Lice or Mites?

[LeShelley]

New to this....how do you keep the chickens/coop from getting lice or mites? Also I have house dogs, can they get this from chickens. I have my coop set pretty close to the house, so I can heat when needed and watch them for possible predators.

 

[Pyxis]

Did you read the links?  The lice eggs are white at the base of the feathers--the mite eggs are grayish and it looks dirty.  The red mite will only come out at night, and hides in the cracks of the walls during the day.  Checking at night with a flashlight is the way to find those.

I did, and they have to be lice, no way they're mites, which is why I'm wondering why my silkie nearly died. I did just read in an article on here that there are body lice for chickens which chew through the feathers and drink blood from them, so that may explain what happened. Otherwise, I just don't know how she would have gotten so sick so quickly (she was running around fine yesterday) from a parasite that only eats dead skin and feathers.

 

[Pyxis]

New to this....how do you keep the chickens/coop from getting lice or mites?  Also I have house dogs, can they get this from chickens.  I have my coop set pretty close to the house, so I can heat when needed and watch them for possible predators.

Chicken lice are host specific, so your dog can't get them. Neither can you. A lot of people use DE in their coops to prevent lice. I suspect mine got theirs from wild birds, since I have quite the bird population in my yard. Also,

 

[JFG]

Very interesting. I have had my silkie for three years and have not ever had a lice/mite issue. She has not been herself for a few weeks, eating less, no eggs, and not moving around but still looked well. I finally found straw colored bugs which I assumed were lice on her neck this past week and dusted her with sevin. I washed the plastic coop out. I have not found any more lice. I see a little improvement in her behavior (she took a dust bath on Saturday for the first time in a long time) and plan to re dust her this wed.(7days). When should she be back to her normal self?

 

[Pyxis]

Well, the silkie is hanging in there. Certainly better than yesterday but still rocky. She's barely standing and rocks backwards when she does, kind of sitting on her hocks. I did get her to eat a couple bites in the company of her sister, who showed her the food. After that I fed her from a syringe for a little bit until she her crop was about half full so I'm hoping that perks her up. I also gave her a bath - does anyone know if the water and dish soap will kill the eggs? I couldn't get them all off, they were stuck like glue and there were tons of them. And even after her bath, I STILL found a live one crawling on her. So I'm going to dust her again later.

The rest of the flock seems perkier today though, which I'm glad about.

 

[Eggcessive]

The eggs will be killed if you dust again in 10 days. Since you bathed her, you will need to dust her again today when she is dry. Check her again in 20 days to make sure there are no more eggs.

 

[Pyxis]

The eggs will be killed if you dust again in 10 days.  Since you bathed her, you will need to dust her again today when she is dry.  Check her again in 20 days to make sure there are no more eggs.

Will do, thank you!