Help please: How can little teeny 4d old chicks have tiny wormies crawling out of their butts?

[ChickyCh00k]

What I am seeing on the chick's bum looks like it could be lice.

 

[aliris]

What I am seeing on the chick's bum looks like it could be lice.

OK that's relatively good, right? Because I think Diatemaceous earth would work on that?

 

[aliris]

Got a picture!

 

[DonyaQuick]

OK that's relatively good, right? Because I think Diatemaceous earth would work on that?

Permethrin powder is better and faster acting to kill things if you can get it fast. I just had to deal with a broody mom that got mite-bombed right as I gave her babies because the bag of shavings I used for her nest material turned out to be infested; treatment for lice and mites appearing on the birds like this is the same. You can treat mom with permethrin dust by removing her from the babies for just a minute and powdering her all over down to the skin - really get it all over her and work it into the feathers. My broody was inside with the babies and I took her outside to do the powdering then broght her back to the babies. Once returned to the babies, dusty mom will indirectly reat her babies as they crawl around under her. Treatment will need to be repeated in a few days.

 

[aliris]

There's at least two in there... Cecal poop while we were trying to get the picture...

 

[DonyaQuick]

Got a picture!

Definitely lice - good news is those are actually a lot easier to get rid of in 2 treatments than mites are! If you can't get permethrin you can try the DE (I've never used that except to treat dust bathing areas) but permethrin poultry dust really knocks out lice very easily from my experience.

 

[aliris]

Permethrin powder is better and faster acting to kill things if you can get it fast. I just had to deal with a broody mom that got mite-bombed right as I gave her babies because the bag of shavings I used for her nest material turned out to be infested; treatment for lice and mites appearing on the birds like this is the same. You can treat mom with permethrin dust by removing her from the babies for just a minute and powdering her all over down to the skin - really get it all over her and work it into the feathers. My broody was inside with the babies and I took her outside to do the powdering then broght her back to the babies. Once returned to the babies, dusty mom will indirectly reat her babies as they crawl around under her. Treatment will need to be repeated in a few days.

OK, in search of permethrin powder...

 

[aliris]

Definitely lice - good news is those are actually a lot easier to get rid of in 2 treatments than mites are! If you can't get permethrin you can try the DE (I've never used that except to treat dust bathing areas) but permethrin poultry dust really knocks out lice very easily from my experience.

Yeah, figured.... thank you!

 

[Crazi Oma]

Sounds like a serious deep, deep cleaning or even move of the henhouse and coop is in order. And get rid of any unsterilized bedding dirt from the nest boxes. I know many prsons consider it more natural than shavings or pellets but soil holds moisture and microbes that attract pests like those lice that. Might be hard to get rid of otherwise. Permethrin will kill what you've got now, but may not kill eggs. It can also kill your chicks if used indiscriminately. Scrupulous coop hygiene will save your chickens misery and you a ton of worry and money in the future. Mom needs to be direct-feed de-wormed right away on top of the lice treatments. When you've got one, my vet said, you probably have the other.. The babies need a very watered down dose of wormer given in their water or crumbles once they are two weeks old. There are several commercial poultry wormers available and my vet says tbey are all basically the same. I've always wormed my hens prophylacticly every three or four months with a natural combination of pumpkin and herbs, so I've never experienced what you're going through. You may want to individually bathe and mite treat each bird that lives together as well. If the chicks' parasites are only external, a warm-water-treated-with-mite-spray bath followed by towel or blow drying could be all the cure they need after you've scrubbed and treated their living qtrs. But be careful to not squeeze the babies, or treat their face. I wish you good luck getting your flock healthy again.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Definitely permethrin, not DE. The latter is very hard on the eyes and lungs, esp the babies, and is not that effective.