Lice question - eggs on feather shaft

[heybarb]

I have 3 hens with lice. Last week I treated all my chickens and the coop with permethrin dust. Checking the girls today, everyone looks much happier and I don't see any live bugs, but they still have the eggs on their feather shafts around their vent area. All the articles I've read talk about treating with the dust, but none mention the eggs. How long until the eggs come off the feather shaft? Or DO they come off? Do I need to remove them? I know from treating human lice that you have to remove the nits. It doesn't seem right to leave them on my hens. It's been 7 days so I was planning to retreat with permethrin dust tonight, but wanted to check here about the eggs first...

Thanks!

 

[SavageDestiny]

Retreat with the dust in case any eggs have hatched. Smother remaining egg cases in coconut oil or vaseline to keep them from hatching.

 

[subhanalah]

Depending on how long the incubation is, you'll need to treat again.
10 days would be my guesstimate, but I'm not sure on that one.

 

[heybarb]

So I just leave the eggs there, but continue with the dust every 7 days per the directions (so 3 treatments 7 days apart) for a total of 21 days?

Would you dust first, then coat them with Vaseline or the other way around?

 

[subhanalah]

I wouldn't use vaseline. The dusting every seven days will kill anything that hatches before it reaches adult stage to lay more eggs. The third treatment is to get any stragglers that hatched after the second treatment.
You can try to remove the nits by hand, perhaps olive oil instead of vaseline? You don't want them eating the vaseline when they preen, it is a petro-chemical.

 

[heybarb]

That makes sense! I'll just continue to dust as directed.

I thought about using some scissors and trimming the feathers w/eggs off, but I guess it'll be a while before new feathers grow in. Has anyone tried that?

 

[SavageDestiny]

I used coconut oil to smother the eggs, but honestly ingesting a bit of Vaseline would not hurt them. I dusted and then used the coconut oil, so that the dust wouldn't just get trapped in the coconut oil when I was trying to spread it throughout.