Lice won't go away...suggestions?

[SassyKat6181]

I have been having a hard time ridding the flock of lice. I stripped the coop (12x12 horse stall) down to the gravel and sprayed all the woodwork with sevin. I sprinkle DE in the nest boxes and strip the shavings in them every saturday. I have dusted the hens with Poultry Dust every 10 days three times now and also put Eprinex pour-on on them once. I checked a hen tonight and she has nits at the bases of her fluff feathers again. I am at the end of my rope here. We have had warm, damp weather here in Massachusetts without much of a freeze. Please help....what can I do? The dust seemed to be working, but it's been about a month since I did it last. Am I going to have to continually dust them every 10 days for the rest of my life?

Does Eprinx not work on lice? I have provided them with a bucket of shavings with tons of DE in it for bathing. I also ordered the plastic nest pads today, so I will be rid of all shavings by the end of the week.

Thanks

 

[Arielle]

I hear your frustration. I'm experiencing a similar situation. SOme birds seem to persist in carrying a few pests and others are clean. Go figure. Some people use ivermectin. I tried that using a liquid sheep drench to drip on the back of the necks. I had better results using sevin dust. Would love to hear more ideas on this subject.

 

[LyonFuzz]

I have always had success with just dusting them with Sevin powder, real good, and then cleaning the shavings out of the coop. I put clean shavings and DE in the coop. Dust again in about 2 weeks to make sure you've killed any eggs on the birds too. It's kind of an inconvenience with not being able to eat the eggs, but a fast fix. Good luck!

 

[Judy]

Why are you not eating the eggs? There is no withdrawal after using Sevin.

Eprinex does not kill bugs that don't bite the chicken, but I don't recall which those are. Really, it's not unusual for these bugs to be persistent. They and their eggs hide everywhere, and can be brought back into the flock any time.

Sevin kills them all, as I understand it.


http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140

 

[welasharon]

Use the seven...ditch the DE. Redust everything including the birds on the 10th day. I put seven in the nest boxes as well. Yes, there is no withdrawal with seven. If the egg casings being on them bothers you...it did me...you can dissolve them with unrefined coconut oil barely heated to liquify it (floating a small container in hot water did it for me). I have only had to do it the two times but I have read where some had to do a third.
sharon

 

[Arielle]

Dusting a couple times seems to be the key to getting these things under control. THe FL Edu file indicated that these lice are not acquired from wild birds. Leaves me stumped on how my birds acquired the lice. BUt at least I know I can beat them.

I have tried several dusting methods. A dust bath that was ignored. MIxing sevin with playsand then holding a bird upside down and sprinkling under the feathers. Same method with only the fine powdered sevin. I need a better method.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
This explains why Eprinex won't work on the lice, as they aren't blood sucking on poultry.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/49035/what-is-sevin-dust/10#post_7335296
The second link in Post #15 is a chart with a listed withdrawal time of 7 days for sevin dust.

Nits can be dissolved with warmed coconut oil, but it takes a few days from what I have read here on BYC.

You should be checking for lice, not nits, as they are like cement and stay even after the bugs are dead. Some cut the feathers out, some leave them alone, and some use coconut oil.

This is all from reading BYC, as I have dealt with mites a plenty, but not lice.

 

[mothernaturesdaughter]

I def recommend Ivermectin, its been used for many years in all kinds of forms. Third world countries also worm their children with it.

 

[Arielle]

IVermectin is quite safe. I will try it again. A few drops of ivermectin is far easier than applying sevin. LOL Will do a test run on our pet hen. I checked all my chicks which I treated with seven at 1-2 weeks old--they were hatched under a broody who transmitted the bugs to the chicks. No more broodies for me.

 

[SassyKat6181]

thanks everyone.....guess i'll be buying sevin instead of the poultry dust. it seemed to work immediately, but hasn't rid them of the lice. the eprinex is good for worming and for mites.....not for lice as they don't bite the bird....ugh