Lice problems

[Pippa Royston]

Hello all,

I'm after some advice please. Again unfortunately I need it fast. I am new to keeping chickens. I have two chickens, one of which is (I think) a barnevelder. I have noticed she has been limping for a couple of days but having spoken to others and looked online, I assumed it was a muscular issue. I have this evening been in to check her again, but this time I noticed she is absolutely riddled with lice of some kind. My other hen appears not be infested. I have spent hours googling it, and all I can find is information on red mites. I fear that as I haven't noticed quick enough, it may be too late and as much as I'd hate to have her put to sleep, if she really is suffering, then I also don't want her to continue.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thank you, (from one very sad chicken mummy)

 

[Eggcessive]

Lice or mites are fairly common chickens. Lice are fast-moving, and the most common ones are located under the vent area, while another kind get around the neck and under wings. They lay clumps of white to gray eggs at the base of feathers. Mites can be anywhere, are slower-moving, and leave small brown specks on skin. The northern fowl mite can be found on chickens both day and night, while the red chicken mite is only found at night, then hide in crevices of the coop during the day. DE or diatom will not treat a lice or mite infestation, but permethrin 5-10% spray or garden dust will treat them. Lice lay eggs every 10 days, while mites lay from 5-7 days, so retreatment at those intervals may help to prevent them from multiplying. Treat coop, nest, and roosts as well, as removal and replacement of bedding is good. Here is a good link to read:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html

lice eggs at base of feathers

 

[rebrascora]

If your chickens have access to a dust bathing area, then usually they can take care of external parasites like lice themselves. A bird that is infested often has an underlying health issue that prevents them from taking care of themselves properly.
Her lameness may be the straightforward cause of this although a bad infestation won't happen in just a couple of days, so the lameness may be a symptom of an underlying disease rather than an injury.
That said you need to get rid of them for her, now that she is infested. Permethrin products are the favoured answer, but if you have nothing immediately on hand, a bath in some warm water with Dawn dish soap worked into her feathers particularly around her vent and under her wings may alleviate some of the problem until you can get a suitable permethrin based product, either spray or powder.
The lice do not feed on blood, they live off skin and dander debris so they are more of an irritant than anything but need sorting none the less.

 

[Pippa Royston]

Hello all,

I'm after some advice please. Again unfortunately I need it fast. I am new to keeping chickens. I have two chickens, one of which is (I think) a barnevelder. I have noticed she has been limping for a couple of days but having spoken to others and looked online, I assumed it was a muscular issue. I have this evening been in to check her again, but this time I noticed she is absolutely riddled with lice of some kind. My other hen appears not be infested. I have spent hours googling it, and all I can find is information on red mites. I fear that as I haven't noticed quick enough, it may be too late and as much as I'd hate to have her put to sleep, if she really is suffering, then I also don't want her to continue.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thank you, (from one very sad chicken mummy)

Thank you very much. I'll try some of your suggestions and let you know. I'm not sure she will make it through the night, but I'll see. I'm not convinced it's red mite as it only appears to be on the hen herself, not the coop. They are fast moving, from the comments on here, I guess they are lice rather than mites.

 

[Pippa Royston]

Update - Cadbury appears much happier after I've covered her twice in lice powder. The only problem is that the lice are now migrating to her eyes :-(