Darned freaking LICE!

[Amore Galline]

Good afternoon, chicken lovers!
I have a backyard flock of 8 hens ranging in ages from 2 to 6 years.
I definitely have a lice problem, I've seen them. I believe they have been the issue in sickening (almost killing) one of my 6 year old girls.
I've done 2 applications of Poultry Protector (selected for it's non-toxic quality), but I'm not convinced it's going to do the trick, since I saw plenty of lice still when I was doing the second application.

I've read the Topic of the Week on Lice and Mites (yup, the whole thing), and many other threads on lice/mites.

I see that the overwhelming recommendation is permetrin for lice. But Holy Guacamole! Most of the containers recommend practically wearing a hazmat suit to apply it!! I've seen some people say they don't consider there to be a withdraw period using it, but then I see others that do (and I've read containers that do).
How do you guys use this stuff? It sounds extremely toxic, and yet everyone I've seen discuss it sound like it's no big deal. I was hoping to be able to use it as a powder in their dust bath area so that I wouldn't have to handle it and apply it to each chicken, but honestly, it sounds like if they're continually bathing in it, I'd never be able to hold or touch my girls again!

Being the height of egg production season, I don't want a product with a withdraw period.
Is the spray less of a worry than the powder, since it stays put once it dries? (as opposed to powder that puffs around and gets on everything it contacts?)
Is there a specific brand that's easiest to use?
How thoroughly do you have to cover the chicken with spray to be effective? It's not easy to get to that chicken skin through those feathers!

Also, I should mention that I'm not in favor of using DE, due to its lung hazards to both chickens and humans.

Sorry to start a new thread (with so many questions) on a very covered topic, but I didn't really see my concern addressed.
Thanks for any advice!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

Firstly do you have an infestation of lice or mites..... these are two very different insects with different life styles.
Mites live and breed in the coop but crawl onto the chickens at night to suck their blood. Treating the coop (particularly all the nooks and crannies where they hide during the day) with permethrin spray and allowing it to dry for a couple of hours before the chickens come in for the night, along with providing a dust bathing area for your chickens with soil, compost and wood ash and retreating the coop about 10 days later should sort them out without spraying or dusting anything toxic on the chickens themselves. I have used DE and permethrin with success on different occasions and both have benefits and drawbacks. I have also had occasions where DE did not work and permethrin took 3 applications with DE in between.
Lice live and breed on the chickens and are more of an irritant than a serious health threat because they live of skin debris and dander, not blood and usually healthy chickens with access to dust bathing facilities will keep them to a minimum without other treatment but if they are unable to dust bath because of ill health or prolonged wet conditions or lack of a suitable dust bath site, it can get out of hand and dusting or spraying the bird may be necessary.

I am unaware of any withdrawal for permethrin but applying it to the coop rather than directly onto the chickens should negate any issues like that....assuming the problem is mites and not lice.

 

[Amore Galline]

Thanks for your reply.
Definitely lice. They are all over the chickens during the day. Not to say there couldn't ALSO be mites - I haven't checked them for mites at night. I've read articles that say some lice do bite chickens. However I certainly could be dealing with multiple parasites, since the girl that became sickly appears anemic (pale comb and wattle).
Ugh, I'm really hoping to avoid withdraw periods.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Permethrin at the dosage for poultry really is no big deal. For larger insects and dosage recommended for structures the concentration is double and quadrupled. 1 ounce permethrin 10 (10% concentration liquid) to 1.5 gallons water is very mild, that's the dosage for chickens.

I've never read of an egg withdrawl period for it's use excepting opinions here. We drenched the birds to take care of pests this spring and gave them a two day withdrawl just for good measure. Soaked their vent area and imagine there was insecticide on the egg shells first day. Meh, just collected the eggs for two days after each dosage and mashed them up to feed back to the birds shells and all.

 

[BantyChooks]

I just don't let the Permethrin get on my skin or in my lungs, and that's it. No Hazmat suits required. I usually refrain from handling birds for 24 hours afterwards just because I am a bit paranoid. It requires caution in use, but there is no reason to be afraid. Anything toxic enough to kill lice on contact needs some respect.

I don't use a withdrawal period for eggs. They're not ingesting it.

 

[Amore Galline]

I just don't let the Permethrin get on my skin or in my lungs, and that's it. No Hazmat suits required. I usually refrain from handling birds for 24 hours afterwards just because I am a bit paranoid. It requires caution in use, but there is no reason to be afraid. Anything toxic enough to kill lice on contact needs some respect.

I don't use a withdrawal period for eggs. They're not ingesting it.

Are you using powder or spray? .25% or .10%? Applying directly to the chickens? How much (how much of the chicken do you have to cover)? It seems really hard to get spray or powder all over the chickens' skin.

 

[BantyChooks]

Are you using powder or spray? .25% or .10%? Applying directly to the chickens? How much (how much of the chicken do you have to cover)? It seems really hard to get spray or powder all over the chickens' skin.

Powder for now... Not sure, I'll have to check the label. 10% I think. Yes, apply directly to the chooks.

Getting powder all over is easy, truthfully. Restrain the bird and go in sections with a pantyhose filled with the dust. It 'poofs', so careful of your lungs. It seemed impossible to me too, but when I actually tried it it wasn't that hard.

I usually go all over the bird except the head. With the spray, do the vent, back, neck, and a spray to the underside. Make sure you lift the feathers to expose skin.

 

[Amore Galline]

Powder for now... Not sure, I'll have to check the label. 10% I think. Yes, apply directly to the chooks.

Getting powder all over is easy, truthfully. Restrain the bird and go in sections with a pantyhose filled with the dust. It 'poofs', so careful of your lungs. It seemed impossible to me too, but when I actually tried it it wasn't that hard.

I usually go all over the bird except the head. With the spray, do the vent, back, neck, and a spray to the underside. Make sure you lift the feathers to expose skin.

Thanks! You don't worry about getting the powder on yourself as you poof it with the pantyhose?
When using the spray, do you only need to apply it to selected areas because its effect spreads?

 

[Amore Galline]

And does anyone have a preferred brand/product they use and recommend?

 

[JaeG]

Another option is to give each of your girls a bath in a strong salt water solution with a bit of dishwasher liquid added, just enough to mess up the surface tension of the water so the lice drown. Then rinse in fresh water. Or you can do a salt water dip followed by a soapy dip, then a plain water dip to rinse it all off. Then repeat in two weeks to get any that hatched from any eggs that survived. If it's a nice hot day they should be fine drying off outside. If it's a bit cool you can blow dry them.