today, while holding a few of my favorite hens, i noticed a black, thin shaped bug crawling on me. i believe it was a louse. i always check my hens but have never seen anything crawling on them but i do see them preening (itching?) all the time. egg production has been way down too. my bo's are just over 1 year old so should still be laying well. a few are molting but i'm not sure which is really the cause of the low egg production. question is, what is the safest and best way to treat them and the coop? they are always exposed to wild birds as they free range and the wild birds are always at their food (but that's another problem).
Pyrethrin poultry dust is very safe and effective on lice. You most likely will need to use it regularly, and put a light dusting in their nests. If you have lice, you likely also have mites, which looove nest boxes. Your low egg production could also be partly from hot weather.
