Organic method for treating chicken lice?

[aquariansun]

I am very excited to try this method. I travel between Mexico (my home) and the States a lot and while I was up here in NY I purchased Dr. Bronner's eucalyptus Castile soap precisely to try what you have explained, but with Dawn. I used to live in California where I heard that eucalyptus is a great pest repellant, some people even put collars of euc seeds on their pets with great results.

I am really curious though if it's absolutely necessary to blow dry the birds. I don't want to hurt them by not doing it, but I have seen them running around in the rain, they don't seem to mind getting soaked.

Incidentally, I am glad to see this post because I was afraid that the only way apart from diatomaceous earth (another great organic solution of the elimination of crawling insects which I haven't been able to find in Mexico) I wasn't going to find any solutions except allowing my pesticide crazy brother-in-law to come over and spray. My husband was starting to get antsy when i left because I guess they've had lice infestations in the past (decades ago when his dad kept chickens) & I've started to notice them on some birds and even possibly on myself after I've spent a lot of time in the coop cleaning up after them/handling them.

 

[Country4ever]

I have discovered that wood ashes work well to keep in the nestboxes and on the chickens to prevent lice/mites. I don't know how well it would work on a current infection of them, but I think it would do well. the particles (just like diatomacious earth) clog up their breathing parts and they die.
Of course, if you don't have a fire place it might be hard to find wood ashes, unless you burned a pile of wood.

 

[Cochinwomen]

If you have mights on your chickens legs, i seem to find that rubing vasoline on there feet really works.

 

[Gypsylion]

Thank you so much for posting your successes with this method!

I just found a pretty severe lice infestation on one of my girl's neck and I'm going to try this first thing tomorrow before spending money I need for other things!

I'll let you all know if my results are as good as chickenannie's...

 

[LA~Poulet]

Wow! That is neat!

I'd just like to comment that just because Dawn is a common household agent, it truly isn't a "non-chemical solution", it's actually pretty potent, and known to cause skin reactions.

I personally can't use it, it wreaks havoc on my skin. I also had a dog have a bad reaction to using it as a bath once (a long time ago). It contains ammonia, and can quickly be toxic in the presence of bleach. Here is a quick excerpt from a page about dangerous home chemicals:

Many common household products contain known carcinogens and/or neurotoxins (i.e., cancer- causing and/or causing damage to the nervous system). Some of these include Windex, Dawn, Joy,...


I'm not saying don't use it, and I'm absolutely positive it is less dangerous than Seven dust, I'm just trying to issue a word of caution, it is a chemical solution.

 

[aquariansun]

I ended up (for the laziness factor) mixing a solution of salt + Dr. Bronner's Eucalyptus soap (truly biodegradable) and it worked great! The birds ended up shiny & clean, and actually we didn't even find any lice floating up off of them. We inspected them and they didn't have any on their body either! We then rinsed them with normal water. Happy with the results!

 

[chickenannie]

Quote:
Glad to hear it worked. (Based on your post, I can't tell if they even had lice to begin with?) Also, just curious, did you blow dry them afterward?

 

[aquariansun]

I did not blow dry them, we have a lot and it would have been too much time. We did it early in the morning so they have the full sun all day to dry. No one suffered I am definitely sure I found a lice on me before I washed them so thats why I freaked out & washed them...but then we checked their feathers & none came out (?!)

 

[chickenannie]

Not to worry if you get lice on YOU -- lice are species specific, and chicken lice don't live on humans, or vice versa. The lice you could get could be gotten only from other humans. The only thing if a chicken lice got on you is that it might crawl a bit, but would die in a few hours/day.

 

[aquariansun]

thank god because i am pretty brave when it comes to critters, but with lices & maggots...yuck!