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

[Wyorp Rock]

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

I've never used hay, but if it's fresh/not molded and is not going to be getting wet, then it may be suitable bedding for the coop. I would not put a lot inside since you are going to need to clean out and treat the coop (and birds) in 7-10 day intervals or whenever you are visiting.
Shavings works fine in a coop too, if they are not getting wet. I would not put them in the run.

I use straw in my runs.

 

[centrarchid]

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.

Fresh straw means this years cut and bailed with proper storage in a barn or other overhead environment. Stay away from the city slicker straw that has been stored improperly or repackaged for small scale sale with quality assured. You have responsibility of using quality material. If bad, then do not use it; if bad at time of purchase, then do not purchase. @Weeg a vet needs to develop a handle on quality of products used around animals. I teach college students on track to become vets. It really helps they have experience with health issues and quality / characteristics of materials used in animal husbandry.

@Weeg your locality I do not know, but hopefully you are in an area with wheat or other grain producers that have straw as a byproduct. Base on my understanding, hay will not be as attractive to the mites as straw will be. The straw has more hollows and packs less densely providing more protected spaces for the eggs and early life-stages.

 

[Lovem all]

Yes it can kill them honey. Get DE (diatomaceous earth) dust baths in the coop asap.

 

[Lovem all]

Yes it can kill them honey. Get DE (diatomaceous earth) dust baths in the coop asap.

 

[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.

 

[Weeg]

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?

 

[Weeg]

i also bought the double sided tape to put at the edges fo the roosts and bas eo 4th nesting boxes, so they will get stuck. I may also be bringing him his rooster, just because he is young and I may be able to fix him up. He has been exposed to more mites then the little hens, there's a pic of his comb in my first post, But I will keep him separate if I do take him, and hope for the best. Thanks so much for all the help! Avery

 

[centrarchid]

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?

Dust baths will not help as much with your current problem. The mites are not on the birds when birds dust bath. In nature the birds simply shift roosts which they cannot do in your setting.

 

[Weeg]

But will the DE in the due bath help kill the mites?

 

[centrarchid]

But will the DE in the due bath help kill the mites?

First, I do not think the DE kills the mites, rather it operates like regular dust particles the birds get into their feathers. The mites moving about grab the dust particles that act like loose rocks for you on a steep hillside. The mites then tend to fall of the the bird. That is why it is often easy to find mites / lice in dust baths. The dust quickly falls away from feathers making to it is less abundant when bird not dust bathing. Remember the biology of your Red Dust mite, they are not on the birds in appreciable numbers during the day.