lice!!!

[blondiebee181]

I am dealing with a lice infestation right now too, and my older hen had them really bad, so I used a permethrin solution that I mixed myself to spray on her...then I cleaned out their coop and bedding, sprayed the coop with the solution, re-bedded it and dusted the bedding with a DE/permethrin dust compound that was recommended by my local feed store.

I will be re-treating the birds again in about 10 days, either with another spray down or just by dusting them.

 

[stryker]

Just a reminder,,,, If you miss that second application like I did; with what ever cho0se to use. You will be back to square one in about a month. I am applying once again.

 

[blondiebee181]

I am probably going to do my 10-day re-application....and then probably a 20 day too...

 

[maryellen21]

I am applying again too

 

[h-kay]

I'm a new chicken owner but we just had this issue last week and used wood ash. Plain old ash from our wood burning stove. We rubbed it in under their feathers and then made a wood ash bath for them to roll around in. They love it. used Neem oil to treat the coop.
All is well now. No sign of lice or mites.

 

[stryker]

I would agree that having a dusting area really helps. The problem for me is that the rosters have the lice and the hens do not or dont. The difference is that the hens dust while the roos don't, to the point that I have not seen them dusting.

 

[JJSS89]

I would agree that having a dusting area really helps. The problem for me is that the rosters have the lice and the hens do not or dont. The difference is that the hens dust while the roos don't, to the point that I have not seen them dusting.

Snatch 'em off the roost and dust them manually. Then just douse everything else with dust. That's worked for me. Then do it again 7ish days later.

 

[blondiebee181]

I have heard of wood ashes being effective in many parasitic cases....I do not have access to wood ash at this point, but as soon as my fire pit dries out,

So far the Permethrin has been effective with my girls, I haven't seen any crawlers on the 2 that had them at the beginning of the week. I am going to re-treat them all with Permethrin dust here in a few more days, AND re-spray the coop. The best advice I have gotten from talking to people on this and other threads is to KEEP ON THEM. Don't assume the problem is gone with one treatment....the eggs will hatch and create more, so it is important to re-treat, just like if you had head lice.

 

[iluvmichickens]

Ugh - I think that was about the grossest thing I ever did! Those lice are not fun! It really makes me wonder if I can handle having chickens when these issues come up. :-( I sprayed the behinds and armpits on my 11 hens with warmed up coconut oil. I could actually see the lice die as soon as the oil hit them. Crazy! Here's what I don't understand...

How is it that the lice that weren't hit with the coconut oil die? I'm worried because when I spread the feathers, I watched the lice run to other body parts. I'm sure the majority are around the vent area, but how do I kill the rest?
I am so grossed out right now!

Any input would be great!

 

[leenie]

All those little boogers need to do is to touch the VCO and that part of their body will start melting away. If you spray again work from the far outside in a circular motion around the vent so the majority left have no escape.

Hope this helps

You did a great job. It's a terrible horrible icky thing to have to tackle, but you did