LICE! Help! I've got chicks hatching and discovered lice on mamas...

[peepinator]

Hello folks, I'm freakin' out a bit...

I've been doing some reading on here about lice & mites because I thought I saw some small brownish/white things on the head of one of my baby chicks but when I picked it up to investigate they dissappeared. So, tonight after dark, I went in and did a check on mama and she has lice around her vent. She got pretty indignant with me since she has three new chicks and didn't want me messin' with her...but I saw lice around the vent so I know she probably has them elsewhere and her chicks are living under her within her feathers under her wings. I've got two other hens setting and due to hatch any day, they also have lice. I am worried about the baby chicks. My skin is itching and crawling now....uuuggghhhh. I went in and checked the rest of the flock tonight as they were roosting and every one I looked at has them--some worse than others and I think a couple even had some mites in addition to the lice. My question is...can I treat the baby chicks with permethrin dust? I don't want to harm the babies. Also, will permethrin dust kill lice or just northern fowl mites? It does not say that it kills lice on the container. The type that I have is "PRO-ZAP Garden & Poultry Dust. Also...I'm not sure in which order I should treat....I'm not sure how I go about treating hens that are setting on eggs, since I also need to treat their bedding area. I'm a little leary of this stuff since it warns not to get on skin but yet you're supposed to dust the chickens with it and obviously it is going to get on their skin. How safe is this stuff, anyone have any idea? If I put it in the bedding and the chicks eat it, will they die? I read on one post that you should take equal parts kerosene and regular motor oil and mix that together and paint it on the roosts and it's supposed to kill mites that may be on the roosts. Anyone else ever heard of doing that and does it work? Thank you...I'm really worried about my baby chicks being eaten alive by bugs and want to make sure I can get these bugs off of them if they're on the little fuzzy butts. They're so fuzzy it's hard to see bugs, but I think they're there since I saw them on the mama. Any help will be appreciated

 

[Judy]

Permethrin is relatively safe and i would go ahead and treat. Lice and mites can kill a bird if heavily infested enough.

Don't know the answer about northern fowl mites, sorry.

 

[b&b's barnyard]

Another thing to try and I have had success with is put about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a gallon of water the fleas,lice,and mites don't like the taste and will leave does not harm the animals. Was tring to find something about a year ago for the same problem went to local omish store and asked the gentleman behind the counter if he knew of anything that would help and this what he told me to do. I put poultry dust in ther dust bath area and the vinger in the water in about a week I seen no more critters on my critters. Have not had a problem since and I still give them vinegar water...

 

[dawg53]

b&b's barnyard :

Another thing to try and I have had success with is put about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a gallon of water the fleas,lice,and mites don't like the taste and will leave does not harm the animals. Was tring to find something about a year ago for the same problem went to local omish store and asked the gentleman behind the counter if he knew of anything that would help and this what he told me to do. I put poultry dust in ther dust bath area and the vinger in the water in about a week I seen no more critters on my critters. Have not had a problem since and I still give them vinegar water...

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) has many uses, but will not get rid of bugs on an infested chicken. It was the poultry dust in their dust bath area that killed the external parasites in your situation. ETA: ACV is an acidifier which helps in calcium absorption and lower gut PH, to help with bacterial issues.
This link is from the avian experts at OSU:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html​

 

[M@M@2four]

Sevin dust(found at walmart/home depot in the Lawn and Garden section)can be used and is VERY effective. I have dusted chickens and chicks with no issues! And it gets rid of the mites/lice right away. It's food grade, so can be ingested with no side effects. Good luck!

 

[dawg53]

M@M@2four :

Sevin dust(found at walmart/home depot in the Lawn and Garden section)can be used and is VERY effective. I have dusted chickens and chicks with no issues! And it gets rid of the mites/lice right away. It's food grade, so can be ingested with no side effects. Good luck!

There is no such thing as "food grade" sevin dust. On the back of the canister there's a warning: CAUTION in bold red letters; it states, "Harmful if swallowed."
ETA: Yes, I use sevin for dusting...used it most my life and works great.​

 

[peepinator]

Thanks everyone...I've got a million more questions...

I already have permethrin, and I keep reading posts about using it or using sevin.

***Which, would you say is more effective?

***And is one safer than another?

I let them out to free range.

***Should I treat them first, put them out to free range and then while they're out...treat their coop, run & nests?

They dust bathe while they're out & about, but they also dust bathe in their coop when they're in there.

***Would it be best to treat them at night, so they don't just go out and dust bathe and cover up all the dust with dirt?

***How do you go about treating them?

***Do you wear gloves?

***I've read where some people put the dusting powder in a garbage bag and put the bird in the bag up to it's neck and dust that way, but I can't imagine the chickens wouldn't rip big gashes in the garbage bags with their claws, having all the dust fall onto the floor???

***Has anyone ever done it that way?

***What about mites?

They say they take refuge in the wood of the roosts and coop during the day and feed on the birds at night. What's the best way to treat the wood roosts & coop. I have bleach on hand, but not sure it's warm enough to get the coop wet with some sort of bleach solution...don't want the fumes to kill my birds. OH...there is too much information and I'm confused as to what really works and what doesn't.

I have been regularly putting ACV in their water since they say it's good for their insides...it's routine for me...and it must not work for lice because my birds definitely have them.

***How often should you treat for lice & mites, should it just be a routine thing....say once a month or something like that?

I know I've been reading that initially they need to be treated first and then in another 7-10 days and possibly even a third time to get all the eggs that hatch.

***When you re-treat after the first time...do you just treat the birds, or do you treat the coop, run and nests again too?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I'm going to get started on this today...so I hope I hear back from some of you again on my many more questions

 

[tenderkat]

Quote:
You might try a pillowcase instead. Or get an old nylon and fill it up with the dust, and use it like a powder puff.