How to get rid of mites and lice FOR GOOD?

[turkey girl 0964]

When we first bought our current house 2 years ago it came with these chickens. They were sooo ugly they had hardly any feathers on their backs and they are egg eaters. We found out that they had mites a few months later and since then we have been trying to get rid of them. We brought down our 3 hens from our old house in Phoenix and put them in the other coop. They are very healthy and well cared for. Since then 1 of them died and we got 10 more hens 1 of them died 3 days ago. All of 'our' hens are very healthy and these chickens are just ugly. We started free ranging our birds and we never though about them getting mites through the fence. Now our girls have mites. Also a few moths ago we got 5 cornish X and 2 of them died rookie mistake. So a lady on FB said we could come a pick up some that she had that were free. When we go there theiir place they were living in was a dump and there were birds everywhere. They all looked not well cared for. Well... these birds had lice. And we didn't know to quarentine them. So now our girls have some mites and lice... We have cleaned the coop put DE all over and sprayed them with poultry spray NOTHING IS WORKING! I want the hens that came with the property to look nice again (if they ever did IDK) And I don't want our girls to start looking like them. We were think of just culling all the hens in the ugly coop and starting new. We will keep our hens and do everything to keep them healthy. The hens in the ugly coop are old and they only lay about 2-5eggs and day and there are 14 hens in there. They are a waste of money and we are fed up with this problem. We have had this problem with these hens for 2 years now. Any advice? What should we do?? HELP!

 

[BlueBaby]

This is what I use for everything (including the ant's) It's a concentrate that you add water to, so it will last you for awhile and through several application's of what you problem is. Just follow the direction's on the bottle as to how much of it that you will be mixing with how much water.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray

 

[casportpony]

Have you tried permethrin spray yet?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Have you tried permethrin spray yet?

Or Permethrin Dust. Just adding.

 

[aart]

Just get the permethrin and be done with it.

 

[JedJackson]

The hens need to be housed elsewhere and then the coops emptied of all bedding. Then spray with Permectrin II as directed, getting all the walls, the floor, nest boxes and especially in cracks and crevices.

The hens will need to be treated, each individually, with some type of insecticide. I use Pestene powder myself. Follow the directions, and repeat two times every seven days since the nits are immune and you want to catch these, too, when they emerge to avoid a re-infestation. It's also a good idea to put some of the powder in areas where they take dust baths.

 

[casportpony]

This is what I use for everything (including the ant's) It's a concentrate that you add water to, so it will last you for awhile and through several application's of what you problem is. Just follow the direction's on the bottle as to how much of it that you will be mixing with how much water.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray

Good stuff!

 

[casportpony]

Also what about wood ash? I have read about it.

Fine for them to dust bathe in, but you need a proper pesticide to treat the birds and their coop. Lice & mites can kill your birds.

 

[casportpony]

What if all your birds weight is different?

Each one gets a different amount. Since this has been going on for a long time, now might be a good opportunity to catch each one, thoroughly examine them, and get a baseline weight on them. While caught, treat each one with permethrin dust or spray.

 

[Briosafarm]

I know your question was several weeks ago, but you haven't yet tried anything that works (that I can tell.) DE and wood ash don't do anything to treat mites or lice. Permethrin can work but needs repeated and I personally would rather not breathe in or get covered with Permethrin. If you want a "once and done" treatment that will kill mites, lice and their eggs, that you can spray on the coop and bedding and ground safely for the chickens and for yourself...Elector PSP. It's a little $$ but totally worth it...it works, doesn't need a second treatment if you spray everything inside the coop and run and then mix up a bucket or tub of it and dip the chickens. Hot weather is perfect because everything including the chickens will have time to dry before bedtime.