Chicken Mites/Lice

[Arrowheadfarm]

How do you know if your chickens have mites or lice? How do you get rid of it? Would it cause a rashy bottom area on the hen?

Is this the same type of lice humans get?

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Pick them up and visually inspect your chickens. Lice move quicker than mites, mites look like pepper. Check around the vent and base of their tail. Dust them with sevin dust if you see either. Repeat dusting in 10 days to kill lice/mites that have hatched since the first dusting. Dust the inside of their house, roosts and nests...repeat dusting again in 10 days. They are not the same as human lice. Rashy bottom can be caused by lice/mites, mating with a rooster, feather picking, feces stuck to their bottom, broken egg remnants dried on their bottom.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[hencam]

I have some good pictures of lice on my blog and also what to do about them.
http://www.hencam.com/henblog/2010/05/of-lice-and-hens/
Mites are another story. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with them so no photos. But, they are quite different than lice - from where they live to what they do. Lice don't suck blood. They chew on dander and skin flakes. Mites suck blood and can cause anemia. Lice live on the birds, but the mites live in crevasses in the barn, and appear at night (look for them with a flashlight. You'll see them on the roosts.)

I also have a post about bare bottoms. Not all bare butts on hens are caused by external parasites.
http://www.hencam.com/henblog/2010/10/bare-butts/

 

[Arrowheadfarm]

Hencam - thanks for the links. The photo you show of your hen Eleanor is the same rash my 3 birds have. Any idea what this is and how to get rid of it?

 

[hencam]

Eleanor is an elderly bird- now 7. She's looked like that for several years. I've had chicken experts and a vet look at her and they're all stumped. She has other health issues, but keeps on going. Amazing what chickens can live with.

 

[ChicKat]

Arrowheadfarm---

good question...Now I'm going out to pick them up and look at their behinds.

Hencam!
Thanks for the nice photos and the close=ups. I love your set up and your hencam. It looks so peaceful. It's like taking a trip to your hen house. well virtual that is.