mites and lice and treating them HELP!

[sunket77]

I need some advice and the sooner the better! I got a trio of silkies recently and I love them and they are wonderful. BUT I just discovered they have lice and scaly leg mites.

I pretty much got how to treat the leg mites but I am not clear on the best method for the lice. Also they are in quarantine separate from my flock but they are in the same yard. What is the best way to prevent transfer to the rest of my flock? I know I am going to be handling the silkies to treat them (I also want them to stay tame). What do I need to do to go from them to my other pen/coop? I REALLY don't want a case of lice in my flock, besides the pain of treating them all, I am putting them in the county fair in 2 weeks. \\

Would an initial bathing help treatment like dusting?
How exactly is the best way to dust the chickens?
After treating them with dust like sevin dust will it be safe to harvest the eggs?
help!!!!

 

[purpletree23]

WOW! You've got problems my dear. I just answered your question about diarhhea.

I normally would recommend Ivermecton pour on for mites and lice but because your birds are already stressed I would dust them with mite and lice poultry dust. You can put some dust into an old stocking and 'powder' the birds well. Making sure you get under the wings, on the tummy and the vent area. Do this again in 7 days and then again in 10. The dust will kill the adult lice but not the eggs. You have to wait for the eggs to hatch to kill them. YUCKO!

Scaly leg mite can be treated by soaking the legs in warm water with epsom salt to loosen the scales. Scrub gently with a toothbrush just to loosen debris and rinse. After drying coat the legs with vaseline. Recently I read that someone mixed poultry dust with the vaseline and spread that on the legs. Sounds like it would work but you be the judge. Clean the legs every other day and reapply the vaseline.

In a few weeks when the chickens are stronger and feeling better I would worm them. First with a gentle wormer such as Wazine and them a stronger wormer such as Ivermectin.

I would give them a lot of TLC for a while. Chopped greens, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt and some fruits but don't overdo any of it. A little scratch and poultry vitamins in their water.

Sounds like you have your hands full. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Imp]

What Purpletree23 said.

It is usually recommended that you don't eat the eggs for a couple weeks. Good luck and remember you will need to clean the coop or cages etc.


Imp

 

[sunket77]

thanks so much for responding and the instructions. What about preventing transfer to the rest of my flock? do I need to change clothes if I hold a silkie or is handwashing good enough?

 

[mom'sfolly]

I sold her the chickies, and I didn't know they were infected. I feel so bad for selling them in this condition, and also need to know how to treat my flock. I'm a bad chicken mommy. Any suggestions for coop cleaning. One coop has sand for the bedding, the other I've been using leaf litter. I'm going to stop the leaf litter because that is probably where the infection came from, but any other tips of coop cleaning?

 

[sunket77]

I know you didn't know! It's ok, at least we know now, I had considered using leaves also, guess I won't go that rout either! I am glad you said that.

 

[jsimplytx125]

Hi all,
This thread leads me to another question regarding disposing of eggs in that interim (2 weeks?)while treated chickens recover.
Is there any use for these eggs?
Could I boil and feed them to our dogs? Hate to just throw them. I'm assuming that boiling and putting them in worm compost bin will kill my red wigglers?

 

[sunket77]

I was working on my roo's legs trying to get some of the old scales off and got one off that was BIG he pulled back and kicked his legs like it hurt. It was bleeding a little and there was like a hole I guess where the mite had buried itself. Did I hurt him? should I try to get the rest off that are that bad?

 

[sunket77]

Well I have discovered that I to am a bad chickie momma! I checked my flock and they have lice too! I don't think I transferred them either way since there is full grown lice on both sets of birds. But now I need to do everyone! yipe! Well I guess I don't need to worry so much about transferring!

 

[HBuehler]

I now have a closed flock because almost every chicken I have brought in has had lice or mites this year...even from well cared for clean places.

It's made me wonder if many just think it's acceptable to have them...it's not

A trick we learned so you won't waste as much dust.Take a feed bag and cut it down to about 18" or so put the dust in the bottom of the bag put chicken inside and shake

OK don't shake. Put the chicken in the bag and then take the dust and rub it all over the chicken under wings and and all buggy hiding spots. Be careful not to get it in their lungs though in other words be gentle.As the dust falls of it falls back into the bag instead of onto the ground.
I also use Ivermectin with all of our animals it works great.