LICE!!!!!

[the1honeycomb]

Today I took my Turkey Cleo to the vet she has pneumonia. as we held her on the table for a very extensive exam I could see the lice coming off her feathers!!! she is a free range bird that lives with my flock, what can I do to eliminate the lice the vet said he wouldn't worry about it now she needed her lungs to get better but what about the rest of the flock?

I use DE in the hen house, and 7 dust I guess not enough any Ideas while she is in the infirmary?

 

[Judy]

DE won't do much but the Sevin should work if you dust her body thoroughly once, then go back 10-14 days later and repeat, for the hatched eggs as it does not kill the eggs. They pick them up from wild birds, so they will no doubt recur at some point. Usually it is recommended to replace the litter and de-bug the entire coop with the first treatment. You can put her in a paper bag (not her head, of course) with the Sevin and roll her around well, or you can use a powder puff type method and pat her down. You can also use a product like Adam's Flea and Tick Spray (pyrethrin/permethrins) and spray her -- this is also good for places like the walls of the coop, especially in cracks. There is one bug that lives on the underside of roosts and in cracks during the day and gets on the birds at night. "Poultry Dust" or "poultry Spray" at the feed store is usually a similar product, at least around here. Some people use flea dips, but I don't know whether they are all safe or not.

All that is chicken information. I wouldn't think it would be different for turkeys.