need your input on something fellow bycers

[shellz131]

Just to start off we have been battleing a stubborn case of headlice on my dd.We are now on our 4 application of ridx and 1 application of prescription meds,we are at our wites end.The strange thing is it is affecting only my dd,my son and I do not have them.The thing is I dont think her father and I are on the same page as the other because I treat her get everthing cleared up and then she goes to her fathers over the weekend and when she gets back home she has them again.We are now at the stage where we are blaming the other and insisting neither house has them...Now my question is can you get headlice from chickens? My father is now pushing me to get rid of them because he heard from his stepdaughters father (he used to keep chickens) that he had to get rid of his because They gave him headlice.
I need rock solid evidence that this is not the case.Any advice on either subject would be most welcome

 

[schellie69]

If she does not have them when she leaves your home and them comes back from her dad's with them there is the problem. Has he washed and treated all the bedding and carpets ect in his home. It also could be from a friend that she plays with at her dad's I would see who she see's and who she spends time with at both homes and see if there is a way to track it down. I don't think you can get head lice from chickens I believe head lice only live on humans not animals. Good luck.

 

[HEChicken]

I never found any of the commercial treatments to be effective. I think the lice are so immune to them now after years of using the same chemicals. I would wash DD's hair in RidX and then check her hair and find live lice on her! I found a couple of things to be actually effective at immediately eliminating them. The first is Isopropyl Alcohol. I caution to be REALLY careful using this. The first time I used it on myself and I thought I was going to die when I tipped my head forward, it ran down my face and I actually couldn't breathe for a little while. That taught me right quick to keep my head tipped WAY back and pour very slowly, making sure it goes nowhere near my face.

The second thing we found that worked was so messy we only did it once. You take Petroleum Jelly and put that in the hair, then put a shower cap on the head and leave it overnight. This suffocates them so there are none alive by morning. The problem is getting it back out. We tried EVERYTHING. Shampoo barely touched it. I read on the internet somewhere to put talcum powder on. That did work but heck, that's pretty messy itself. We have a pic of DD with greasy, powder covered hair and we're smiling but we weren't having fun. It really took a week or more to get it all out and she never wanted to do that again.

The last thing we did was every night during an infestation, I would sit on the couch, have them sit on the floor in front of me, put a DVD in the player and for the next hour, I would go through their hair with a fine tooth comb (literally) and pick off every louse and every egg I found. I'd keep a glass next to me with water in it and a layer of oil on top. Each one I found was dropped in there to drown. It works but it does take time.

I am so glad my kids are past the age where they get head lice - what a nightmare. Good luck!

 

[pdsavage]

Head lice is spread human to human not from chickens.


http://www.arfamilies.org/health_nutrition/topics/head_lice.htm

Should my pets be treated for head lice?

No. Head lice do not live on pets.

 

[paddock36]

I wasn't sure on this one but I know we had a large flock of chickens as a kid and neither my sisters or I ever had head lice.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Hair lice can't live on feathers, feather lice can't live on hair.

Mammals and birds are pretty different. There is not much species overlap for germs, or parasites.

 

[aggie9296]

she is most likely getting them from eggs at the father's that hatch and re-attach. (lice eggs, not chickens).. both houses have to treat at the same time. mayonaise works as well as the petroleum jelly and is easy to get out. or even cooking oil.

this may seem drasstic, but shaving her head is the most effective way to get rid of them. then you can keep treating the bedding at both houses. by the time her hair grows out, should have been able to get rid of all of them.

 

[onecent]

No, they are not coming from the chickens, all you have to do is get some hair grease, and lightly apply it to there hair, it doesnt take much, it will stop the problem with out using all those chemicals, it will kill what is around & stop re infestation, it worked for my grands.

 

[AK Michelle]

the best cure I've ever found is Mayonnaise. Go get the big jar and shower caps. Slather it on and comb it through, like you're doing a hot oil treatment, then cover with a shower cap and sleep in it (I know, it sounds yucky, but it works and isn't toxic to your kids like Rid-X)

In the morning, wash the hair then add baby oil, you're gonna look a little greasy, that's good, keeps the little buggers from sticking.

My kids got it at school, same thing, we treated several times, which involved me sitting for hours combing to girls with really LONG THICK hair while they screamed and cried. Big-fun. The nurse at our Dr's office was so funny when she was explaining to me how to do all this. Every time I got my kids cleaned up they got sent home buggy, but they were all adult bugs, never any babies, that's when I knew it wasn't from my house, someone was bringing them back to school. I asked the teacher to send home another round of notes with the kids in their classes.

Anyway, I kept them pretty greasy for a week and we never had lice again.

The mayo absolutely fries the little buggers and is good for their hair all at the same time

 

[pardygwyn]

Quote:
+2! The mayo basically drowns them.

Story time... I have fine curly hair that requires hair oil to make it look like hair instead of cotton candy. Two years ago, my youngest brought home a mass of bugs and everyone in the family got lice except me! LOL The knee-jerk reaction was to buy the chemicals, which made my oldest run circles around the house because it burned his scalp.

After that we opted for a huge tub of mayo, instead. We only treated hair when I found bugs on my youngest's head (his hair is short and fine, MUCH easier to dig around in than my oldest's mop!) and while I cleaned the house/bedding some, we didn't get too intense about it because lice don't live for long off of heads. You get 'em when they come back.

We ended up treating two days in a row to get the lice who eluded cleaning, then another two days in a row a few days later when the nits hatched. After that, no more lice! And the treatment was fairly painless both in terms of chemicals and elbow grease. But we all hated mayonnaise for awhile.

I have to say, it was really satisfying to wash the mayo off the kids' heads in the mornings and watch the dead, oiled-up lice wash down the drain. So long, suckers!!