Mites or Lice? Please help identify and need treatment for Ducks and chickens

[Folly's place]

Nothing is good to inhale, it's necessary to wear at least a N95 face mask, long sleeves, and jeans, and then wash clothing and shower when done.
Ivermectin is easy to use, if only it was on the approved for use list!
Permethrin spray, at night, when the birds are roosting, is the best way to spray them. It's harder to use a spray on the birds in very cold weather, so powders are safest then.
Mary

 

[Njbchick]

I don’t know much about treating lice. I would think waiting until morning can’t make it too much worse. I think waiting to get the right product would be best for the flock.

 

[pozees2]

Nothing is good to inhales, it's necessary to wear at least a N95 face mask, long sleeves, and jeans, and then wash clothing and shower when done.
Ivermectin is easy to use, if only it was on the approved for use list!
Permethrin spray, at night, when the birds are roosting, is the best way to spray them. It's harder to use a spray on the birds in very cold weather, so powders are safest then.
Mary

I worry about the birds inhaling the powders as much as myself inhaling them.

 

[Folly's place]

I know. Try to avoid their heads when dusting. I tried the 'put the bird in a bag up to the head' thing, and still had dust everywhere, so it failed, at least for me.
Use the spray!
Mary

 

[Alecia Davidshofer]

I worry about the birds inhaling the powders as much as myself inhaling them.

Ivermectin horse gel is my go to spring cleaning. Never had issues once i added this to my chicken cubbard.

 

[alwaysaproblem]

I just found these bugs in feeders after locking my ducks up for the night. I have had a problem with an under the weather pullet, so I imagine, even though I haven't seen anything like this on my chickens, I need to treat them as well. Ugh! I just feel so sick and itchyView attachment 2035793View attachment 2035794View attachment 2035793View attachment 2035794

Use white earth. It got rid of something my birds had overnight without any poisonous chemicals.

·See diatomaceous earth
Simple and very effective

 

[Cilenia]

Yes those products work. Dust the coop. I didn't like the idea of putting on my chickens even When I was told I could so I checked them all and found on only one so I gave her a bath in pet shampoo for tics and lice and used a lice comb on her after. She's a silkie though mind you... don't think you can use that comb on a normal chicken fyi. I also made them up a new dust bath in a kitty litter box for inside the coop with sand dirt and a handful of DE and dusting of that Garden dust. Just been too wet for them to use their normal one outside in the run so hopefully that will help them rid any I couldn't find. Checking them every ew days now last few months and haven't seen a lice since. Good luck and YES, get rid of them and give your chicken some extra vitamins too. I'm told they rob them and eventually they get sick enough to die.

 

[Vicker]

It's a little late for this response now, but I would tell you not to panic. Bugs are yucky but you've caught them in time. As for control, I've used food grade diatomaceous earth for years with great results. It isn't a chemical. It works mechanically on soft-bodied parasites. Some will say this can be damaging to the birds respiratory systems, but I have never had any problems. I order bags in bulk over the internet because it is much cheaper than the little containers off the shelf. I make sure that it says 100% DE with no fillers. As long as you don't make a huge dust cloud with it, there should be little concern about breathing in harmful amounts.

 

[cmom]

I like the ivermectin route but when you have 200/300 birds, it's a little difficult.

 

[cmom]

When I had my mite infestation I bought a 50# bag of DE. After a couple of weeks of using DE the birds were still infested. They looked pretty pathetic and I was afraid if I didn't find something that would work I just may have lost some birds. Now I don't trust it, then I used permethrin and after a couple of weeks I saw no mites. I kept up treatment for a couple of more weeks and the birds actually started looking better and now they are beautiful again and there is no egg withdrawal period. I do put the permethrin dust in the nest boxes.