lice, louse uck

[ruby]

1) What type of bird , age and weight.Plymouth barred rock
2) What is the behavior, exactly.scratching
3) How long has the bird been exhibiting symptoms?couple of days
4) Is there any bleeding, injury, broken bones or other sign of trauma. No
5) What happened, if anything that you know of, that may have caused the situation.N/A
6) What has the bird been eating and drinking, if at all.yes
7) How does the poop look? Normal? Bloody? Runny? etc.normal
8) What has been the treatment you have administered so far? dusted her with "garden dust" pyrethrins .03% sulfer 25% copper sulfate 5%
9 ) What is your intent as far as treatment? For example, do you want to treat completely yourself, or do you need help in stabilizing the bird til you can get to a vet? want to get the nits out, treat myself
10) If you have a picture of the wound or condition, please post it. It may help. I'll work on that tomorrow
11) Describe the housing/bedding in use hay, nice pen, she is isolated in the infirmary
I was petting her and felt these bumps, ew. looked at it more and it was lice or mites. these nits are just about the size of dime all glued to the shaft of the feathers. the nits and bugs are mostly around the head and neck. dusted her quickly with what I had and put her in the infirmary. checked all the other girls. None I could see, I will watch them closely. I also have two guineas, they live in a tree. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ruby]

I'm gonna bump myself 'cause I need some advice on how to remove the eggs (nits) as long as she doesn't die during the night, I'm thinking soak the nits, with__________ then maybe give her a bath in dog shampoo!!! Any ideas ????????? oh yeah she is about 3lbs and 4 years old. I have some tea tree oil maybe that will soften the clods of eggs.

 

[MotherJean]

To put a name to it, your birds have head lice. I say birds (plural) because if one has lice you should presume that they all have lice and all should be treated at the same time. I would avoid tea tree oil since it is not recommended for use on broken skin. Those nit clusters are a real bearcat to remove. You'll have to go to some pretty tedious work to remove those dime-size clusters. If you have the patience for it, you can pull most of the cluster off each individual feather. Personally, I've never found any product that will dissolve that gluey substance that nits are stuck on with, you need good fingernails to get ahold and pull. If you don't have the patience, then I'm sorry to say it, you'll need to wait for molting season to see the last of those clusters.

 

[ruby]

thanks for the response MotherJean. If I don't remove the clusters won't they hatch into more lice? She doesn't seem to have anything other than being uncomfortable. But I do agree that they all need to be treated. My guineas live in the tree outside the chicken coop, boy do I have trying to handle them. My chickens free range for part of the day, even though I agree about them all having the same problem, she seems to be covered. We check the all tonight, mostly I was really hoping I could put another girl in there. She is lonely, she can see the other girls from the infirmary. I think she will molt in a couple of months. Alabama is in a big heat wave, but the chickens are in a covered pen. I have had chickens all my life and never had lice. So I guess I should feel lucky.

 

[ruby]

the girl we treated last night made though, we will tackle more when the feed store opens tomorrow. I read all about washing the birds etc... thanks but I don't think it would work for us. We have 19 adult birds and 3 about 4 months old. My question for y'all today is ideas about getting rid of the eggs sacks, or nits. They are huge! I think she will molt this fall. I just feel like I let her down letting this happen(sigh) My mite,lice whatever are tan not red.

 

[MotherJean]

Yes, Ruby, unfortunately some of those eggs will hatch. That's why it is important to re-dust your birds 7-10 days after the first treatment. The dust is not 100% effective in killing the eggs (nits) so by re-dusting you are killing any that hatch before they have a chance to mature and lay more eggs. I also recommend checking your birds 7-10 days after the second dusting just to be sure that no more have hatched. If you see even one bug, dust them again.