Bug issues

[Gremores]

so I feel like we have tried every remedy but our chickens have little bugs on them that look like lice to me. We have tried dusting, cleaning the coop and even bathing the birds. My husband just bought something a friend used for their birds but wanted to see if there were any suggestions from you all. I would prefer natural methods over chemical but willing to do what it takes because this is getting out of hand!

 

[junebuggena]

Sometimes you've just got to do what you have to. When you do treat you chickens, be sure to treat everything in your coop, as well. That includes removing all hay/straw that you may use.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are different sprays and powders that work. Pyrethrin is an organic one based on something in Chrysanthemum’s. Permethrin is based on the Pyrethrin chemistry but is not organic, instead it is manmade. Sevin is another non-organic manmade product that is probably the most used to treat lice and mite infestations. I don’t know what you already tried but any of these should work if applied correctly.

There are different kinds of mites. One kind is especially hard, the roost mite. It hides in the coop during the day but comes out at night. If this is what you have you not only have to treat your birds but you need to clean out your nests and coop and treat it. Roost mites are a real pain. Since the treatment only kills the living bugs you need to repeat the treatment in around 7 days. That should get the ones that out of the eggs after treatment but before they lay eggs of their own.

 

[Gremores]

Oh I will have to look into the rooster mites :/ thanks. Definitely a learning curve

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

If roost mites are what you're dealing with, go out to your coop at night with a flashlight and shine it on the roost. If its them, you'll see them crawling on there. When we had them, my husband painted our roost bars with used motor oil (we locked the chickens out of the coop until it dried). He also slathered any cracks in the coop walls. We haven't had them since. The follow up treatment/cleaning after 7 days is SUPER important. If you don't do it, you'll have a never ending cycle of creepy crawlies. A dust bath area with some Sevin (or other) or DE wouldn't hurt either.

Good luck.

 

[Gremores]

thank you, i will head out there shortly to see if thats the case.