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

[LaFleche]

Use wood shavings for bedding instead of straw, as the mites love to hide and proliferate in the hollow stems.

 

[Weeg]

Thanks so much! I am so excited to at least save them! They are so cute, we are picking them up on Sunday! Is this the right spray @Wyorp Rock
https://www.amazon.com/CHEMTECH-D-B...methrin+10+for+chickens&qid=1596416259&sr=8-5

 

[centrarchid]

Use wood shavings for bedding instead of straw, as the mites love to hide and proliferate in the hollow stems.

Why not use straw and simply replace it more frequently? The straw would function as a trap crop enabling removal of all mite life-stages when not on the birds.

The mites move in mass from their day cover to birds at night to feed and back again by morning. Collect straw and burn and replace with fresh straw. Mites would not all be removed , but enough would so birds would feel better.

 

[Weeg]

Alright, how often should I replace the straw? I usually us shavings for my birds, but do have hay I could use as bedding from my horses feed. I like the idea as using it as a trap. Here are the cuties I get to pick up on Sunday!

 

[Weeg]

 

[centrarchid]

Alright, how often should I replace the straw? I usually us shavings for my birds, but do have hay I could use as bedding from my horses feed. I like the idea as using it as a trap. Here are the cuties I get to pick up on Sunday!View attachment 2274047

I have no science to back up, but to start I suggest weekly. My guess is life cycle time increases with decreasing temperature.

This all making me think. The mites are employing pheromone to aid them moving back and forth between chickens they feed on and areas they hang out when not feeding. Almost certainly they employ scent trails. They might also associate with kin and keep going back to same location each morning. Would be cool to know what pheromone might be used to get them to concentrate in materials easier to remove.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thanks so much! I am so excited to at least save them! They are so cute, we are picking them up on Sunday! Is this the right spray @Wyorp Rock
https://www.amazon.com/CHEMTECH-D-B...methrin+10+for+chickens&qid=1596416259&sr=8-5

Yes, that's the right spray.

Congrats on your new birds, I bet you can't wait for them to come home!

 

[Weeg]

Yes, so excited they get to live! So, you think it will be to complicated to use hay, or should i just use the shavings? i have both on hand so what ever you think will work best! Thanks so much! Avery

 

[LaFleche]

Why not use straw and simply replace it more frequently? The straw would function as a trap crop enabling removal of all mite life-stages when not on the birds.

The mites move in mass from their day cover to birds at night to feed and back again by morning. Collect straw and burn and replace with fresh straw. Mites would not all be removed , but enough would so birds would feel better.

Simply because you might even start a mite infestation yourself by using already infested "fresh" straw which happened to me years ago.

You never really know if the 'fresh' straw is not infested with mites, fleas (barn cats and rats etc.) or sometimes even mould.

 

[LaFleche]

As for traps to use as hiding spaces for mites some paper rolls stuck to the underside of the roosts might come in handy (empty kitchen paper or toilet paper roll).