I will never stop itching my head until I have an answer and even then I might continue to do it, depending on the answer. The eggs aren't here yet and I have no kids. Thus...I have no chickens, and no chickens with lice nor children with lice. However - I'm freaked out by all this mention of lice. Is the kind of lice that chickens get the same lice that kids come home from school with because they got it off some other kid? If it's the same lice ---- I'm definitely going to be the crazy bald lady raising chickens and I will buy stock in Gilette. We already have DE here...ready and waiting for the coop and the chickens...so I'm not exactly fearful of chickens getting lice...but still...
Human lice and poultry lice are two different species. That being said, poultry mites can temporarily reside on and irritate humans. Anyone who has cleaned out bird houses knows what I mean.
Buggies I can handle but I have never had lice and I don't want any! (can't find the emoticon for scared chickless face) Thank you for the info!
Bird lice and head lice are different species. So, similar but not the same and not what children come home with from school. You can keep your hair. I mix DE into the nesting material and around my coop. You can even put a little into their food. This does NOT prevent internal parasites or worms but it can reduce flies on chicken poo.
Well, raising chickens is not for the faint of heart. You will need to be diligent and check for mites and lice every so often. But they're easy to get rid of, and they don't want to be on you, they want to be on your chickens. Using food grade DE in the coop and nest boxes is a good preventative. You will also want Poultry Dust and Ivermectin in your chicken medicine chest. If you limit exposure to wild birds, that will go a long way to prevent mites and lice. You are actually very smart to be doing your research and getting answers before your chickens arrive. An ounce of prevention is certainly worth a pound of cure.
Happily, poultry lice and mites tend to be species-specific. So you might get a few on you if you have an infestation, but they won't take up residence! We use Sevin dust, which is DE and Carbaryl, on perches and in nest boxes. Its actually labelled for poultry houses. We also de-worm with a pour-on cattle wormer (Eprinex) that kills most internal and external parasites twice a year. I've let infestations go before, and it really showed in my hens' body condition and the number and size of eggs they laid.
