Chicken lice infection

[Vaper]

I’m dealing with a chicken lice infestation I’ve been using diatomaceous earth to treat it. It seems to be working. I am just wondering if diatomaceous earth will kill the eggs of the lice? I am coming up on the third week of treatment, and I believe most of the lice are dead. It’s just a few egg clusters that I have seen and they are small..

 

[Tookie]

DE really doesn't work well in my experience, I found it didn't seem to kill the lice. Plus its hazardous for them to breath in.

I'd stop the DE and get some poultry permethrin and use that instead, it will for sure kill the lice, and the eggs.

 

[MamaFox78]

I've used DE directly on my birds to kill lice, it seems to work quickly but doesn't totally get rid of the issue in the coop.

Switched to permethrin dust, which also works and treated the coop much better... but I just discovered they have lice again!

@Tookie do you know if permethrin is safe to use around newly hatched chicks?? Two of my girls are currently hatching their clutches, and I've got a few chicks that just hatched in the last day or so. I don't want to hurt the babies, but I also don't want them infested with lice!

 

[Tookie]

@Tookie do you know if permethrin is safe to use around newly hatched chicks?? Two of my girls are currently hatching their clutches, and I've got a few chicks that just hatched in the last day or so. I don't want to hurt the babies, but I also don't want them infested with lice!

Should be safe around chicks I'd imagine. But it's probably better to use liquid instead of dust, as mentioned in this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-permethrin-safe-for-chicks.1314381/

So yes, it's safe to use around chicks it seems.

 

[Folly's place]

The eggs aren't killed, at least two treatments are necessary. permethrin spray is easiest to use, and the dust does work too. Generally lice and mites arrive because the chickens are interacting with wild songbirds, who like chicken food also.
DE isn't worth using, small gain, and bad for anyone to inhale.
Mary

 

[Vaper]

Yeah, this all started once I let the girls out in my backyard to free range, starting this spring i’ve been leaving the coop door open so the hens can go in and out. And they have been getting more interactions with wild birds because of this, there’s a small flock of chickadees and robins, this sucks I really like birds and have always encourage them to come into my yard, with feeders and bird baths. Thank you all for the advice.