OH PLEASE help me...PLEASE.

[cluckcluckluke]

Can anyone help with the lice problem, i have already dusted them twice with lice and mite powder and they still wont go and now my little 2 week chick is riddled with them from mother hen and it's horrible. My dad reckons that Chickens will always have lice and your just reducing the numbers when you treat them, is this true, should chickens always have some lice or do they have to be completely free of them???

I really need help with this, it thoroughly annoys and frustrates me because I've heard they can eventually die form them and it puts them of laying and i dont want my future chicks getting them or any other new chicken or my new ducks that are coming in a couple of weeks. Please Please Please help.

 

[Darkwings]

First of all, what sort of lice and mite powder are you using? Permecterin or Sevin perhaps? Secondly, have you dusted more than once? It often takes more than one application to take care of the problem. Third, have you cleaned your coop VERY well? If you're treating the birds but not the coop they could be re-infesting themselves every time they go in the coop. Remove all bedding, then dust or spray with Permecterin. I would suggest the spray. If you've done all of the above then you may want to worm with Ivermectin.

I think all chicken owners will encounter mites or lice at some point in their chicken keeping careers. That does not make it the norm to have chickens infested with mites though. I've been keeping chickens for around 10 years and I have only ever had a mite infestation once.
Hopefully some of this will be helpful.

 

[Firefighter Chick]

make sure you are treating the chickens once then following up a few days later when any eggs could have hatched. clean out the environment too! Sevin dust and permethrin are good. Perhaps you should try a flea dip or a different product.

 

[t8562005]

Something a old timer told me if you take vegetable oil or any kind of cooking oil and put it on the chickens roosts the lice will die. Since lice are insects the breath through their skin. When the oil gets on the lice they can't breath.

A few years ago I got a lice problem with my chickens and tried it out and it got rid of the lice. I also had some on the peeps and all I did was put a little bit of vegetable oil on their backs and breasts kept it on them for 8 hours and washed it off them and all the lice were dead.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Something a old timer told me if you take vegetable oil or any kind of cooking oil and put it on the chickens roosts the lice will die. Since lice are insects the breath through their skin. When the oil gets on the lice they can't breath.

A few years ago I got a lice problem with my chickens and tried it out and it got rid of the lice. I also had some on the peeps and all I did was put a little bit of vegetable oil on their backs and breasts kept it on them for 8 hours and washed it off them and all the lice were dead.

WOW I'm so going to do this thank you so much. So all i have to do is put it on the roost bars and not in any nest boxes or directly on the chickens.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

make sure you are treating the chickens once then following up a few days later when any eggs could have hatched. clean out the environment too! Sevin dust and permethrin are good. Perhaps you should try a flea dip or a different product.

First of all, what sort of lice and mite powder are you using? Permecterin or Sevin perhaps? Secondly, have you dusted more than once? It often takes more than one application to take care of the problem. Third, have you cleaned your coop VERY well? If you're treating the birds but not the coop they could be re-infesting themselves every time they go in the coop. Remove all bedding, then dust or spray with Permecterin. I would suggest the spray. If you've done all of the above then you may want to worm with Ivermectin.

I think all chicken owners will encounter mites or lice at some point in their chicken keeping careers. That does not make it the norm to have chickens infested with mites though. I've been keeping chickens for around 10 years and I have only ever had a mite infestation once.
Hopefully some of this will be helpful.

Thank you so much I'll get onto the problem with your help, just really annoying makes me fell as if my flock is dirty and just yuck(if you know what i mean

). I shall try the olive oil trick and get some stronger lice spray. Also need to get rid of a few what looks to be the start of scaly mites which sound in theory easy enough to get rid of, well see how it all goes and get back to you.

 

[t8562005]

WOW I'm so going to do this thank you so much. So all i have to do is put it on the roost bars and not in any nest boxes or directly on the chickens.

I just put it on the bars, but putting it on the nest boxes isn't a bad idea.

 

[daoustaj]

For scaly leg mites i read on the post i belive the old timer post dip their legs in oil to suffocate the mites

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I just put it on the bars, but putting it on the nest boxes isn't a bad idea.

O.K i shall do both.

 

[ReikiStar]

If dusting doesn't do it, then you might have to bathe them with a dog shampoo with Permathrin. Gets it closer to the skin and more thorough than dusting. Plus, most chickens appreciate warm baths.