Chickens with lice!

[Geordonbuck223]

I have 11 chickens and I have noticed they all have lice! What should I do

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Is it officially lice or is there a chance it's mites? Do you see egg clusters at the feather bases?

 

[Geordonbuck223]

They are red ish orange they look like lice to me what do mites look like

 

[Geordonbuck223]

I'm 95 percent sure it is lice

 

[casportpony]

Get some poultry dust or 5% Sevin and dust them.

-Kathy

 

[nicole camp]

When you dust your birds make sure to put it around the vent and under the wings. Avoid contact with the eyes.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf (this may help you)

Mites can be black or red. Lice move fast, mites move slow. I've used the Sevin dust and I currently use permethrin. There's a powder form and a concentrate.

Other people may recommend DE as it's more "natural", but I have never had success getting rid of bugs with it.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Below is a link to one of the things (Elector) which is supposed to be effective in battling external parasites, with the bonus that it is approved for use with poultry. The active ingredient in that treatment (Spinosad) is also found in oral medications for fleas on dogs, and I've read it is also used on humans for lice.

Natural remedies include dusting with things like DE, wood ash, sulfur powder. Of those, Sulfur powder is probably the most effective, and can be bought as a "feed-grade" powder or crystal, which can also be added to feed in tiny quantities (about 3 lbs per ton) ... it's in Feather Fixer poultry feed ... to help control external parasites. Feed-grade Sulfur powder is "bee friendly" and doesn't require a withdrawal period for eggs or meat.

I gather whatever treatment you choose your bugs might develop a resistance, so rotating through different treatments might be necessary to fully eliminate the pests. Repeated & frequent treatments will likely be necessary.

http://www.elanco.us/pdfs/USPBELS00010_Elector-PSP_Northern_Fowl_Mite.pdf

There are other options which are not approved for use on poultry that lots of people use on their birds ...

You can read more about Spinosad here:

http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2476&Itemid=2745

 

[casportpony]

DE is a waste of money, IMO.

-Kathy

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I couldn't agree more.