Help !! What did I do wrong ?? Chicken died being treated for lice

[HelenV]

Hi

Our 5 year old Black Rock didn't seem her usual self this morning. She was puffed up, looked forlorn and her tail was down.

We recently lost our 5 year old Bluebell to lice infestation so this time when I noticed the Black Rock appearing unwell I knew it was time to step in and examine her. A video on YouTube explained how to examine a hen while she lay on her back to keep her calm. So this is what I did. Holding her legs firmly I examined the base of her feathers and found clumps of lice eggs around the base of her feathers.

As I gently rubbed louse powder into her skin she suddenly passed away and I'm trying to understand what happened.

Did she have a heart attack? Is treating a hen on her back cruel and results in death?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Helen

 

[Judy]

More likely, she had another condition as well, such as a heart, liver, etc. problem What you describe is a description of adult cocci, that is, if she was not eating and drinking, for example. There are any number of other conditons that could have been present as well. Perhpas she was ill and thus more susceptible to complications of lice. When you treated the rest of the flock, did their infestation seem about the same as hers?

It can be dangerous to hold a chicken completely upside down, as in hanging by the feet, but lying on their back should not be a problem. Indeed, this is supposed to be part of how you "hypnotize" them, whether there is truth in that or not.

 

[HelenV]

Thanks for getting back to me so soon.

We have another hen who is quite poorly. Her infestation is much worse than the Black Rock's. She's stopped eating and drinking, smells really bad and is just lying slumped in the pen we prepared for her which is separate from the other hens. We tried treating her with louse powder with no effect. She's been like this for a few days. We don't like seeing her like this and feel really helpless.

We also checked the other two ex-battery hens which we acquired a few months ago. One has just a few clumps of lice eggs around her vent, the other seems lice-free. As a precaution we thoroughly dusted both of them in louse powder. Also cleaned and de-loused the coop and the run and sanitised the soil where they sit.

I plan to check them again in a few days. We've been looking after hens for more than five years with no problems and this lice infestation has really shocked us. Can't help but think we've done something wrong.

Helen

 

[finnfur]

I dont have the answer but feel something else is going on besides lice -
Suggest you post here maybe get some more info:
Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures

Its the thread category above this one

 

[gander007]

I have to go with Judy on this one there seems to be another problem

But you need to treat all of your chickens for lice as I am willing to bet
all of your chickens have lice and you need to clean up all of the coops
and space you're chicken live in or this problem is just going to return
and the lice is a horrid bug and I am willing to bet it has gone too far
and the delousing needs to be conducted in a more controlled area as
the lice will only spread so I would suggest treating a 5 gallon bucket
of water with your delousing powder and then have one to two more
buckets for rinsing and you will need to repeat this process over the
course of several weeks and make it a regular check for some time as
these bugs are hard to get rid of

gander007