please help. chickens have lice

[kitten0101]

Ok so I feel horrible and the biggest idiot. I bought 6 red sexlinks several weeks ago and didn't think of checking for bugs. I have many other chickens and im very diliget in keeping my coop spotless. I clean it every single day and do a full scrub down once a month. Anyway I bought these sexlinks and ive had them for several weeks now and theyhave nit been laying. Long story short one hen I found dead yesterday. I was puzzled and thought she died of maybe old age as I found no trauma to her at all. I went out this evening because something just told me to check their vents for signs of old age as I thought id been dooped. Well I just about fell over when I saw lice crawling around the vent. Its 11:30 pm and I ran to wal mart and got sevin dust and just finished dusting all 20 of my chickens. What I need to know is do I need to get any medicineor vaccine? Do they have internal parasites due to the lice? Everyone looks and acts extremely healthy but im very worried about internal stuff caused by lice. If I need medicine what do I get? Btw I dusted every single part except the head and I sprinkled the coop floor and I plan on repeating again in a month.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You did the right thing by treating your chickens for lice, and also the coop.

Repeat your dusting every 7 days to kill the hatching eggs (Actually this is true for mites but lice have a longer life cycle. This is still recomended, as it will prevent the lice from laying as many eggs in the interim). Many publications will say to retreat in 2 weeks, but I have read that 7 days is better, twice.

In other words, treat in 7 days, then in another 7 days. Otherwise more eggs will hatch out.

It is possible they have worms also, but unless you are seeing diarrhea, thin hens, lethargy, pale combs, etc. you might be ok for now. Chickens get worms if they are exposed to the soil, as earthworms carry worms to chickens. How often to worm is a judgement call. Some never worm their chickens and others like me worm twice a year (wet soil where I live).

Lice and mites can take a flock down, even kill them. There might be diseases they were exposed to of course, and it is always good to quarantine chickens for a month or so. Also, there are diseases that can cause asymptomatic carrier status and they might pass quarantine. I'd not worry too much right now...just watch and wait, and keep those treatments up! Just keep an eye out for other signs of illness.

Mites and lice don't cause other problems internally that you need to treat- just kill the bugs and treat the coop and you are good to go!

 

[kitten0101]

Bless you and thank you so much for your quick reply. Im worrying myself half to death. My other chickens (roos included) I found no sign of even one bug but treated everyone anyway. All of them show no sign of any sickness. They are bright eyed and always extremely happy. Ive never found one sign of any off looking poo. As I stated I clean every day and there are no signs of blood or anything. I will definitely treat again in 7days instead of a month. I just did an extensive cleaning so I guess I got to do it again tomorrow first thing. My roo got a little on his face I guess from flapping his wings as he was not a happy boy having that done to him. I wiped his face the best I could. Will a little on his face hurt him?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Bless you and thank you so much for your quick reply. Im worrying myself half to death. My other chickens (roos included) I found no sign of even one bug but treated everyone anyway. All of them show no sign of any sickness. They are bright eyed and always extremely happy. Ive never found one sign of any off looking poo. As I stated I clean every day and there are no signs of blood or anything. I will definitely treat again in 7days instead of a month. I just did an extensive cleaning so I guess I got to do it again tomorrow first thing. My roo got a little on his face I guess from flapping his wings as he was not a happy boy having that done to him. I wiped his face the best I could. Will a little on his face hurt him?

You are welcome!

I don't believe it will hurt him- I have accidently gotten dust on my chickens' faces and they were fine.

But if it is lice (not mites) make sure that you do a treatment at 2 weeks also. If you are only going to treat one more time you would be better to treat at 2 weeks!

For mites (which they might also have, you never know as you cannot always see them on the chicken) treatment at 7 days is important. If you treat only at 2 weeks and it was mites, you have to start over again with treatment, as the life cycle of mites is 4 to 7 days.

I hope this helps and wish you and your flock the best!

 

[kitten0101]

Thank you. Its definitely lice there a straw/white color. The hen that died must have died from anemia because I can findno reason for the death. I felt her butt for a ppossible impact egg but there was none. Not so much as a scratch on her. This evening when I saw the one hen with them there were a bunch crawling around her vent. Tomorrow im gonna scramble some eggs and put in the laying pellets to help with possible anemia. I also put a probiotic in there water and tomorrow im gonna put some electrolyte in their water and im gonna get some liquid garlic for the water to help rid of possible worms. Any thoughts on the garlic as ive read its a good natural dewormer?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Thank you. Its definitely lice there a straw/white color. The hen that died must have died from anemia because I can findno reason for the death. I felt her butt for a ppossible impact egg but there was none. Not so much as a scratch on her. This evening when I saw the one hen with them there were a bunch crawling around her vent. Tomorrow im gonna scramble some eggs and put in the laying pellets to help with possible anemia. I also put a probiotic in there water and tomorrow im gonna put some electrolyte in their water and im gonna get some liquid garlic for the water to help rid of possible worms. Any thoughts on the garlic as ive read its a good natural dewormer?

I haven't used garlic to deworm. Here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ts-is-not-coryza-or-crd-parasites-are-rampant

Pumpkin seeds are supposed to be a natural dewormer, but I don't know how effective they are. Chickens aren't wild about them as I used to feed them every day.
Here is information on chemical dewormers:
http://www.healthybirds.umd.edu/disease/deworming birds.pdf
There are no wormers approved for egglayers and thus if you deworm egglayers with medication it is off label. The only approved poultry (non egglayer) dewormer is Wazine, which only treats large roundworms. Other dewormers are off-label if used. Make sure to toss eggs if using wormers for a specified amount of time.

Some vets will do a fecal float test for worms for a small fee (false negatives are possible, even likely).

 

[kitten0101]

Sure am glad my little ones are in my house. I dont know what I would have done for them.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sure am glad my little ones are in my house. I dont know what I would have done for them.

I don't like dusting itty bitties either!