OMG Lice/Mites What do I do!!!

[hobbychick]

Just my luck. Three years of having chickens and now all of a sudden Pow they have lice or mites. Even the chicks. I cleaned out all of the coops today and sprayed them down. I also put seven dust on the baby chicks and in some baby pools with sawdust in them, so they can dust themselves. I have read on here that feeding them DE will help with the problem. Is that true, does anyone have luck with that? Also should I be giving the chickens anything extra in there water or feed? Thanks for the help!!!

Also I forgot is there any way to treat them easy with out having to catch and handle each one, I have quite a few?

 

[Imp]

hobbychick,
Maybe this link will help.
I think feeding DE is for internal parasites. Sounds like you've got a good handle on things.



http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[hobbychick]

Is oral ivermec an option?

 

[JewellFarm]

DE is great for dusting them as well. I would stick to the sevin dust initially tho.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

First this info and will post the Ivermectin dosage on next post

sounds like you need to clean and delouse the chicken houses

I really believe it is some kind of feather mite
give the chickens after cleaning and spraying the coop this
2 tbsp of ACV in a gallon of water

also some feed it to all chickens
wet mash probiotic
1 qt of dry crumbles
1/4 cup of yoguart
1-1/2 qt of milk any kind
mix good and feed each adult chicken 3 tbsp of wet mash probiotic

*****I also would take a look at the chicken house and see if any of the building has split boards or knot holes as the mites live there and feed on the birds
thus you can paint the spots of the building with

1 qt of kerosene
1 qt of mineral oil
with paint brush apply to the roosts and knot holes and cracks in the boards

also clean the bedding out of the building and put seven 5% on the floor before putting the beding in

this will build up their systems as the mites and lice have depleted their blood system a lot


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Imp]

Quote:
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong (Not very experienced with this) But I think oral ivermec is for internal parasites.

Well I guess I stand corrected.(See following post) Learn something new every day here. Thanks Glenda for the info.

hobbychick,
Do you think you have worms also?
If it's just Mites/Lice.
Then sevin, permethrin, DE on the birds and in the coop are the way to go.

Imp

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I vermectin 1% is the one you are interested in
but here is the low down and dosage of individual birds with other opitions of using the drinking water method also

it just means that you can't eat the eggs while giving Wazine for two weeks after worming them
then in 10 days you will need to use the ivermectin

actually you will need to not eat the eggs when using ivermectin also for two weeks

***OPTION 1
it is safer for the hens to use the wazine now and amt for the water in the water and let it kill the round worms
as too intensive wormer will kill many worms and poison the hens more
as it makes a shock to their interna; system and the dead worms going to protein in the body of the chicken will poison their systems

***OPTION 2
also you can use the 1% ivermectin and give it down the throat as well as a shot
using propolene gycol as agent used with ivermectin injection kind
this was told to me by my friend Randy Henry in Ca who used it a lot

Ivomec 1% is water soluable and injectable, fast release and needs lowing down going thru the gut. that is why
they use proplene glycol 3 drops to 1 drop of ivemec 1%. MIX GOOD ALWAYS BEFORE INJECTING

****OPTION 3
5% pour on is oil based and only used on shoulder of the bird in drops. Slow release going into the skin of the bird

Not inside the bird.
Directions for 5% ivomec with oil base put on shoulder

only not internally.

(1 1 drop small bantam such as female OE
(2 2 drops large bantam male like OE
(3 3 drops most bantams
(4 4 drops larger bantams and smaller commercial hens
(5 5 drops commercial large fowl and smaller large
fowl
(5 5 drops Large fowl chicken
(7 7 drops larger males of large fowl breeds of
Chickens.
(A 5% oil type Ivomec Stays on the birds for at least
6 weeks. and is the reason it is only used on the out
side under the feathers on the shoulder of the
chickens. Slow release time.
(B 1% water soulable is injectable and can be used in the water.


***OPTION 4 INFORMATION ON #2&#3
CURTIS GEARY" <[email protected]>
Question on Ivermec 1%


I will try to answer your questions as fully as I can. Since we are using ivermectin in an off-label fashion, first I need to say the birds being given ivermectin should not be used for food and the eggs should not be eaten. I am only saying this because I am a veterinarian and this is an off-label use and I am not aware of any controlled studies on the subject of withdrawal times. So for legal and safety reasons don't cull and eat these birds.

However, we eat beef, chicken, pork, etc. everyday that had previously been given ivermectin, but established withdrawal times have been (or should have been) followed. The information that is to follow is from my own personal experience and is not substantiated in any scientific journals as far as I know and is purely for informational use. (That's the end of my little legal/safety speech).

**INFORMATION 5
What can happen if too much ivermectin is given? Well, so far I haven't seen an overdose of ivermectin in chickens, however I will extrapolate from other species. Most of the signs have to deal with the neurologic (nervous) system and occasionally involve the digestive system.

In the dogs that I have seen, in mild cases the dogs just act like they are "drunk". They stumble, have difficulty standing up and usually can't walk a straight line. The moderate cases have this plus sometimes have blindness. Both of these cases usually resolve in 3-5 days with just some supportive care. The most severe case that I have seen was a 6 month old black lab puppy that ate the entire dose for a 1,000 pound horse after the horse spit out the wormer on the ground. It was comatose for 23 days, blind for another 10 days and is normal today (2 years later). So the overdose effects can vary, usually very dramatic, but usually resolve. However, death can occur with an overdose.

***OPTION 6
I like the 1% injectable form because I can draw up exactly 0.1 ml and give it in the breast muscle or by mouth. I also like it because I know that the ivermectin is then getting into the bloodstream.
From other studies we know that ivermectin is absorbed into the bloodstream from the digestive tract. With the 5% oil based solution, it was made to be absorbed through the skin of cattle that has a fatty layer, oil glands, haired skin, sweat glands, etc. and this is totally different than poultry. I am not saying if it works or not. I've never tried it, for those reasons.

**OPTION 7
the dosages that you have listed look like they would be a good starting point. I would first try them on some culls rather than your best birds and if it works then continue with it. Since chickens have an oil gland near the tail the ivermectin may accumulate there and last longer than the injectable form, I really don't think (but don't know) if it is going to hang around on the body for 6 weeks though. I would be interested to know of anyone else's experiences though.

*** OPTION 8
here are two chicken friends who use 1% injectable in the drinking water
they do raise a lot of birds so they must know

Iona wrote:
I leave treated water (4 cc per gallon of water) in the coops for 2
days. It is the only water so everyone drinks. I change the water
mixture every day and more often if it gets dirty. There is a great
margin for safety when using ivermectin so I don't worry about a bird
over dosing on it. I have been using injectable ivermectin mixed with
drinking water for 5 years now and have never had a problem.

Gail wrote
I use the injectable 1 % solution mixed at 8 cc. per gallon of water to
treat canaries for air sac mites and to worm chickens, budgies,
canaries, cockatiels, etc. I take their water away the night before and
use this solution as the only source of water for 24 hours.

It is
important to treat again in 10 days to get all the mites that have
hatched out since the treatment BEFORE they can lay eggs again. For

Hopefully this information It is for lice and mites as well as worming. this information can help you decide how to worm with Ivermectin. I have studied this topic for several yrs now and do believe it is safe

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

always wear a mask when handling De
using it in the feed use 2% De to total amt of feed given each day

then make a dust box
3 lbs of sand or soil to 1 cup of DE

then you can mix it in the soil in the pen by making a hole in the soil and using some of the soil back in the hole ad a cup of De and they will dust in it

also when putting down the clean bedding
use several lbs of DE on the floor first them the beding
the chick4ns will scratch and get the DE up

De kills soft skined bugs and worms by knicking them and they they dehydrate and dir

any questions Email me

 

[hobbychick]

Thanks for the info on the oral ivermec. I am not for sure I am going to do that if we can't eat the eggs. I will have to ponder it!!

 

[hobbychick]

I have some 2 day old chicks that came out of one of the coops that could have lice/mites. Should I do anything to those chicks or just hope they do not have anything?