In my reading I've read that chickens should be regularly dusted with powder for lice and mites. Is this true? I also saw in another post about lice and mites causing death in chicks. My chicks are starting to look 'messy' and seem to scratch a lot. Is this just a process in their feathering out, or do I need to possibly treat for lice or mites? Otherwise they seem healthy. What is the process of treating for these things, and what do you use?
Last night I bought a new hen. She looked scruffy and tail pointing down, and feathers missing but I was told she was going through a molt. After I got her home and examined her (wings,vent), I could see she was riddled with mites. So today, I bathed her in warm soapy water and dusted her in food grade DE. I covered her in loads of DE, and rubbed it all under her feathers and into her skin. Now I am awaiting some lice and mite coop spray and some lice and mite powder to rid her of her infestation. I found the powder and spray on Ebay. DE kills lots of things, and is good for the overall health of your chickens (it gets into the lungs to prevent lungworms, into the gut to prevent intestinal worms and sanitises the ground.) so i do use it once a month in the coop and in the runs, but not coat the birds with it. In this case, I coated my lice infested chicken with it just incase it did kill some mites, but for her infestation I think I need the proper stuff. So i hope that's helped in a round-a-bout way!!
