lice

[penny11]

on saturday i found some lice on one of my chickens (i only have two) i dusted both of them in lice powder and i dusted inside the house!! ive checked her over again today and she still has lice...it says on the back of the powder to only use on the chickens once a week!! is there anything else i can do to get get rid of them faster??im new to all this and i feel bad for

i dont want her to have lice!! she is still eating, drinking and she seems fine i just want to get rid of the lice...am i being too impaitient?? be great if someone could maybe point me in the right direction

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Give them a bath in dog flea/tick shampoo according to directions. Use one that contains an insect growth regulator.

When you say they still have lice, are you seeing moving bugs, or are you seeing leftover eggs?

 

[dawg53]

Sevin dust will kill lice. Dust your chickens and inside their house including nests. Repeat it all again in 10 days to kill lice hatched from eggs since the first dusting, breaking their lifecycle.
Here's a link for you:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[Oregonchickenwoman]

We have successfully used Diatomaceous Earth for our henhouse. We have yet to have lice or any kind of mite. When we clean the henhouse, we use a sifter to shake around the Diatomaceous Earth on everything, then we line their nesting boxes and floor with the usual stuff and so far, so good. You can also find a dry spot, make a nice hole in the ground, fill it with DM and let them use it to "dust bath" themselves in it, which is natural for them anyways, and DM supposedly kills the lice or mites as it breaks apart their exoskeleton.

As well, you could use the DM with Sevin in the dust bath, and really throw the bugs for a loop!

 

[chicksup]

I think, according to IFA that I have a chicken with lice. She is a BlackStar about a year old, and she is bare from the breast all the way past the vent. I had another BlackStar that looked like the same thing. I have 5 Americauna's and they don't appear to have this problem. HOwever it does appear that they are pecking at each other. Could I be mistaking the pecked chicken look for lice? Help. I did buy a can of powder to dust them with. Maybe that will help. But, does this sound like anything or somethiong I'm missing?

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
You will have to pick your chickens up and visually inspect them, you'll see lice crawling on them and will need to be dusted if this is the case. Since you believe they are pecking at each other, that indicates there could be overcrowded conditions in which case you'll have to do some expansion. It also could be a lack of proper feed you're using. They need to be fed layer feed, at least 16% protein. To deter feather picking, you could temporarily feed them gamebird feed which is about 22% protein. Black Stars are high production egg layers and could use the extra protein for awhile. Also, since they are about a year old, it might be the start of a molt. Again, if this is the case, gamebird feed will help with feather regrowth. Boredom is another reason to pick at each other. You could hang a head of lettuce in the pen and let them pick/peck at it instead of each other.

 

[MARANMAN2011]

DE or sevin dust I swear by it.

 

[chicksup]

OK. I just went out and dusted every chicken, but found no sign of mites. The BlackStar had only the feathers around the breast missing, which as you said, could be molting. Do they get that ugly when they molt?

 

[chicksup]

Oh! And by the way, thanks for the immediate replies, guys. preciate it.

 

[chicksup]

Getting some DE. Thanks.