Ivermectin and Lice

[rainierlass]

I will start this post by saying I feel like such a bad bad chicken momma........

I am a new chicken owner.........my flock is 10 mo. old ........noticed my Wellies had stopped laying and starting to lose feathers...
not knowing anything about molting I figured that is what was happening.........this has been about the last 3 weeks or so....

Noticed today that they had lost feathers on their heads and necks and thought "wow this molting stuff really IS ugly!" Decided to grab one up to check for feather re-growth and UGHHHHHHHHHHH you guessed it! LICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didn't see any on the others but figured they must be there......

Immediately ran in and checked the board on what I should do...........Sevin.......Poultry Dust..........Ivermectin topically...........there were many options.......

Went to the feed store and they had dust and Ivermectin........decided to dust the coop and apply Ivermectin topically to my flock of 9 .....checked the dosages per ppl here on the board and put 4 drops on each bird's back .........completely cleaned out the coop - and added new bedding and dusted .........

My questions now are.........will I have to re-treat with the Ivermectin???

Can I eat the eggs? Or do I need to wait??

Maybe some of you that use Ivermectin can help me out.........

hope my chickens forgive me.........

 

[teach1rusl]

So it was for certain lice, not mites??? With lice, I would always treat again in about 10 days, no matter what I used; I'm just not trusting that the eggs/nits were killed as well. Sorry, I'm not sure about eating the eggs or not. Since it's topical, I'd hazard a guess that they'd be okay. But certainly wait for a more experienced answer on that one, as I've only treated a rooster with Ivermectin, so didn't have the egg issue...

 

[dawg53]

I wouldve recommended using sevin dust only rather than the ivermectin. Normally ivermectin is intended as a wormer and I'd only use it as a last resort for lice/mites. Since you've already used the ivermectin, go ahead and redose them in 10 days. Use sevin dust to redust your chicken house in 10 days as well. Egg withdrawal for ivermectin is 14 days...14 days after the second dosing as well.

 

[rainierlass]

Definitely lice - - creamish colored and running all over

their skin....yuck! Checked the internet for pics and confirmed it - lice!

Thanks Dawg........I used the Ivermectin topically as it seemed the easier route to take - - not having to try to dust all my birds.....thanks for your input!

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:

Okay...your description now has me digging at my head...lol
And you're not a bad chicken mama...at this time of year I would assume molting as well. We all slack off on doing inspections at times...so now I know what I'm doing tomorrow - giving my birds a quick once-over.

 

[welasharon]

I dusted mine and got well dusted to the point I could taste the seven so I ordered ivomec pour on to treat them with after 10 days. I ate the eggs anyway. I figure if I'm putting only a couple drops on a chicken and it is surely gonna dilute at least some in the body there isn't going to be that much that could possibly make its way to the egg. But then I'm old and not pregnant, a child or lactating so what's the difference!
sharon

 

[Lylene]

I've found myself in the same boat. Not sure if mites or lice, though. We fought lice and scaly leg mites late winter. We won the lice battle. Still fighting with the leg mites. They free range.

My big Brahma roo is not doing well at all. I feel really awful that I didn't see it quicker. With the time change and changing season it's getting dark by 5p. They are generally bedded down when I get out there to give food and water and lock them down for the night. He beds down on the floor with the turkey and a really, really old hen. He had lost his toes to frostbite, I think. Can't remember where we got him.

When I went out to unlock them I found him half frozen. He either fell in the small water dish or tip it partially. I wrapped him in a towel then put some straw in the bottom of a covered kitty litter box (minus the cover). He went in that and I set that over the register, resting each end on a small stack of books so air could circulate in the room. He also got a bit dried with the hair drier but is still damp. I made a mix of water, electrolyte/vitamin powder, molasses and a little sugar and floated that in hot water as I syringed him.

I checked his skin and found tiny black critters running around. Not sure if they are lice or mites. They don't look like the lice from last winter. I put about .3 mL of ivermectin cattle pour-on between his shoulder blades. Thought about bathing him with the Adams shampoo but he's so fragile and I wanted him to save his strength. The directions I was given was 2 drops every 7 days for a total of three doses. 1 drop for bantams. 28 days after last dose before using eggs.

I've seen him eat. He has food in his crop now. As I was drying him though, I noticed he feels thin.

Any suggestions welcome. I'm going to post this under it's own topic, also.

Thanks,

Lylene

 

[welasharon]

Poor baby. Feed him well. I have seen suggestions of scrambled egg and yogurt mixed.
sharon

 

[Lylene]

Sounds nutritious. Whatever I give him now has to be liquid (syringe) as he isn't eating right now. If he makes it through this I'll see if he will eat that.

I will pick up a small container of yogurt to have on hand for future. Wouldn't hurt me to eat them if they hit the expiration date.

Thank you very much.

Lylene

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

What is the difference between the black ones and the white ones? My chickens got the black ones, my quails got the white ones... weird...