Help! Can chickens die from poultry lice!!!!!

[Weeg]

I have been visiting my grandparents recently. They have ten chickens and last time I was there, I noticed one was super low energy, and was missing tons of features by her legs. Upon inspection, she had millions of poultry lice covering her body. I ordered my grand parents some Davis pure planet poultry spray, and informed then in how to get rid of the RATS, IFESTING, there coop! There are less rats, since I have been back in 3 months, but the lice are terrible! There designated driver/helper only sprayed them Pune while I was gone, and I d as m seriously worried they are gonna kill the chickens! I sprayed the today, and put some dust bath powder with biodenacouse earth in it. But I need to do something! I have attached pics for reference but I need to know if there’s anything else I can do for the chickens. Thanks so much!

 

[LaFleche]

Whatever you decide to do, I wanted to tell you that I find it very remarkable and laudable that you take such interest in the welfare of your grandparents animals.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@Weeg don't give your address, but are you in the US?
Do you have a Tractor Supply or similar store?

I would get some Permethrin 10 concentrate, a garden sprayer and a hand held spray bottle.
Mix the Permethrin according to the label on the back for treatment of poultry housing - mix that up in the garden sprayer and spray the coop. Clean out all the bedding, then spray the housing making sure you treat the whole coop including ceiling, nesting boxes, roosting bars, etc. If possible, do this early in the morning, so the spray is dried by roosting time.

There's also labeling for use on the chickens themselves, mix that up and put it in the hand held sprayer and treat the birds.

It's nice that you are trying to help out your Grandparents. Do the best you can and don't stress out.

 

[cmom]

This is what I use. I'm an old lady who has had chickens for a very long time and have dealt with mites and lice. I'm pretty sure the wild birds introduce them. Rodents can too. I use permethrin. You do need to repeat treatments weekly for 3 or 4 weeks because it does not kill the pests eggs and then they hatch out and here we go again. I spray inside of the coops thoroughly every crack and crevice. I use poultry dust in the nest boxes. I do use shavings in my coops and nest boxes. I get it at TSC. It works for me. Good luck...

I know this chart is for mites.

 

[centrarchid]

I see what appear to be lice on comb of rooster with close-up of head, and enough for me to be concerned.

From what I can see of coop in images makes mites / louse management difficult. Birds confined tight in a very protected space is ideal for sustained external parasites.

My treatment regime would be one that treats the coop as well and might involve removing chickens during treatment. Also, when treating you will need to do so more than once to get the less vulnerable life-stage after hatching, but before they can reproduce themselves.


Most of my chickens have little trouble with mites as they are housed in outdoor pens that provide little cover for the pest to use when not on the chickens. The chickens in the barn are more of a problem. Those chickens roost on wooden dowels supported by metal walls of steel dog pens. Only the dowels provide the mites with refuge and not very good as they are smooth. The metal walls do not provide habitat for the mites.

There are several products that are effective against red mites and all require repeated used to keep mites under control as you are not likely to eradicate them. If I were in your situation, then short term efforts would involve treating birds and coop to knock mite levels down while for long term make a coop less hospitable for the mites that might involve a higher roost that is supported by a non-wooden surface that is easy to clean. The higher roost makes for more distance from roosting chickens and areas you cannot easy treat.

Others here (@Wyorp Rock and @casportpony) will likely be more on top of the short term treatment regimens.

 

[Caoilinnkaylin]

I have been visiting my grandparents recently. They have ten chickens and last time I was there, I noticed one was super low energy, and was missing tons of features by her legs. Upon inspection, she had millions of poultry lice covering her body. I ordered my grand parents some Davis pure planet poultry spray, and informed then in how to get rid of the RATS, IFESTING, there coop! There are less rats, since I have been back in 3 months, but the lice are terrible! There designated driver/helper only sprayed them Pune while I was gone, and I d as m seriously worried they are gonna kill the chickens! I sprayed the today, and put some dust bath powder with biodenacouse earth in it. But I need to do something! I have attached pics for reference but I need to know if there’s anything else I can do for the chickens. Thanks so much!

Hi. I have had chickens all my life I show and run our farm. Feather lice in chickens if very very common almost all chickens have it I got freaked out when I found them on one of my favorite roosters! They can get very bad and yes they kill the chicken if the case is severe. They sell poultry sprays at tractor supply for it. I find egg sacks next to the vent(vent lice pretty much the same thing). I pull them off and also I take out some lice if there in big blobs and kill them. I found this to be the best way for me at this point. It does take energy down and it sounds like your chickens have a bad case of it

 

[CannedMonster]

Here is my plan. Bring the chickens home and put them in there small outdoor pasture, then bathe each of them in hot water to get rid of any mites on them at that time. Then they will spend the day in direct sunlight, an ounce they are dry, I will tape down any mites on them, or any in the coop. At night, I will take them to there night coop, and once the mites come out, I will spray the chickens with permethrin 10 and any other mites I see. i will also put up some double sided tape so any escaping mites from the coop to chicken won't be able to pass the barrier, and get stuck. I will also spray the night coop three times a week and change the bedding. Wha too you think? i really want these guys to be okay so any advice appreciated. Thanks, Avery

You don’t need to spray three times a week. Spray down the coop while they’re outside and change out the bedding. Treat the birds with the permethrin 10 (it’s concentrated so make sure you mix it with water according to the directions!)
You don’t have to wait until the mites come out; just treat the birds before they go into the coop for the night and make sure the coop has been treated already too.
After 7-10 days do this again to kill the eggs that hatched.
I would also add a little permethrin dust to their dust baths not DE which is useless.

 

[cmom]

I will just use shavings, and I purchased the permethrin 10, and already am giving my chickens diatomaceous earth dust baths, so I will make available to them too. Thanks so much for the help, and I was planning on spraying them more than once, so how may times a week should I spray them? Once, twice?

Once a week along with their coop. I would put some poultry dust in their nest boxes too. I hate to tell you but I have had no luck with DE. I have posted this previously. I had some birds that were severely infested. I thought they were just molting but weren't getting their feathers back in when I discovered they had mites. The first thing I tried was DE. The birds weren't improving and still had mites. I first discovered them in only one coop but eventually found them on birds in another coop. I dusted the birds and the coops with the DE for a couple of weeks and no improvement. I did use some sevin dust that I had but it was almost gone but it did help. I did some research and came up with permethrin, which is the pyrethrum on steroids. It lasts longer than pyrethrum. There is no egg withdrawal period with permethrin. Wild birds can bring the mites and other pests in if they have access to their coop. I used the dust on the birds and in their nest boxes and sprayed inside of the coops, every crack and crevice, on and under the roosts, ceiling, walls, floors, anywhere the mites can hide. Nothing will kill the mite eggs so repeated weekly treatments are necessary. Wear special clothing including a mask and gloves. I did a weekly spraying for awhile and put permethrin dust in the nest boxes, originally sprayed the birds getting under the wings and worked it through their feathers with gloves which you can also do with the dust. It will take a few weekly applications. Slowly my birds began to recover and get their feathers back in. I think if I hadn't treated with the permethrin when I did I probably would have lost some birds to the mites. The birds were in bad condition. I did originally bathe the worst birds with flea shampoo which did help but did not get rid of the mites but then discovered that the over the counter (OTC) head lice shampoo for people. Every over-the-counter (OTC) treatment of head lice contains either pyrethrins (Rid or Triple X) or permethrin (Nix). Both are effective treatment. Both only kill live pests, not the mite eggs eggs. Good luck...

 

[Weeg]

Yes, the feathers are also likely from a molt. I just wanted to make sure that there is nothing else I should be doing for such a sever case. I will make sure that they get sprayed more often. I have felt with lice before but never THIS bad. Thanks for the response! Avery

 

[Weeg]

Yes, if I pull back there features then U can see millions of them and plenty of egg sacks. I am going to make sure they keep getting sprayed and hope for the best. The hardest part is it’s my grandparents chickens so I am not there to regulate his they get treated. It’s gonna be though, any other treatment ideas are appreciated And yes, on the chickens faces and combs are lice.