Broody mama has lice; 4d chicks do too. Now I’m wondering about all the other symptoms…

[aliris]

The other thing that you might want to start doing is getting food grade diatomaceous earth and mixing it in with the soil they bathe in with clean ash. This is a great preventative for lice, fleas, and ticks. Plus the ash is good for them to eat and helps with their internal health. Also diatomaceous earth is a fine enough powder that it suffocates the insects, but don’t worry this won’t hurt your birds. As long as it’s the food grade diatomaceous earth it’s safe for your chickens. Plus pumpkin seeds are a great preventative tool against worms. As well as a variety of herbs and flowers. Here are a list of herbs and their benefits.

https://gardentherapy.ca/herbs-for-hens/

Be careful with garlic it can cause anemia and other health issues.

Yeah, we do use DE -- lots of it, lol! I didn't even realize there was food grade, we just have a big box of it. I think it came from Home Depot so.... not likely food grade. But to be honest, they have been ingesting that for a long while.

I *think* what happened is there is lice in "background" levels all the time but when this checken went broody and really was stressed and not caring well for herself, they got overwhelmed. While this other one chicken has had a tape worm, seemingly, for at least a few weeks, perhaps longer. So that probably gives a background level of stress too.

 

[coach723]

DE can also cause respiratory irritation. I mix wood ash in my dust bathing areas, I do not use DE. Birds respiratory systems are more sensitive than ours. And it won't take care of an active infestation, you are better off using permethrin products or the more expensive Elector PSP.

 

[aliris]

DE can also cause respiratory irritation. I mix wood ash in my dust bathing areas, I do not use DE. Birds respiratory systems are more sensitive than ours. And it won't take care of an active infestation, you are better off using permethrin products or the more expensive Elector PSP.

Yes, got it - I'm not using to treat, just prophylactic. I dusted a bit about in the "sleeping loft" after cleaning with permethrin and drying and putting in new bedding.

Weirdly the momma was scrape-scarpe-scraping in the newly bedded upper house. But I think she was looking for food. I fixed up the feeder in a slightly better place and she just shoveled half of it out and onto the floor for the little ones. (@@). They could have just pecked at it just fine but I guess it needs her imprimatur?

Earlier I grabbed her away from the brood - not exactly endearing me to her - to examine her vent. I see no lice! There's some crusty ick beneath the vent but it's not blocking the vent. So I decided not to wash and dry her. That would separate her from the brood for a really long while and I don't think it's critical.

She also obligingly pooped -straight into the new bedding though she could have gone outside. (@@) - but I don't see any sign of worms. She's not the one with the tapeworm segments, but it's good to verify. And I didn't see anything else.

It's going to be until Sunday before I can treat the rest for tapeworm. Long story but I cannot get it here. Possibly outside of the city further but the covid-ivermectin thing removed the horse wormer from the shelves, still, for reasons that are quite unclear to me. They've been living with this tapework all this while so while I'm not happy with the delay I hope they'll get by.

The flock was so *rambunctious* this morning; perhaps they feel better for their pyrethrin dusting yesterday? Or perhaps they're feeling icky from tapeworm. Or none of the above. Anyway, thanks all for the help. I have two days to figure out what they weigh and get a dose into them, lol.

 

[Phoenix Collins]

DE can also cause respiratory irritation. I mix wood ash in my dust bathing areas, I do not use DE. Birds respiratory systems are more sensitive than ours. And it won't take care of an active infestation, you are better off using permethrin products or the more expensive Elector PSP.

Only if it’s not food grade though. Did my research on that. It is in fact highly recommended for chickens and dogs allergic to the flea and tick repellents available. It’s also meant to be mixed with the earth not straight application. However straight application was the only way I could get rid of the lice on my rooster. This super lice came from a hawk that he attacked. But he was fine and survived after the diatomaceous earth. Although he died of a heart attack from too much loss. Poor boy. But I was worried about it too until I did my research. The non food grade is also harmful to humans and give us respiratory issues. I am asthmatic so I had to be careful.

 

[Kiki]

Yeah, we do use DE -- lots of it, lol! I didn't even realize there was food grade, we just have a big box of it. I think it came from Home Depot so.... not likely food grade. But to be honest, they have been ingesting that for a long while.

I *think* what happened is there is lice in "background" levels all the time but when this checken went broody and really was stressed and not caring well for herself, they got overwhelmed. While this other one chicken has had a tape worm, seemingly, for at least a few weeks, perhaps longer. So that probably gives a background level of stress too.

DE is worthless...especially in humid areas. It clearly didn't prevent the lice so don't waste any more money on it.

You can get a bottle of horse fly spray...like this:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-equine-fly-spray-plus-citronella-scent-32-oz

This is what you want for the tapeworms:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/equimax-ivermectin-187-praiquantel-1403-paste-642-g

 

[aart]

DE is worthless...especially in humid areas. It clearly didn't prevent the lice so don't waste any more money on it.

Ditto Dat.

 

[aliris]

Yup, I use DE just prophylactically and generally, not specifically to counteract this outbreak; just to keep the numbers down. It's just on the floor, just a bit of it. I used the permethrin to knock down the lice and as promised here, it seemingly flattened them straight away. They poured up and out of her onto her feather-tops and everyone - for better or worse, old and young - feasted on lice for a time. There are none left to be seen. I'll do another dusting in a few days just to be sure. But the DE is scattered a bit on the floor of the now-clean coop just to keep stray arthropods at bay.

I did end up ordering the equimax off amazon; let's see if they'll deliver it in CA. I was told "they" had removed all these products from the store. It's possible they could have returned them by now and just not got around to it, I don't think I was talking with the owner this time. But I decided it was easier just to get it online than drive 1.5 hours and discover it not there. Unfortunately that means no treatment until Sunday, but.... fingers crossed.....

 

[aliris]

OK, ducks in a row here. At last. Equimax has arrived! I see no lice on the babies nor the mother. The other 4 adult chickens seem to be much more rambunctious after getting dusted with permethrin the other day; I hadn't actually noticed they'd become subdued, frankly had been glad of it but perhaps that was the wrong tact....

Dusted everyone again prophylactically today because there's a bit of scratching going on in the family even though I don't see any lice. Since the original instructions were to do so in "2-3 days" that seemed good to just followup to be sure.

On to the dewormer. I have looked through the mother's poop and don't *see* any segments. I'm still not positive which bird is pooping the obvious tape worm segments, but I think it's the lightest-weight one. I have a #3.8, #4.4 and two #5.0-pound birds. Forgot to weigh the mother.

Questions: do you squirt out the right amount of paste and roll it into a ball for administration?

Do you - or rather do you think it would be ok to pop those balls into the freezer to make it easier to administer the medicine? My dh is skeptical, worrying the cold would hurt their gullet....

Would you administer to the mother? It's not as if she's nursing or anything... Seems to me it's better just to do it once for them all and be done with it? But would it be better to wait until the babies are older? If so, why?

I know it's mentioned just treat the one known one and I could work harder to verify precisely I have the suspect correct. But honestly, I feel like if it won't hurt them, it's better just to does them all (the non-mama adults) once. Do you-all agree?

Thank you! @Wyorp Rock @casportpony - @ anyone else. Much appreciation to you all!!

 

[aliris]

Oh, also - one more question -- do you agree it's worth getting up before dawn and the chickens become active, but after their crops are empty, to give the medicine on an "empty stomach"? This would remove the need, hopefully, to withhold food for a day which sounds next to impossible and pretty cruel as well as difficult?

thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I draw up meds into a needless syringe, then direct oral dose each bird.

If you are going to deworm all the adults, then yes, I'd deworm the broody hen too.

It's much easier to go out early and get each hen while they are roosting and medicate them. I pick one off the roost, dose her, then set her in the floor, go to the next.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...dications-to-all-poultry-and-waterfowl.73335/