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

[Livestocklover101]

If I was you I would spray all the birds thoroughly and then clean everything out of the coop and spray the walls, roosts, floor, and especially the corners as they will often hide there. You can also clean out their dust bath if they have one.

 

[Foxinthehenhouse]

Are your grandparents too old to take care of them? Maybe its time they go to a place where they can be taken care of properly. The chickens, I mean!

 

[Sylvia]

Here’s my arsenal for mites that has worked very well:

1. Pyrethrin spray. I prefer pyrethrin vs permethrin because pyrethrin, a natural insecticide, is less harmful and doesn’t last as long in the environment if you worry about toxic effects (see https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3892).
2. Pyrethrin dust.
3. Ivermectin pour on. Though most people think of ivermectin as a wormer, it kills mites as well (see https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/treating-with-ivermectin.687442/). The mites bite the chicken and they die.
4. Sevin (carbaryl) dust. Though it has become a bit controversial, 30 years ago when I volunteered in the Wildlife Ward at the veterinary school of the university I went to, it was dusted on all incoming wild birds to kill mites and lice. It was safe for them, so it should be safe for chickens, at least for short term use.

Here’s what I do: If I have badly infested chickens, I spray the chicken with the pyrethrin spray or dust with Sevin dust and then bathe to remove whatever mites I can, and so I can see too if I missed any mites and have to repeat. I have used Dr. Bronner’s peppermint Castile soap for bathing (a mild soap, but my orchid society swears by it for orchid pests)—just don’t get it in the eyes. Don’t get sprays or dusts in the eyes either—I use gloves to spray and dust and will spray the glove and wipe the spray on the chicken’s face and comb. If I had a lot of chickens, I might leave the spray or dust on without bathing (I can only keep 8 hens where I live, and only 1 has been infested, so I bathed that one—probably not necessary, but it made me feel better to see her mite-free and to wash off the pesticides).

When the chicken dries, I apply the ivermectin drops to the back of her neck and on all the chickens in the flock. I repeat ivermectin drops every 7 days for 3 weeks. (Some sources recommend not eating the eggs for 7 days after ivermectin application, but since it is a drug given to humans safely, I don’t worry about the teeny amount that MIGHT get into eggs.)

You have to treat the coop too. Here’s what I do: with chickens, food, and water out of the coop, close all doors and windows. Take a heavy bowl and pour in some pyrethrin dust. Put the bowl down on the floor of the coop, a little inside the door. While standing outside the coop, crack the door and use a leaf blower to blast the powder in the bowl all around the coop. Close the door and wait for the dust to settle before letting the chickens back in. Repeat at 1 week intervals, 3-4 times in all.

 

[cmom]

This is exactly what I use.

Cost	Location	Item
$8​	Tractor Supply​	View attachment 2280357​
$4​	Tractor Supply​	View attachment 2280354​
$16​	Tractor Supply​	View attachment 2280358​

Ditto

 

[bfc chicks]

I have found that if you use diatomasious earth and pout olive oil over the most heavily areas from a squirt bottle that the oil smothers the lice and the diatomasious earth kills a lot at least enough to give my ladies some releaf. If i can't win the battle with these organic solders i them will use Seven and dust the whole house down. Make sure you're waring a mask or the like. Once control is again regained discontinue the Seven. Revert to the organic controls.

 

[Pullet Press]

Goodnight! I just saw this post. Those poor chickens.

 

[hshsmomx2]

We were infested with stick tight fleas at one point and everything we tried wasn't working; the chickens' heads were smothered with them, it was awful. A kind person on this site suggested we use the Permethrin 10 spray as already suggested but to add in the spray this product IG Regulator

https://www.amazon.com/CSI-82005202...&keywords=permethrin+10&qid=1596955090&sr=8-7

which apparently controls the lice coming back. It apparently worked because we have not had the same infestation in years. please read up on it because it has been some time and I can't remember if we applied this IG regulator to the birds themselves or just the coop.

Also we had to use Swat product for horses directly on the birds to help smother / kill the 'fleas'. this worked well too.

best of luck to you

 

[Paul Richardson]

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!

Yes chooks can die from mites not a nice death they become anemic from loss of blood then slowly die imagine the itch and stress they would be under in the mean time. The solution is simple use Ivomectin cattle drench which you put on there skin using a 1 mm syringe giving 1mm to each bird then repeat in 4 weeks to kill any hatched eggs. You can get Ivomectin from vets some poultry supplies and some pet shops. The mites will be dead once they suck the chooks blood and within 24 hours they will all be gone but don't relax yet buy enough cans of Mortein Surface Spray ( forget the cheap stuff it will not last ) and after cleaning out the pen spray the wall and perches and this will kill for 3 months job done. Now you mentioned diatomaceous earth this is hailed by some poultry experts as the be all to end all well let me tell you it is a cancer causing agent in human lungs and will do the same to your chooks and for worms in the gut once swallowed it becomes wet in the gut and useless it relies on its sharp edges to kill which it can do in the drier enviroment of the lungs. I have kept chooks (which by the way is the old Australian term for chickens which is really a baby hen or rooster) for 50 plus years and my parents at least that long so chooks and there well being is in my blood so to speak.....

 

[Compost King]

When I use dust on my chickens (I use Hi Yield Live Stock Dust, active ingredient mentioned above but I am not sure which one) I fill a pillow case with dust and put the chicken in the pillow case with its head outside of the pillow case. My chickens are rarely handled so its easy to get them all riled up and the flapping of the wings causes the dust to get spread all over the body. When I had bad infestation after a very wet winter I dusted and sprayed and when I sprayed I sprayed the bird from behind starting at the vent then spraying under the wings and hitting other spots. I also put vaseline on the legs whether I see signs of scaly mites or not.. if they have other mites/lice then chances are they have those too because the arrive in the same wet conditions. Its good to clean out a coop after treating a bird and spraying down the coop... be sure to spray the roosting bar above and below. When I put in bedding after an infestation I put livestock dust in the bedding to. Keep things dry and Mite/Lice are less likely to become an issue.

 

[Nija Chick]

1st thing to do sweetie, is clean the chicken house very very well. Clean all the poop and bedding out, and sweep every surface with a good stuff broom to get it as sparkling clean as possible, you might even get a house with a good power sprayer to wash it, and let it dry. And make sure you wear a very good dust mask, you don't want to be breathing chicken poop and lice. The lice thrive in a dirty coop.

2nd, after it's cleaned and brushed down with a broom to eliminate as much dust and poop as possible, dust everything with diatomaceous earth, (floor, walls ceiling, roosts, nest boxes,...)and in your case, maybe a lice dust as well. Get "one bite bars" from the farm supply store. They are yellow, and look like corn cobs. They desicate the rats so they don't rot, stink and attract fly's. Put the one bite bars under the floor or wherever the chickens and any other animals, like cats, can't get to them.
3rd, put new clean bedding down.
4th go in at night when the Chickie's are calm and dust each bird heavy with dte, and maybe the other lice dust.
5th Also get an old paint brush, and paint everyone's legs with bag balm. It's a medicated cream for goat's milk bags, but as an oil, and a cream it will moisturize the chickens skin, smother any scale mites, and heal any injuries. Good stuff. My mom keeps chasing me around with it, whenever I get a scratch...
6th, make sure the chickens are getting enough food, that the food isn't getting wasted all over the floor, and make sure they are getting greens. Ppl say that the store bought mash is a complete nutrition, but in my life of raising free range, I can starkly see the difference between the health of my free range that get grass and bugs, and the ones that are confined, and don't get any. Even just lawn mower clippings, or veggies from the garden.
Keep us posted.