Please help a newbie out....LICE!!!

[my4ladies]

I am brand new to having chickens, and already I'm discouraged. I bought 4 day old chicks. One, which was a silkie, was not right from the start, and lived only a week. To replace that one, we went to a lady that was selling them and bought one. By this time, my other chicks had graduated to the outside coop. The one we bought is a couple weeks older. I looked it over and didn't see any mites or lice, but it's now apparent that it had had them.

We've had them all together in the same coop now for about a month. The other day I was holding the silkie and noticed lice. I looked for just a bit and found two on her wings. Now I imagine they all have it. What do I do? I've googled some, but there are so many different ways to deal with it. I thought I'd ask here for some tried & true advice.

Also, are we safe to hold them still? Can we become the hosts of this lice too?

 

[dawg53]

Dust them with sevin dust, that will kill the lice. Dust their house, roosts everything. Then in 10 days repeat dusting everything including the chicks. The next time you get new chicks/chickens, think biosecurity and keep the newbie(s) seperated for 30 days away from the others. You wouldve seen the fuzz/feather loss due to the chick plucking the fuzz/feathers giving you an indication something was wrong and couldve nipped this in the bud prior to integrating it with the others. Let this be a lesson learned...you got off easy this time.

 

[my4ladies]

Quote:
Ugh...I did think that, intuitively, like it was contaminated coming from a stranger. I called my mom, who has a mini-farm, and she said just put it in with the others. So that's what I did. I did look it over (not knowing exactly what I was looking for) but nothing really jumped out at me (figuratively speaking).

The silkie was about 3/4 wks old when I bought it and I did notice the feathers were kinda funky, but it didn't look any different to me than when their fuzz starts being replaced by adult feathers. However, I've only seen this with other breeds, so maybe silkie's look different?

It's probably got mites too

Yes, lesson learned. But I got off easy this time?

And I read that the Sevin dust isn't good for chickens, let alone chicks. Have you used it on your chicks?

Thank you for reading and answering

 

[dawg53]

I've always used sevin dust on vegetables in my garden, my dogs, and my chickens for many years....we're still here with no problems. Yes, you got off easy with just lice. What if a dreadful disease couldve been introduced just waiting for the incubation period to occur and wipe out all your chickens? Read some of the horror stories in this forum of whole flocks (50-100+) getting wiped out because one chicken wasnt quarantined for at least 30 days. It's not worth the risk of adding a new chicken to an existing flock, quarantine/seperation is best. I hope this helps and good luck.

 

[my4ladies]

I see. Let's hope that doesn't happen either. Thank you for the advice.