Organic method for treating chicken lice?

[dottysfarm]

So what are the best ways to rid your coop/property of lice n other such bugs?

 

[al6517]

Well you really only have 2 choices.................. go Organic and have lot's & lot's of the creepy crawley's running willy nilly throughout the coop and birds. Or kill them using the commercial chemical stuff that actually does kill them for a long long time. I have not found any mother earth something or another that even comes close to controling lice/Mites, so there you have it you choose.

AL

 

[dawg53]

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Ditto.

 

[al6517]

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Ditto.

I would really like it if they had some sort of Organic pest control but I shudder at the prospect of giving up my next new born child $$$ for such a product as is the case with almost any organic product. I find it very difficult to even come close to justifing the cost of those products when most seem to be not all that good.

AL

 

[Beekissed]

Why not just mix some wood ashes in your deep litter and arrange a nice dusting box with the same right there in the coop? The chickens love them and the lice and mites do not. I'd even venture to place some wood ashes in the nest boxes...couldn't hurt.

As for the roosts....there is a thing called NuStock that I used on my chickens for leg mites. It is merely pine tar, mineral oil and sulfur. The NS got all over the roosts in the process. It only took one application to the chickens and no other treatments to my coop to get rid of these mites. Natural ingredients that packed a big punch....I have read that blood sucking parasites just do not like sulfur.

 

[Grim]

wood ash works well. hardwood ash is best. it has a higher lye content.

 

[dottysfarm]

i have read lots and lots about pennyroyal and its effect on lice and fleas... but the plant is so potent that it can potentially cause miscarriage in pregnant women... I have thought about planting it (as suggested) near the chicken yard and it supposedly repels the instects.... but, if it can cause miscarriage, does anyone have any thought as to what that would do to my laying hens?

 

[chickenannie]

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No offense, but Honestly, it may just be what you determine as 'creepy-crawly'. Some people consider having chemical pesticides all over their coop, chickens, eggs, hands and shoes JUST as creepy crawly. I never understood how pouring pesticides around one's house and property to exterminate all the tiny living things was considered any better. Yuck!

I see a search for "natural" methods to be one where you don't have pesticide residues (which are proven poisons); you deal with the insect pest; AND you set up an ecology which continually deters the pest. It has been shown, in certain instances, that killing off ALL the pests can sometimes set you up for an ongoing or worse pest problem because you've killed off all the natural predators of that pest. Ecologies are complex systems.

 

[annaraven]

How do you tell if you have lice/mites? I mean, what are the symptoms?

 

[dawg53]

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Feather loss, excessive preening/scratching, head shaking, picking, weakness/lethargy, not eating or drinking normally, stopped laying...mostly in severe infestations. You need to physically pick your chickens up and visually inspect them, especially around the vent area. This should help... http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
Lice move faster than mites.