Please help with questions regarding lice & housing. I feel so awful.

[aart]

DO NOT BATHE IN DAWN!!!

Ummmm...that's what they use on wild birds covered in oil spills.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

I use Dawn every time I bathe a chicken. I've seen zero harm come from it. Like Aart said with the oil, including ducklings.

 

[Kimberjo2]

It's been on and off cold and rainy where I am and because of some chronic pain issues I can't spend much time outside in the winter. I have been totally cleaning out my bantam coop as often as I can. It's a prefab coop with some reinforcements and not very big. There are four d'Anvers in it. I keep wood shavings in the coop and mulch in the run. Food and water are kept in the run. I bought this coop used two years ago.

My girls were healthy before winter and now they are covered in lice. I brought them home late fall and I'm wondering if the lice came home from 1-2 of the birds. The birds are acting ok but I want to treat them asap. I have bought a 1/2 gallon sprayer and permethrin 10 based off of another post on this forum I found on google. My plan is to bathe all four birds in Dawn to complete rid them of lice, completely pull out everything in the coop, and spray the birds/drench the coop in permethrin. I have a few questions I am really hoping to get help with.

1.) Will treating my birds and spraying down the coop be enough? Do I need to buy a new coop? I will if need be. I am already planning an upgrade but finding a reliable person to construct one is proving difficult.

2.) d'Anvers are a bearded breed. My poor girls have nits crusting their beard feathers. Do I pull out these feathers? Their little faces would be naked. I was told to try white vinegar to break them apart. Are there other options? Is pulling these feather best?

3.) Is there a better bedding I should be using?

Thank you...no need to scold me for not doing more thorough checks as I can't feel worse than I already do

Diatomaceous! Kid you not. I'm so against pesticides and we have been using Diatomaceous inside the hen house and IN the food for 10 yrs. now and have never had any lice problems. So, after you bathe them.... Thoroughly clean out and scrub your hen house if possible at this time year, or just go ahead and start dusting it with the Diatomaceous now and clean later when it warms up. The Diatomaceous will kill off the lice as long as it stays dry. When I say dusting I mean EVERYTHING they come in contact with down to the corners of the house. they will dust themselves as they move about. Do this every time you clean out the floor and put about a 1/2 C in their pellets if you have a 2 gallon feeder if not back down to 1/4 C for smaller feeder and mix up well.
Read up on it, and I get it by the #50 bags through Azure.com if they are in your area or go to your local feed store. Hope this works for you girl!

 

[cmom]

I have had birds for a long time and last year was the first time I ever had a mite problem. I bought a 50# bag of food grade DE and after a couple of weeks using it the birds were still infested so then I used permethrin spray and dust. After a couple of weeks using it, I noticed no mites. I continued treating for a couple of more weeks and no mites. Permethrin is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium and C. coccineum). Pyrethroids constitute the majority of commercial household insecticides. In the concentrations used in such products, they may also have insect repellent properties and are generally harmless to humans. There are insect repellent sprays made to repel flies, mosquitoes, gnats, etc., to spray on clothing made with permethrin, pyrethrins.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pyrethrins&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have had birds for a long time and last year was the first time I ever had a mite problem. I bought a 50# bag of food grade DE and after a couple of weeks using it the birds were still infested so then I used permethrin spray and dust. After a couple of weeks using it, I noticed no mites. I continued treating for a couple of more weeks and no mites. Permethrin is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium and C. coccineum). Pyrethroids constitute the majority of commercial household insecticides. In the concentrations used in such products, they may also have insect repellent properties and are generally harmless to humans. There are insect repellent sprays made to repel flies, mosquitoes, gnats, etc., to spray on clothing made with permethrin, pyrethrins.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pyrethrins&ref=nb_sb_noss

This is the same stuff that is used to make clothing tick repellent. So it has to work!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

To clarify: PERMETHRIN is used to make clothing tick repellent.

 

[UluLaté]

Hi Bantamgirl,

I had a similar problem at a point. I filled a hundred gallon galvanized water tank with the appropriate ratio of permethrin and literally dunked each bird. I added more permethrin to make the ratio appropriate for dogs and goats and gave each a dip in the delousing tank. Then I filled up biuckets and used the remainder to douse the barn, including laying boxes, walls, you name it. It is best to clear out all debris and hay and wood chips first so that you are treating the structure, floor, etc. I allowed everything to dry and air out while animals were drying off. Then I laid out fresh bedding and put everyone back in the barn at the end of the day. Worked like a charm. All creepy crawlers were immediately gone and I never had another problem.....until we got a new rooster. I had kept him separate, luckily, in a small dog kennel for three days before introducing him to the flock. I checked him as I was about to put him in with the girls and he was teaming with the little critters. I prepared the appropriate dilution in a 5 gallon bucket and dunked him. The remainder was used on the small dog kennel. When he had dried off, he was put in the coop with the girls. Haven’t seen any since.

I’ve sprayed other bugs with the spray. It’s very effective stuff. So while I used it liberally (per the instructions), when I had a problem, I would think it a good policy to use it only when absolutely necessary. I don’t allow my children to be around or help when I use permethrin.

Best of luck!

I just want to add, after reading Sea Wolf’s comment...

They do remcommend permethrin treated clothing when hiking and camping in areas of tick borne illness. Research I’ve read said that they had no tick bite data to report because no ticks were ever found on people who wore clothes treated with permethrin. That’s good enough for me! Is there toxicity potential? I’m sure there must be....but Id rather have a little exposure briefly than tick fever or lymes disease.

 

[leslielbk]

You reminded me I do that too! when I had an infestation a couple of years ago I sprayed myself down with that Pyranha that I mentioned earlier. I smelled minty LOL I wear muck boots and I sprayed them down to and because I didn't want those little buggers anywhere on me I duct-taped my boots to my pants with a sticky side out. I wouldn't have been so thorough if I hadn't seen them on my boots and pictured them wandering onto my skin. Yeah, I know they don't set up house on people but I didn't really know that at the time.
Lastly, and then I'll shut up about the Pyranha, when I've needed to I've used it on me. As a bug spray. The ingredients don't freak me out like they do on people bug spray.