Lice on Chickens

[gmgallegos]

Hi. I saw lice on a few of my chickens and dowsed each of them with Poultry Dust on their vent area and under the wings. How often should I do this? How long does it take for the lice to die off? Thanks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Are you certain they were lice and not mites? There are usually white clumps of lice eggs at the base of feathers. What type of dust did you use? Permethrin or another type? Permethrin will kill live lice within minutes. If they were lice, they will need to be treated again in 10 days at least twice to get the newly hatched eggs before they reproduce. Mites need to be treated at 7 day intervals. Also the coop, nests, and roosts will need treated after old bedding is removed. Permethrin liquid spray, dust are all good for treatment of lice and mites. Permethrin 10 can be purchased at TSC in 8 ounce and larger bottles, and will make gallons of spray to use in a spray bottle. Elector PSP is a good product for spraying the coop, but not on the chickens. It is quite expensive, but very effective. Here are some good links about lice:

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

 

[gmgallegos]

Thank you. Yes, they are lice. They have a flat body and a beige color. We saw them scurry away when we moved the feathers around the vent and my husband even found a couple in his hair. I don't know the type of dust I used, however, it says it's for the garden as well as the chickens and said 'Poultry Dust' on it. I'd have to wait until I get home to see the name of it. We did dust them first with DE then bought the poultry dust a week later. We only cleaned the coop the day we doused DE all over. Nesting boxes, and on roosts. I also read I could mix veg. oil, dawn and water and sprayed their roosts and corners of the coop with that. I don't know if that helped or not. Since I cleaned everything before I actually used the Poultry Dust, does it need to be done again?

 

[Eggcessive]

More than likely you will need to get the permethrin 10 concentrate, then read the label for treating chickens and the coop. You probably used permethrin poultry and Garden Dust, and that is fine. The spray goes farther, and after mixing, it only takes about 1/2 ounce per chicken with a spray bottle. Lice can be hard to get rid of permanently, so you may need to examine them every so often. DE doesn’t do that much for an infestation. It is about all people in other countries have to use, where permethrin is not available. The 2 links I posted are really good for lice treatment.

 

[gmgallegos]

One more question... Since we put the dust on their vents, can we eat the eggs you think? We dusted them last Saturday I think and will do it again this weekend. They were preening themselves afterwards too, will the dust hurt them if they are getting in their mouths?

 

[Eggcessive]

There is no problem eating their eggs, and getting the dust on their beaks should not be a problem. Permethrin is pretty safe around chickens.

 

[Kiki]

DE isn't going to solve your lice problem.

Can you get Permethrin before the lice kill your birds?

IMG_20180924_091915

• Kiki
• Sep 24, 2018

Screen Shot 2018-07-20 At 8.58.04 AM

• Kiki
• Aug 3, 2018

Martin's PERMETHRIN spray

• Kiki
• Mar 22, 2018
• 6
• flies lice mites permethrin