

[NancyD84]

Yep.....but
it doesn't work.

Well I did read that sometimes DE won't work for the infestation but will work as a preventative and since I hadn't received the permethrin powder I used it. But hopefully the permethrin works and my silkies feel much better

 

[aart]

A nasal bulb syringe

I put it with a small paint brush

These are both great ideas!
I have one of those 'Pest Pistols' worked pretty good,
but it was too big for me to operate with one hand.

 

[cmom]

For mites, lice and such I had such a severe infestation last year and tried many different products. I bathed the birds that were infected and it helped some but did not get rid of all. I finally sprayed the coops and dusted the birds with permethrin and eventually got rid of the pests. My birds looked so pathetic but now look beautiful again. Since the permethrin does not kill the pests eggs I repeated spraying weekly for a few weeks. Even though I only had found the pests in one coop I treated all of the coops. I sprayed the coops thoroughly every crack and crevice where the pests could hide. It took awhile but now especially since we are going into our rainy season I'm back to spraying as a preventative. I have had some wild birds attempt to build nests in some of the coops so I removed the nests and sprayed all of the coops. I'm pretty sure that's how the pests were introduced initially.