Lice

[LaPetiteFarmer]

Some of my chickens have lice. Not too many but enough for me to see some. I dusted two of them with Sevin and for the rest i just sprinkled on top of them (hard to catch lol). How often should I add Sevin? Should I add some inside the coop? Do I have to take every single one or sprinkle on top of them? Are lice really bad when they are just a few of them?
Thanks

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Keep in mind that I have dealt with mites but not lice.

If you want to eradicate all the bugs it is best to catch them either in the morning before they have left the coop or at night on the roost.

I do it this way: I take a large long-handled fishnet and catch them one by one in the morning before they have left the coop (my hard to catch ones). After dusting each one, I let them go outside the coop.

If I do it at night, I grab them when on the roost and put them outside the coop when done (I do it before it is completely dark so they will go back in after I finish the whole flock).

I recommend poultry dust in a tied-off sock or stocking. Place each bird on its back on the ground or in a box with plastic lining. Hold onto its feet. Dust under each wing, around the vent, and abdomen. Flip over and do the back and around the neck. Don't dust the face. This is a good time to do any other maintenance on them. (For example, inspect for scaly leg mite = raised scales on feet/legs and dip in mineral or veg oil if needed every day or so x 2 weeks.)

Repeat every 7 days until bugs are gone (you need to kill the hatching eggs). Nits can be dissolved with unrefined coconut oil I have read on BYC after the bugs are dead. The life cycle of lice is longer than mites so some say do it 2 weeks later but if you really want them gone fast I have read every week is best so they don't have the chance to lay more eggs.

I also recommend spraying the coop with permethrin spray (from feed store) and tossing bedding at 7 day intervals x 2. This will kill the red mite if you have any living in the crevices of the coop (only comes out at night to feed on chickens).

I dust my chickens and spray my coops every 4 months, repeating in 7 days to keep all mites away.

By the time you see just a few bugs there are many bugs. Lice annoy the chickens and make it so they itch constantly.

 

[LaPetiteFarmer]

Wow, I couldn't have asked for better answer. Very helpful! I will follow your instructions to a tee. Thank you

 

[john4janie]

Sorry this may well have been answered somewhere but desperate for information. I have been keeping a small flock of hens for about three months now. Every week without fail I clean out the coop, scrub out with outdoor disinfectant, leave to dry, spray with pymethrin spray, put in clean sawdust and straw in which I liberally spray DE powder. I also give fresh sand and DE powder as dustbath. Then I powder each and every bird throughly with DE powder. At the start I had a few red mites in the coop and on the birds and over the weeks this number has gone down and down until now we don't see them at all. Today when I went out to my girls I noticed that one of them had lice. And by that I mean she was absolutely crawling with them - every inch of her body was covered and there were egg sacs by her rear end. The last time she was checked over and powdered was last sunday and nothing on her then. I have cleaned the coop out again and powdered her even more throughly than usual. When I checked the other girls one had a few lice but the others were completely clear as far as I could make out. What can people recommend I do now? Should I bathe my girls? Should I quarantine the worse affected? The whole area and every chook is completely white from the powder on them but just can't believe how many she had on her and want to do the best for them.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sorry this may well have been answered somewhere but desperate for information. I have been keeping a small flock of hens for about three months now. Every week without fail I clean out the coop, scrub out with outdoor disinfectant, leave to dry, spray with pymethrin spray, put in clean sawdust and straw in which I liberally spray DE powder. I also give fresh sand and DE powder as dustbath. Then I powder each and every bird throughly with DE powder. At the start I had a few red mites in the coop and on the birds and over the weeks this number has gone down and down until now we don't see them at all. Today when I went out to my girls I noticed that one of them had lice. And by that I mean she was absolutely crawling with them - every inch of her body was covered and there were egg sacs by her rear end. The last time she was checked over and powdered was last sunday and nothing on her then. I have cleaned the coop out again and powdered her even more throughly than usual. When I checked the other girls one had a few lice but the others were completely clear as far as I could make out. What can people recommend I do now? Should I bathe my girls? Should I quarantine the worse affected? The whole area and every chook is completely white from the powder on them but just can't believe how many she had on her and want to do the best for them.

You don't need to put permethrin in the coop every week, in my opinion. I do my coops every 4 months with something that will kill bugs, myself. But if you have had a red mite problem then I totally understand your diligence, LOL.

Now for lice, I haven't dealt with lice, but I have noticed myself that DE is not good for treating, only preventing bugs. So I'd get some poultry dust (permethrin) from the feed store and dust with that in a tied-off sock instead of the DE, once every 7 days until bugs gone. For the nits (egg sacs) after the bugs are dead, I have read that unrefined coconut oil will dissolve them (cosmetic issue).

Treat all of them as the lice move from bird to bird. If you have woodstove ashes you might have better fortune with those than with DE.