Chicken lice

[buckaroogirl]

I try to not use the chemical stuff but honestly. The herbs won't do it if you do have an infestation, which it sounds like you do. Treat them to get rid of them then use the herbal stuff to keep them at bay

 

[buckaroogirl]

Oh and regarding the safe thing, I wouldn't let my kids help me with that....I'd rather get sick if anyone did. I use a face mask and gloves and if you can get like a ....hazco suit( just a thin white suit thing that zips up with a hood)that would be good to wear so you don't get it on your skin. ( hard to explain....but someone told me you can get them at Home Depot or something) I get one from where I work when I wash oiled wildlife.

 

[fluffyxx]

See, I would really prefer to use a method that doesn't involve the chemicals. I just don't feel right doing it. I dunno. But, I want something that is going to be effective, pretty quickly. Or at least, as quickly as possible. I have one girl, who has the pale wattle. I worry about her, she has been a little off the last few days. I mean, she is eating & drinking just fine. She just doesn't seem like she feels well. And I'm worrying about her a lot. So, I do want something that is going to work, as quickly as possible for this case.

And the whole handling issue. I'm sure I can hold them long enough to check them, I just don't hold them the correct way. Or at least in a way that I don't get knocked out by chicken wigs. Ha. As soon as they start flapping, I let them go. So, if I hold their wings, while checking them. I'll be okay. I still haven't noticed any crawling bugs. But, once again... I may just not be seeing them.


Still trying to find a nice method of dusting them. So, if anyone has any suggestions, I'd like that.

Also, I don't think I'll be worming them, at least not this go around.
I feel like that may be TOO much for them, at least at one time. Plus, I haven't noticed any worms in their poop. So, I think I may skip on that.


Would also like some times, I don't think that has been addressed.
Such as, my plan being to clean out the shavings, use the spray on the coop, I'm also going to empty out their nest boxes, I think its hay that is currently in there for their nesting material. I'm going to use something different I think. Anywho - how long should I wait before I put the shavings back in? Like how long should I let it dry & air out, before re-assembling the coop & letting the girls back in?


Also, how long should I toss the eggs for? I'm actually already doing it, as I wasn't sure about eating the eggs. And since my dad gives the eggs away, I didn't want to make anyone sick. Better safe than sorry.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: In my experience (which has obviously been different to yours), the herbs and natural treatments will do it, but they take longer and it takes some knowledge rather than just reading a label. While there are faster working herbs and natural treatments to use, even I am wary of using them because faster usually comes with risks. I.e. wormwood family plants as insecticides.

It is hard to start with non-naturally raised animals and then put them onto natural treatments. Their bodies won't respond as quickly. With those I'm inclined to think you may as well just stick with unnatural treatments, especially if you have a severe infestation and don't have the time/ability/knowledge/resources to do natural treatments.

Each to their own, hope you find what works for you. No condemnation to anyone.

Quote: Always do what you feel is best.

With chemically treated and unnaturally fed birds the way they started and were kept is the easiest way to keep going. Suddenly trying natural treatments often does work but usually takes longer because they try to rebuild their whole bodies on more natural cells which isn't the idea when time is of the essence. Chemicals may be the best choice right now.

Quote: I would replace them entirely. Also I'd lime the ground with hydrated agricultural lime or wood ash to kill eggs that are possibly in the soil. Even folks who use chemical treatments often use wood ash.

Quote: Most natural worming treatments are gentle and don't impact the body like chemicals. If you get a loaf of wholemeal, add tabasco to each slice, chop each sandwich up into bite sized pieces, and feed it to them within the days before the moon is full, then you'll get adult worms of various species burned to death (and their eggs too) as they emerge into the intestines from organs etc at this time to reproduce. Simple, very effective. Non toxic. The hot stuff is beloved of chooks, they are really multicultural. They like curry and pepper and chilli and garlic and onions and everything hot, no matter where it came from.

However because of the symptoms you're writing of, I don't think worms are your issue right now, though worming them the way I mentioned won't hurt. But those symptoms could be from many different things (as always) and chooks are notoriously hard to diagnose. If you see abnormal poops, that's a good indication it's not lice doing the most harm. At night time you can check their weight as they sit on the perches, that's always good to keep track of. Anyway, just random ideas, wish you all the best with your natural or chemical treatments.

 

[buckaroogirl]

I always assume they have worms even if I don't see worms in the stool. I worm my chickens as often as I worm my dogs( usually once a year). I used a chemical treatment, safeguard, also use it on my horses. I throw away eggs for two weeks. Then they get crushed garlic in their water and I also feed it to them occasionally.

I'm not too familiar with all the natural treatments but I do use some that I know. I give them acv in their water along with the garlic and I also use Woodash and DE in their dusting bin. But if they have an infestation of something then I'd rather take care of it ASAP than trying out these herbal remedies an they take weeks to work while the parasites are sucking your babies dry. But it's up to you. I haven't found any bad effects from using the dusting powder. Maybe if you used it everyday lol.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: It's not easy to go from unnatural straight to natural, in which case it may be wiser to try chemical treatment.

I don't get infestations because I always feed them antiparasitic stuff, but even when I brought in new but infested stock I usually just treated it through diet too. Some scaly leg infestations were so bad they were losing toes, in which case I used Stockholm tar, but that doesn't apply to lice. Actually it might, but experimentation is not the best bet right now... I don't have to worry about my uninfested animals catching the parasites because they can't due to the natural antiparasitic feed additives. But that's not doable for the thread starter right now most likely. I've never dusted for lice either, so I have no advice to offer there even though there are natural alternatives for chemicals.

Best wishes to all, whatever their choices.

 

[fluffyxx]

So, mission accomplished with getting the coop cleaned and spray & the girls dusted. So far I have seen no signs of the little crawling devils.


I'm going to start trying preventatives now. I really do not want to have to go thru all of that again.

So, it was posted earlier about the garlic as being an herbal way to rid your chickies of those ugly parasites.
How much and any tips on getting them to eat it? Or do chickens seem to like garlic? I was thinking of either putting it in some scrambled eggs, or some mashed up hardboiled eggs, mincing the garlic up really well. I have 10 birds. So, how would I do the garlic?



Also, now that I have treated my ladies & their surroundings, how long should I toss their eggs for?

 

[chooks4life]

Chooks love hot stuff: curry, ginger, mustard, pepper, chilli, tabasco, onions of all sorts including shallots, turmeric, cayenne, garlic, chives, basically anything hot they love.

If they've never eaten it before it may take a day or so for them to get used to it. Mine will eat it straight but I mix it with the foods so no greedy ones take more than their share. Some folks crush or mince it, some hand chop it, some don't even peel it, they just crush it peels and all. I worried about the peels building up and making a blockage so I always peeled it but some people haven't had any issues with it.

Garlic contains 30-odd antibacterial and antibiotic compounds which fight viruses, bad bacteria, harmful microorganisms, etc., but don't harm the good versions the body naturally carries. One of the most powerful antibiotics in garlic, known as Allicin, has been used in hospitals to cure otherwise fatal cases of food poisoning etc that even the most powerful man made antibiotics can't touch. This is due to Allicin being formed from the enzyme reaction right after cutting or crushing garlic, so it's always dynamic, whereas man made antibiotics are stable and so viruses etc can develop immunity to them. Allicin dissipates after anywhere between a few minutes and a few days. Some strains of garlic are weaker than others.

Garlic also contains natural sulfur compounds which when consumed over a period of time build up in an animal's flesh and render it toxic to parasites, without harming the animals. It also speeds healing and kills many diseases organisms, infections, pathogens, etc. You'd have to force feed a chook enormous amounts of garlic to overdose it on sulfur.

The average dose to achieve these effects is one clove of garlic, per bird, per day. I would advise getting a mincer and doing it up the easy way --- skins and all; if it's chopped not whole, then it won't stand any chance of blocking up the birds --- and just mix it in with their feed. Oyster shell or shell grit or whatever roughage they are fed should always be on hand too. Feeding garlic in yogurt or eggs will make them love you, lol, great way to train them to come when called if they're not already trained. Chooks are actually easier to train than some dogs.

About throwing the eggs, I don't know for sure but as far as I've heard two weeks is the average minimum time to keep discarding them. Best wishes.

 

[buckaroogirl]

I mince mine and put it in a bowl straight. And they dive in. And I do have greedy ones.

If you didn't give your chickens anything to digest ( dewormer) then you shouldn't need to discard eggs?

 

[fluffyxx]

Who knew garlic had so much use. I'll try adding it with some scrambled eggs or yogurt, or both. My girls are weird, and turn their nose up at random things.

So I think I'll try mixing it, at first.. then just try plain later.


And I've been tossing the eggs this whole time I've been doing treatment on them, even the non toxic stuff. I dusted them with the sevin. And I'm pretty sure a few of them pecked at the random flakes that fell off on the ground.

So, I figured I should go ahead and toss them. Rather be safe than sorry. I was assuming for about a month. But, wasn't sure if there was a better estimate to that or not.


Thank you all for all of the help. I really appreciate it. And I'm sure the girls do too.