Just a couple more lice & mite questions

[calicokat]

We found lice on the chickens 10 days ago. Saw them crawling around the vent and found clumps of eggs at the base of feathers. Just assumed we might have mites too.

I had wormed them about 7 days before.

So- thanks to the info and answers we got on BYC we dusted all of them with Sevin, stripped the bedding from the coop, dusted the floor with Sevin and sprayed down hard surfaces with Adam's flea & tick spray. Put in new bedding sprinkled a little Sevin in the fresh nest boxes, and waited 10 days to do it all again.

Tonight on the second dusting and stripping down the coop I found one bantum frizzle that had 2 clumps of lice eggs more the size of dimes on her back! So I brought her in and bathed her with human lice shampoo just to be sure.


My remaining questions:

We put the bedding from the coop in the garden - but now the girls are going out there and scratching in it! Do I dust all that with Sevin until I can persuade DH to till it all under (could be a week at least)?

What is going to happen to the clumps of lice eggs on the birds? Will I have to pick them off or will they eventually go away?

Do I need to do all this again or is 2 treatments ok?

We presume that the wild birds are bringing the lice in, I'll be morevigilant and generous with my DE use in the coop, but is there any other way to put an end to this cycle? This is the second time we've gone through this

 

[dawg53]

The eggs will hatch after your first dusting, this is why you repeat dusting in 10-14 days. You are not limited to 2 dustings...severe infestations might require more dustings, eventually their lifecycle will be broken. Maintain your vigilance dealing with them. You can sprinkle some sevin in the old bedding you deposited in the garden if you wish, work it in with rake.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'd treat the old bedding with sevin for sure, and most of the time 2 treatment are enough. I have never had lice just mites, well not me but my chickens, so I am not sure but seems i read it's best to pick off the egg casing that are left on the feather shafts, some use olive oil some coconut oil. I started using Epernix pour-on for control of mites now I'll treat 2 or 3 times a year just to be safe. about once a month I sprinkle DE all around the coop and also use poultry protector.. there is another product that has been reccommended called orange guard, you can get it Ace hardware. I haven't tried it but it's safe to use around humans and chickens.