Mites or lice.

[Kiasoulstar]

One of my hens decided to hop on my lap today, when she got down I had odd buggs on my pants... Don't know were the got them... Have treated the 4 of them and their coop with DE tonight... Hoping my 2 month old hens don't have any, they are in a separate pen in the large run.. what are the best ways to deal with them... I am relatively new so to speak, we had hens when I was young but I didn't have to deal with that aspeck...

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If you see bugs on your pants from a hen, they were likely Northern Fowl Mites or lice.

Northern Fowl Mites look like black specks of pepper scurrying. They drop off fairly easily.

Lice are straw colored, which would be harder to see on pants (unless you were wearing dark jeans). Lice tend to stick better on the bird as well.

Both NFM and lice live on the bird and are active during the day. (There is also Red Roost Mites, but they live in the coop and feed on the bird only at night. They are red looking pepper scurrying very quickly...or globs of black and red "fish eggs" in the corners and crevices of your coop).

To be certain, go out with a flashlight and check at the vent. If you see black scurrying pepper...NFM. If you see straw colored slower moving flat bugs, with clumps of white rice on the base of feathers, the nits, lice.

Either way my treatment of choice is not DE (which does not work very well in my opinion) but permethrin poultry dust. Simply dust with your hand or filled sock at the vent and under the wings. Putting the dust in an old nylon sock helps direct it better. Use it like a powder puff. Retreat in 7 to 10 days to break the cycle of juveniles/adults.

You should treat the whole flock as lice/mites wander easily.

Also clean out your bedding. While lice/mites live on the bird, they can transfer from dander on the bedding for a few hours.

Quick thorough steps now will put this in check.
LofMc

 

[Kiasoulstar]

If you see bugs on your pants from a hen, they were likely Northern Fowl Mites or lice.

Northern Fowl Mites look like black specks of pepper scurrying. They drop off fairly easily.

Lice are straw colored, which would be harder to see on pants (unless you were wearing dark jeans). Lice tend to stick better on the bird as well.

Both NFM and lice live on the bird and are active during the day. (There is also Red Roost Mites, but they live in the coop and feed on the bird only at night. They are red looking pepper scurrying very quickly...or globs of black and red "fish eggs" in the corners and crevices of your coop).

To be certain, go out with a flashlight and check at the vent. If you see black scurrying pepper...NFM. If you see straw colored slower moving flat bugs, with clumps of white rice on the base of feathers, the nits, lice.

Either way my treatment of choice is not DE (which does not work very well in my opinion) but permethrin poultry dust. Simply dust with your hand or filled sock at the vent and under the wings. Putting the dust in an old nylon sock helps direct it better. Use it like a powder puff. Retreat in 7 to 10 days to break the cycle of juveniles/adults.

You should treat the whole flock as lice/mites wander easily.

Also clean out your bedding. While lice/mites live on the bird, they can transfer from dander on the bedding for a few hours.

Quick thorough steps now will put this in check.
LofMc

I was wearing almost black jeans, I think they were the lice.. used DE tonight because that is what I already had on hand.. I also changed the nest boxes and treated around them.. I have an "open" coop for the summer so there are not many hiding places outher than the nest boxes..The rest is wire and tarp for the summer... Thank you for the input, I will look into that tomorrow...

 

[Kiasoulstar]

Will this spray work?? No one with in 50mi has the powder, can't order off line no money on my card.... Please any advice would be extremely helpful...

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Sorry this is such a late reponse. BYC didn't notify me of responses :/

Yes. Gordon's permethrin spray works really well. Just follow instructions on bottle.

Hope you no longer are having issues.
LofMc

 

[cmom]

I have posted this previously. it will work for lice and mites. I had some birds that were severely infested. I thought they were just molting but weren't getting their feathers back in when I discovered they had mites. The first thing I tried was DE. The birds weren't improving and still had mites. I first discovered them in only one coop but eventually found them on birds in another coop. I dusted the birds and the coops with the DE and no improvement. I did use some sevin dust that I had but it was almost gone but it did help. I did some research and came up with permethrin. There is no egg withdrawal period with permethrin. Wild birds and rodents can bring the mites and other pests in if they have access to their coop. I used the dust on the birds and in their nest boxes and sprayed inside of the coops, every crack and crevice, on and under the roosts, ceiling, walls, floors, anywhere the pests can hide. Nothing will kill the pests eggs so repeated weekly treatments are necessary. I wear special clothing including a mask and gloves. I did a weekly spraying for awhile and put permethrin dust in the nest boxes, originally sprayed the birds getting under the wings and worked it through their feathers with gloves which you can also do with the dust. It will take a few weekly applications. Slowly my birds began to recover and get their feathers back in. I think if I hadn't treated with the permethrin when I did I probably would have lost some birds to the mites. The birds were in bad condition. I did originally bathe the worst birds with flea shampoo which did help but did not get rid of the mites but then discovered that the over the counter (OTC) head lice shampoo for people. Every over-the-counter (OTC) treatment of head lice contains either pyrethrins (Rid or Triple X) or permethrin (Nix). Both are effective treatment. Both only kill live pests, not the pests eggs. Good luck...

 

[Kiasoulstar]

Not quite gone, but has decreased emensly