hen not laying after dusting with sevin

meloreskovich

In the Brooder
6 Years
Aug 14, 2013
42
0
22
I dusted my 2 hens with sevin dust on Sunday after finding poultry lice on one of them. Since then, one hen, my ameraucana hasn't laid an egg. My SLW has been laying like normal. All other behaviors seem normal and she not molting. Could she have been stressed out from the dusting and that's why she's not laying?
 
I dusted my 2 hens with sevin dust on Sunday after finding poultry lice on one of them. Since then, one hen, my ameraucana hasn't laid an egg. My SLW has been laying like normal. All other behaviors seem normal and she not molting. Could she have been stressed out from the dusting and that's why she's not laying?


Was she laying just fine before? Was she heavily infested? Could take her a little while to recoup. If it didn't hurt the other chicken, she will probably lay soon.
 
Yes she was laying well before. An egg every other day just about. I was worried after I put the sevin dust on that maybe its too harsh for the chickens...
 
I would not use it personally. I have not used it. I would suggest you place some wood ashes in the yard where they do their dust bathing as a preventative. I would just build her immunity up and she will lay for you again soon.
 
We have a deck that is open underneath. Theres lots of sand (we live in Florida) and they like to dust bathe there. Where can I buy wood ash? Should I put it in a tub of some sort for them to use?
 
You make ash by burning wood. or ask people that have wood burning stoves. You can put it in a small kiddie pool, mix in some sand so that they remember they like it. If you don't have a tub, just dump some under your deck.
 
If the chicken laying isn't used to being handled, you've probably stressed her with the physical contact while dusting. In my opinion, DE is a great preventative but isn't great for treating already established infestations. I used Sevin when I have to, and have never had an issue. I put a layer under the bedding on the coop floor and in the nest boxes. I have never directly dusted the chickens with it. Your coop will need a good clean out, twice (10 days after the first, to get any remaining eggs and break their life cycle). Simply treating the chickens will not be enough. After you cleared out the infestations, make a dust box and fill it with a sand and DE mixture and put it somewhere it will stay dry. DE is useless once it gets wet. If you have access to wood ash, its great stuff too (and much cheaper), but I don't imagine you have much use for a wood stove or bonfires in FL :)
 
If you want to be rid of them you did the correct thing, they have been using Sevin Dust for years it works.. if you want something organic look on Amazon for Spinosad, it can be sprayed on the birds.. You can also use permethrin to spray the coop. Ash and DE may help but not reliably... My 2c worth.
 
Thank you all. I have read that a lot of chicken keepers like sevin because it does treat the infestation. My hen had lice all over her. She usually isn't picked up but she did let me pet her here and there. After the dusting she runs as soon as I try to pet her. But she still follows me around and eats food from my hand. I did treat the coop with sevin. And I will treat it again 10 days after the initial treatment. Thank you for the advice. So I shouldn't need to treat the birds again?

Wood ash would be harder to come by down here :) but my feed store sells DE so I can get that there.
 

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