Lice nits

[lauren212]

A month ago I found that two of my chickens had lice. I dusted all of them with poultry dusting powder. I have one chicken that I can still see nits around the vent feathers but no signs of bugs. Are these just old dead ones cemented on or should I be worried that they are still hatching?

 

[snow5164]

I found those on my girls neck , three weeks after the outbreak, I tried to pull/ comb them out but I ended up cutting them out with blunt nose scissors. I'd say they're dead, but I still wanted to get rid of the ugly mess

You could put Vaseline on to help get them out ... nothing worked for me

 

[azygous]

You can pull those feather out. New ones will replace them pretty quickly. But those eggs are still viable as long as they're on the chicken, I think. You should dust again with permethrin ,if that's what you're using, in a week or so.

If your budget can handle it, Elector PSP kills the nits, as well as the lice. No need to spray again. I've found this product to be superb, and there's no egg withdrawal period after using it.

 

[snow5164]

I did not know you can pull the feathers out, would you grasp at the skin? Does it hurt them?
Makes sense to do that , I trimmed them right against the skin.

 

[lauren212]

Wow that elector psp is insane how expensive it is. I put some olive oil on the nits earlier today. It's winter here still so I can't give them a bath to wash them out. Maybe in a month or two. I hate dusting them with poultry dust, it seems so toxic and I like my eggs organic.

 

[snow5164]

How about ash? I used wood ash to bath my silkie , she was a mess but continued to do it herself afterwards... cheap and organic . I hear of people burning a few logs just to make ash for their birds....

 

[lauren212]

I dump ash from our stove in the run but everything is frozen. Maybe I should get a container or litter box and fill it for them.

 

[snow5164]

I have litter boxes in all my coops , ash/de/and a little top soil. That all love it and pick away at the ash pieces

We too are frozen til June ( feels like it anyway

)

 

[lauren212]

Awsome thanks. I will add that in there this week.

 

[azygous]

Wow that elector psp is insane how expensive it is. I put some olive oil on the nits earlier today. It's winter here still so I can't give them a bath to wash them out. Maybe in a month or two. I hate dusting them with poultry dust, it seems so toxic and I like my eggs organic.

The active ingredient in Elector PSP is spinosad. Some over-the-counter lice treatments for humans contain spinosad for much less cost. Go to the store and read some labels. I don't see why they wouldn't work on chickens as well as kids heads.

By the way, the nit eggs won't wash out. They are cemented on and the only way to remove them is to yank out the feathers. Spinosad may render the eggs impotent so no lice will hatch, but you might still see them attached to the feather shafts until the chickens molt.