chicken lice, best natural product ?

[chicknmania]

There is also a natural poultry spray that has clove oil in it that I think works well. I use it on roosts and when I clean out nest boxes. I get it in the feed store.

 

[growlingrooster]

We have little to no lice problem and our birds dust themselves we don't treat them individually. We keep two dust baths full for our flock of about 40 birds.

I never had this problem before neither, my birds walk around free on the ranch and they have tons of dust baths around. I imagine with the rain we've been getting the new birds didn't catch a chance for it... I'll try fill a litter box with ashes and dirt, I suspect it'll help and give me more time to find meds just in case!

 

[chicknmania]

Yes when its wet and warm lice seem to like that. Insectrin powder works in the bath too but it is Permethrin so I don t like to use it. Permethrin is very toxic to cats.

 

[Gammond]

This isn't a natural product.. but it's the only one I could get my hands on here in central BC:
http://www.domvet.com/dusting.html

There is a lot of controversy over it, but we had great success with it.. dusted 65 birds, and again after 8 days. Worked great.

I found it at our local Co-op

 

[Naser]

A good way as said above give them dry dust bath, full of ash and compost or whatever you get hands on as long as it is dry. I have a dry big dust bath available to them all the time and they seem to be fine without any chemical treatment for lice and mites

 

[Naser]

I hear people talking about food grade diatomaceous earth, I have never used it, but they say it works

 

[SilkiesForEver]

I hear people talking about food grade diatomaceous earth, I have never used it, but they say it works

Yes, D.E. absolutely works. I have tried numerous products over the years (permethrin, spinosad, sevin) on both lice and mites and nothing has worked as well as D.E. has. I actually believe spinosad, despite being called safe and natural, caused a type of skin cancer in my birds; it was not fun to experience. Diatomaceous earth works by slicing the exoskeleton of the bug, essentially making it bleed out. It is a 100% natural product, both humans and animals can eat it, it's cheap, and lasts a long time.

I have found that it takes more than one dusting to kill all parasites. For lice, I would dust once a week to be sure that all hatching eggs are killed. You can also sprinkle the D.E. in their bedding to really make sure they are eradicated.

 

[perchie.girl]

I would suggest you read more on the subject.... and in my opinion the natural products are good only as a prophylaxis....

If the birds are very infected I wouldnt wait and mess around with anything but a known lice killer....

One is a pyritherene product.... in spray form that has to be applied twice.... once for the initial treatment and second after a few days when the eggs hatch.

Ivermectin is also an excellent product safe to use and handles biting and chewing insects... that includes lice and mites ticks and fleas.... applied twice as well

I have experience with dogs goats and horses as well. For goats and horses I use horse wormer that is straight Ivermectin.... Same stuff can be fed to chickens. There is also a pour on cattle wormer... same ingredient... it travels through the skin and out the blood stream...

You can get all the products you need through Amazon or Valley Vet...

There are more, meaning additional, experienced people here on who may chime in tomorrow.

You will also need to spray the area where those hens are being kept because lice like to invade.

Once you get the infestation under control then using the organics is an excellent choice for prevention... Wood Ash is a well known dusting materail used for hundreds of years...

My opinion on DE is reserved. I know technically how its supposed to work... But there are hazards to its use as well. Technically Diatomaceous earth seems benign... even the food grade stuff. But there are warnings on the lable to wear a breathing mask when applying it. Our lungs are much much bigger than poultry lungs....

sources for on lable products...
Valley VEt....

Amazon

Ivermectin is off lable for poultry and I dont know the dosage...
@casportpony will know the dosage as well as the best products to use

deb

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @growlingrooster

Since you are in Canada you may want to check out @Wickedchicken6 post about products that may be available to you here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-we-have-mites.1192577/#post-18855450

 

[casportpony]

Get something known to kill lice and mites on contact.
Carbaryl - http://www.domvet.com/dusting.html
Permethrin - https://www.drugs.com/vet/ectiban-25-fly-killer-can.html

Or get any ivermectin de-wormer (horse paste, injectable, cattle pour on). Dose with each is different, so if you deide to get ivermectin, let us know which one and we'll tell you the dose.