Lice (possibly mites) Treatment

[HeatherKellyB]

I've been battling what I believe to be poultry lice for a while now. It began in/around my duck house and I didn't realize what it was at first and ended up sharing the misery with my chickens. I first tried Permethrin and I believe it did help, but I didn't do something correctly and I have them even worse now. I know that the last time I sprayed, my spray wasn't effective since I failed to spray within 24 hours of mixing/diluting. In my worries and frustrations this weekend I ended up ordering some Elector PSP and believe it should be here by the end of the week. I have 10 bantams that were hatched at the beginning of March so I've been extra worried about them and treated some that I worried about the most. My question is, if I treated some individual birds with permethrin within the last few days, is it safe to treat everything and everyone with the Elector PSP on the day it arrives (this week)? Being they have different active ingredients, I'm hoping it won't be a problem but I certainly don't want to poison anyone, especially since they're more pets than anything else.

I mixed permethrin much stronger than I have before (NOT for application on a bird), this weekend to treat my duck house since this seems to be the worst outbreak. If I understand it correctly, it doesn't kill on contact, so I don't know if that's the explanation behind that, but I do see a difference in and around the duck house, but I do still see lice/mites if I shuffle around down in the shavings outside the duck house, just nothing like before.

Since the permethrin does seem to be working, I'm planning on using the Elector PSP for bad infestations. Plus I'm sure using the same treatment time and time again isn't good. I do realize that I am possibly causing potential problems by not using either product correctly, so I will certainly be more on top of this. With the permethrin, I failed to do the second treatment and I truly believe this is how things got so bad.
Thoughts?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I'm also dealing with SLM on some of my birds. I'm treating that with petroleum jelly. Seems like I have so many pests "bugging" and threatening my birds right now and I feel like the absolute worst chicken keeper/collector. I grew very overwhelmed Saturday night

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@azygous I'm not 100%sure but it seems like you use Elector Psp?

 

[azygous]

Vaseline is a simple and very good treatment for leg mites, It's messy, though. I've used Elector as a soak for leg mites, and it works in just a single ten minute soak without any greasy mess.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

That's wonderful news! My poor little silkie cockerel has the worst case and I read somewhere that cooking oil was just as good....... My poor little guy smells like fried chicken!!! Back to the Vaseline we go, but I will definitely use the elector psp as a leg soak as soon as it gets here. Thank you

 

[aart]

I've been battling what I believe to be poultry lice for a while now.

Did you actually see the bugs?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Did you actually see the bugs?

I did see bugs on my duck house and on my coops. I haven't found them on my birds and I have looked sooooo many times. I should add that along with seeing them on structures, my birds have almost all of the signs and symptoms of the bugs too. For some reason I only see the bugs right after we've had rain. They tend to hang out with the velvet (? A bright red tiny mite that's a little bit larger than the poultry lice and they're found wide spread) mite, that I've found to be in NC everywhere. Of course I am not very knowledgeable so that's why I wanted to share that. There's a very good chance that I am completely wrong, but desperately trying to learn all that I can. The very bright bugs tend to disappear after treatment with permethrin so I believe they're not as resilient as poultry lice. I posted a picture here on BYC whenever I first discovered the bugs in my ducks feed and was told it was lice by a few members here. The Elector PSP is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

The Elector PSP was delivered today! I had a difficult day at work though, so I'll be trying it out tomorrow. Plus I've got to figure out how to mix in smaller batches. I certainly don't want to waste any of this semi liquid gold, hahaha! I've read about most people being shocked at the size but the consistency is what shocked me