To answer what to do if you find lice on your birds, kind of depends on what course you want to take. We try to avoid using too many chemicals so we'll give you our way of handling them. First, in general, if a chicken has lice there could be an underlying health issue. A healthy chicken will pick off and eat any body parasites. But sometimes a bird gets under the weather and the parasites take over.
We had 3 lovely rescue hens with an infestation which led us to this very successful protocol: We bathe them in a dog shampoo that contains permethrin (not pyrethrins) the only chemical part in our regime. We haven't found DE to be useful once lice are present. We use a very deep bucket (and nice warm water) so we can submerge them up to their necks and work the shampoo in for about 5 minutes, letting it do it's work. After we rinse off the shampoo we dunk them in a bathe with Apple Cider Vinegar, use it like a flea dip, keep them in there for another 5 minutes. After they are dried, we follow up with sprays of Manna Pro's "Poultry Protector" which is all natural, it's an enzyme that some how kills lice and keeps them from returning. We spray just about every other day for the first week and then just once a week afterward or we do regular inspections.
I'm sorry you lost that hen. I hope the others don't even have lice, but if they do, good luck.
We had 3 lovely rescue hens with an infestation which led us to this very successful protocol: We bathe them in a dog shampoo that contains permethrin (not pyrethrins) the only chemical part in our regime. We haven't found DE to be useful once lice are present. We use a very deep bucket (and nice warm water) so we can submerge them up to their necks and work the shampoo in for about 5 minutes, letting it do it's work. After we rinse off the shampoo we dunk them in a bathe with Apple Cider Vinegar, use it like a flea dip, keep them in there for another 5 minutes. After they are dried, we follow up with sprays of Manna Pro's "Poultry Protector" which is all natural, it's an enzyme that some how kills lice and keeps them from returning. We spray just about every other day for the first week and then just once a week afterward or we do regular inspections.
I'm sorry you lost that hen. I hope the others don't even have lice, but if they do, good luck.
