Exactly how do you dust a chicken for lice?

[briesberrypatch]

Just FYI, I don't like Sevin for similar reasons as miss_thenorth, so I will be dusting with poultry dust (pyrethrin). It's still "bad", but not quite as bad as Sevin, I think.

I'm planning on dusting tonight when the flock goes to bed. I'll let you know how the trash bag method works.

 

[briesberrypatch]

Several BYCers have said the DE is only a preventative, not a treatment. So you will need to treat them with something else to actually kill the current lice infestation.

The OSU fact sheet does state that lice and mites can decrease egg production. Check out the OSU fact sheet (I posted the link earlier in this thread) for instructions on how to check your birds for lice.

 

[jsimplytx125]

Hi all,
I wanted to relay an experience my daughter had with mites, when she was only 10. She spends summers with her dad in rural Bastrop, Texas. The neighbor had chickens and she would let my daughter gather eggs every day. Soon my ex would not let me see her on my assigned weekends and soon I began hearing about my daughter having weeping rash all over her hands inside elbows and neck and ear area. One of the Ex's friends was a nurse and told him, get that girl to a doctor or I'll report you. He finally let me have her over July 4th and OMG, she was covered with pustula and so embarrased, poor thing. Every wear she would sratch or put her hands would transfer the mites to that area. Well I raised Holy H$%% and he took her to the emergency room,................yes Humans Can Get Mites. It's called Scabbies. The doctor was an Indian man from Napal and the moment he saw her, he said, " ah yes! Scabies." Gave her a shot, some cream and 3 days later she was healed.

It may not be lice or your kind of mites, but I know you can get a terrible pest UNDER your skin that will torment you when contacting dirty nests or any dirty bird. It was a simple and effective treatment but none fo the 4 other doctors saw the symptoms.
Thank God for Indian docs!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Some interesting info on mites.

http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcmites.htm

 

[MomMommyMamma]

Great info! About to dust my hen. Going to try the pantyhose method. Thanks!

 

[briesberrypatch]

I tried the trash bag method I mentioned earlier and I really didn't like it. It's too hard to get the bird in the bag, and it's still messy.

I don't like the powders at all because it's so easy to get them on your skin or inhale them. So I looked around, and I found Poultry Protector. I bought it from Jeffers, but it's available at a lot of places. The active ingredient is potassium sorbate - a food preservative, and completely safe for humans. (It's in a lot of stuff we eat!) I bought the concentrate instead of the ready-to-use spray.

The bottle says to spray the birds, but I found that it only kills the lice if the liquid directly contacts them. Spraying just didn't work for my birds' infestation, so I created a bath for them instead. I mixed up the solution as directed in a small Rubbermaid tub and gave each bird a bath, making sure to work the solution into the feathers so it would reach the skin and the lice. It worked great! You do have to repeat it several times over a few weeks to kill any lice that hatch out.

I highly recommend it, and I won't use the powders again.

If you do want to use potassium sorbate (Poultry Protector), I suggest looking around for a source for potassium sorbate. It's available online because it's used so widely as a preservative, and it's a lot cheaper to buy potassium sorbate in bulk instead of under the Poultry Protector brand.

 

[MomMommyMamma]

Quote:
Good to know ~ thank you for sharing!
I had good success with the powder puff of poultry dust made w/ an old nylon stocking. Will repeat later in the week to get any mites that have hatched. Have not seen any mites since the dusting.

Editing to add that I did wear a simple ear loop mask (bought a box at Wal-Mart) and latex gloves. We had a small breeze during the dusting so I made sure I was upwind. Then changed my shirt & washed my hands & arms. I used Pyrethrum dust from the feed store.

 

[cwc362]

My grandmother used the panty hose - Old sock method when she used to dust Sevin on her garden. I took an old plastic tote tube with a round hole cut out on one end and with the lid on. I filled up about 3 or 4 inches with really dry dusty dirt and then mixed in a cup of 10% Sevin dust and mixed it all up . The chickens go in and dust bathe occasionally and the lid on keeps everything dry . So far it has worked well but have it in only one coop. I will probably make one for every one at some time or another

 

[MomMommyMamma]

Quote:
Do you have a picture? I made a dust bath mix in a wash basin/bin but have not had any takers. Maybe it's not large enough.

 

[cuteblackchick]

Quote:
Sorry I am on the late train!!! I just found lice on my little Black Holland Fran. I want to try the Servin bath as you suggested, but Fran has a tendency to peck at everything! This may seem like a dumb question, but is Servin safe for chickens to eat? HALP!