Lice on chickens! HELP!!!!

[77horses]

I've noticed that some of our chickens have these small peach colored bugs on their feathers...bed bugs? mites? Nope, after some research, I looked at chicken lice pictures online and it's a perfect match.

Our chickens, especially our Buff Orp hen, Caramel, have tiny lice crawling in their feathers, mostly near their stomach and chest.

We've dusted them all with food-grade DE(and around near their coop, but not very much) and haven't seen any change. We will try using a different powder stuff that we have for livestock, especially made for killing lice and mites. When some chickens someone gave us had lice, it worked and got rid of them...but now they are back!

Any advice?
Thanks!

 

[Sillystunt]

i would say permithym but they aint killing mine! I am having such a battle with 2 of my hens. I am about to pull their feathers and pull my hair out!

 

[Imp]

Make sure you clean and treat the coop as well. Good luck

Imp

 

[77horses]

Quote:
We bought some powder stuff last year and it works really well.

 

[jhm47]

Unless you live around the north or south poles where there are very few wild birds, you will have lice on your chickens. Wild birds carry them and pass them on to your chickens.

From what I have read, DE is okay for controlling lice and mites, but when you have a bad infestation, you should go to something stronger. I use a pyrethrin based powder and have very good luck with it. Sevin is also good from what I have read. The DE is good to put in nests and dusting boxes, but when you have an advanced infestation, go to the "big guns". Good luck!

 

[luvbiddies]

Hi I too looked at my hens today and they were crawling with lice. Yuck! I used severin dust and then I dusted there coop with it. I hope this works. I read that I have to re-treat them in 2 weeks. I also read that using adams dog flea spray is good. Can anyone tell me if they have ever used it?
Lisa

 

[lavacaw]

Several years ago, my flock of BO's had an infestation of mites. I had never heard of DE at the time and the recommended treatment was 5% malathion dust. I dumped a bag of it into a large plastic tub and put the chickens in one at a time and using my hands, put handsfull of powder into their feathers, around their wings and up their stomachs. I brushed some of it off into the tub and tossed them into the air to fly back into the pen. They looked like they were on fire with "smoke" trailing them. The excess powder went into the shavings in the pen and coop. I then took the remainder into the coop and again using my hands, coated all the roost bars. I have never had another problem with mites or lice. I now throw some DE into the coop as a preventative measure. I keep seeing people say they treat with sevin, but it was NOT a recommended treatment then and if you are pregnant, for heaven's sake don't use it now!

 

[luvbiddies]

I hope I haven't hurt my girls. Thanks for your comments.

 

[lurky]

I tried DE on the bugs and the only thing that slowed them down was while they were laughing at me

This stuff has to be diluted with water and dip the birds.
The bugs will be dead immediately. Follow the repeat instructions for when the eggs hatch.
They also sell a low cost poultry dust that is very effective.
http://www.randallburkey.com/PERMETHRIN-10-8-OZ/productinfo/26091/

 

[threehorses]

With mites and lice, you have to dust the birds thoroughly. Use Adams Flea and Tick mist on their heads by making a paper towel into a cone and spraying the tiny end of the cone. (Wearing gloves), use that portion to wipe onto their heads, their 'beards', etc. Cover their head with your hand (not the one with adams on it) and spray well under their feathers at the back of their neck. Use PERMETHRIN dust on the rest of their bodies. Or you can use adams in hard to reach places. If you use it near the vent (I prefer dust there) please cover their cloaca with two or three fingers to prevent spraying the opening. Adams is alcohol based. (Say it with me: OUCH). It won't sting the rest of the body.

Use dust where they can preen. Ruffle their feathers to get it all against their skin.

Repeat all in 7 days until they're off the birds.

Treat the coops and bedding.
Scrape the bedding aside - dust with PERMETHRIN dust - replace bedding. Dust on the bedding, stir in.

You can use Permethin liquid on the wood in the coops to kill mites. Mites spend their time OFF the bird which is what makes them so difficult to see and treat! With mites, you must treat the cracks in the wood and three feet up off the bedding on the walls. The spray on permethrin 10% is safe for this purpose and will kill the hatching mites. Also treat the bedding with the dust as with lice.

In TheOldDays they used to use creosote on the wood to seal cracks and help prevent mite issues. These days we don't because of health issues, but painting the inside of the coops ( making sure to let a lot of that paint get into the cracks, or caulking) really will help make future cleanup and treatment easier.

Mites can't totally be prevented (as wild birds bring them in) but you really can help them from being a problem by treating an infestation correctly and using the dust/permething on the premises whenever you do your regular coop cleaning.


This year I had a terrible quick infestation with blood sucking lice. (Maybe from a goat, possibly from a vulture who unfortunately had no other place but ours to find water in our drought.) They were not the wheat colored ones, but the grey ones that turn dark when they take blood. (They look a bit like an upside down exclaimation point only very tiny.) I had wheat colored head lice on my chickens, but very few of them. Because of the immediacy of the problem with the blood sucking lice I treated with pour-on ivermectin. I watched every bird carefully. It took three days for all lice to feed. First day, most were gone but there were still some. Day 2 there were a few, but very few. Day three I only saw a couple. Day four until now, there are none. Ivermectin in cattle is said to have a 28 day effectiveness on blood-taking lice. Cattle are different than birds, a way slower metabolism, but I know that the lice were treated for three days as the ivermectin penetrated my birds' systems.

My birds are not intended for food, and I withdrew for 14 days on eggs as ivermectin is not labeled for poultry use and because I always do that any time my birds might shed worms. Yuck. (Ivermectin also removes worms.)