Grrrrr ... Lice Again!!!!!!

[mamabigbird]

Well here we go again.
I thought my one hen was looking particularly scruffy (they have been molting),
so I scooped her up for a better look and DANG she had egg casings stuck to several feathers around her vent.
I dealt with this about 3-4 months ago.
I used Sevin dust on all of them and repeated in 10 days.
I clean out their coop as best I can (raw untreated plywood), removing bedding about once a week.
I dust the floors and roosts with Sevin about once a month.
My hens free range every day so am I just going to keep getting re-infested from wild birds or is there something more I can do?
I have 16 hens so dusting them is a real chore.
Any advice?

 

[TinyBirds]

We use neem oil from Mountain Rose Herbs for our silkies and seramas since they live together and they've been heavily infested with the lice/mites in the past (complete with the lice eggs and all) . 1 drop of neem oil above the vent (and behind head on silkies) will do the trick every time. At night when they're in the coop, just pick up each bird one at a time and put the drops on, then set them back down and the bugs are gone by the next day. Then repeat every couple weeks or as needed. Neem oil is smelly stuff but I have actually grown to love the smell of it probably because I know how well it works. DE didn't work for us and I didn't want to inhale anything in dust form (nor bother with the hassle, like you said). Neem can also be put in a spray bottle with water (around 5% neem and the rest water), shaken up, and sprayed inside the coop before adding new shavings. We haven't had cocci since we started using it either (we use organic non-medicated feed), I assume because they get a tiny bit into their system when preening. Studies found the neem works just as well as medicating for cocci. I wouldn't use more than the 1-2 drops per bird though (above vent and behind neck) since I wouldn't want them to get too high a dose.

 

[CMV]

Are you sure the eggs aren't old casings still attached from 3-4 months ago? Did you actually see any creepy crawlies?

 

[mamabigbird]

Quote:
Gosh! I never thought of that. I only saw a couple of the feathers with casings.
I'll try to get another look. Fingers crossed it could be that.
I'll have a look at some of the younger pullets 'cuz they're tamer.
I'm also interested in the spot-on prevention because I HATE TO POWDER THE HENS.
I'm looking up the NEEM OIL for availability and price.