How to treat poultry lice in a flock of 200 chickens plus turkeys?

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Sorry to hear about what's going on with ur hens. You have a LARGE flock. If the lice problem is that bad, your flock may require more treatment. Good thinking on putting the meds in the water for the roosters.

When you dusted your birds, did you thoroughly clean and get rid of all of the bedding in the nesting boxes? Did u dust the nesting boxes and any other living area for the birds?

What kind of feed are they eating?
 
Kuntry girl,

Wow you have quite the large flock and an assortment! Thanks for your reply. I think I will try some garlic in the water tomorrow. I recently bought several pounds of garlic from Sam's club.

I did replace the nesting material and liberally dust each box with DE during the dusting of the hens.

I feed them a fed scratch grains and a 18% protein laying pellets that is vegetarian, and lots of garden scraps. When I first discovered the lice I had just commented to my husband that they were not eating aggressively and looked skinny. The egg production dropped within 4 days from good to really badly. Still has not picked up even though they seem to be eating and thriving now. Just want them to start laying again. We got our first mild frost last night so the cool weather may slow things down too. But not to nothing. 100 or so Barred rocks are 1 year old and the other 75 are 6 months and should have started laying the end of September or first of October. Only two of the younger are laying and 8 or 9 of the older birds.

Maybe I'm too impatient and it takes a good while to recover production from the shock of lice infestation. Does anyone else have experience with this?

I wouldn't know what to do with them if they don't lay. I can't afford to keep feeding them and they probably would sell.
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Just waiting,

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I don't know if this will work on lice but the previous two summers my flock was plagued by Northern Red Fowl Mites. I do not recall the name of the spray or powder I was originally sold to control the infestation but that approach worked. This year however I went to the local feed store in advance of the onset (late spring) a trusted employee told me to dust body the birds and the nesting material with diatomaceous earth. It's non- toxic and highly effective. Apparently the DE has sharp edges that cut and kill the mites preventing an infestation. It is cheap and safe. Hope it helps.
 
Thanks for the good wishes. And I did try the Diatomaceous earth a couple of times and it helped knock the lice down tremendously but not completely. So I'm exploring other options to see what else would be effective.

Will check in soon;)
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HI ya'll,

It's been a while since I checked in. It doesn't appear that the lice on my flock is a problem anymore. Ivermec and garlic in the water! Still desperate without the girls laying. 175 + and only getting 8-10 eggs a day!!! Money is going for the feed. So I planted a huge fall garden with plenty for our family of 7 and some for the layers. We also planted a couple of acres winter oats by hand to supplement. Nice to see the pretty green grasses already 10 inches tall. So now in the daytime we open the fenced in yards and let the girls just have their fill if they will. Although the older ones don't seem to like to venture out much (yet).

The newest problem is that about 20 of them are snotty, chirping(my kids call it 'glucking'), wheezing and just sick! I started them on tetracycline yesterday in QT and looks like I need to treat ALL because just tonight when I shut them up in the coops, I could hear more wheezing!
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Once again who can afford antibiotics for a week with no egg production for 3 months...I'm still guessing it's a molting/lice/cold weather combo for the lack of production.

This was a home school industry gone bad it seems. But BOY, are we getting educated!!!LOL
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I'm not giving up on them yet, but really should consider only keeping a 20-30 flock just for the family...

Thanks you all for the soft place to vent!
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So glad to hear from you. Thanks for checking in. I'm sending you a big hug. You are very dedicated for not giving up. I wish that everyone gets healthy, so that you can get those eggs coming. I'm sending good vibes your way.
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So glad to hear from you. Thanks for checking in. I'm sending you a big hug. You are very dedicated for not giving up. I wish that everyone gets healthy, so that you can get those eggs coming. I'm sending good vibes your way.
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