Lice...Help!

[happylittlehens]

While treating a bumblefoot yesterday I had a louse crawl on me...ewwww! She was infested! Today I emptied the coop out completely and cleaned it. I did a permethrin dust on her and 3 other hens so far. I have 7 more to check/dust tonight when they go to roost. My question is... should I wait to put new bedding in until after the hens have all been treated and retreated in 5 days? I don’t want to have to throw out all the bedding again in a week if I can avoid it. Should I be doing anything else to get rid of the lice? Thanks!

 

[Shadrach]

While treating a bumblefoot yesterday I had a louse crawl on me...ewwww! She was infested! Today I emptied the coop out completely and cleaned it. I did a permethrin dust on her and 3 other hens so far. I have 7 more to check/dust tonight when they go to roost. My question is... should I wait to put new bedding in until after the hens have all been treated and retreated in 5 days? I don’t want to have to throw out all the bedding again in a week if I can avoid it. Should I be doing anything else to get rid of the lice? Thanks!

Better to chuck the bedding out and replace again after the five days.
There may be lice and eggs in the bedding.

 

[coach723]

Did you treat the coop or just take out the bedding? While lice are more apt to stay on the birds than mites, it's still best to clean out the coop AND treat it. A permethrin spray is the most common for treating the coop. It's usually recommended that treatment be done at least 3 times total at 7 day increments to make sure you get anything that hatches. I personally would replace the bedding at the same time. If it's not done well and thoroughly you may end up back where you started and have to do it all over again. I'm not one for doing things more times than is necessary, but I don't want to keep starting over either.

 

[happylittlehens]

Did you treat the coop or just take out the bedding? While lice are more apt to stay on the birds than mites, it's still best to clean out the coop AND treat it. A permethrin spray is the most common for treating the coop.

I did treat the coop as well. I was just thinking maybe I wouldn’t put any bedding down this week, but I went ahead and put a thin layer down. Thanks!