Poultry Lice and Mites

[WVduckchick]

I did mean that, I think the swelling is pus.

It's kinda firm. Not solid rock hard, but not squishy either. Should i try to squish it out?

(Ravyn, don't even.... Lol!)

 

[Ravynscroft]

 

[casportpony]

It's kinda firm. Not solid rock hard, but not squishy either. Should i try to squish it out?

(Ravyn, don't even.... Lol!)

I would try to squeeze it out and find the opening to his ear.

 

[Ravynscroft]

I would try to squeeze it out and find the opening to his ear.

Would a warm, wet compress beforehand help?

 

[casportpony]

Might help, but I'm too lazy, so I usually just go for it.

 

[JeanR]

You are wasting your spray/dust if you fluff it on the feathers. These critters are feeding by sucking blood, and mainly around the unfeathered area vent and maybe around the oil gland at the tail connection. Only in very bad infestation will they be under the wings or top of the head and neck. You must kill them by contact with them. This takes little spray or dust on those mites or lice. Lice are often killed with one dusting--spray (not to soak the area, just hit the lice (that will crawl into the feathered area around the bare skin, so you need to work fast) with the least spray you can get on their skin. Mites are most often sucking blood and do not let go so quickly, so you have a chance to hit them--that will kill any that are sprayed or dusted. Yes, at night or dusk, it is easiest to handle them from their roosts--a helper with flashlight is good. The critters do not move away as fast when in the dark. Mites are so small, some will crawl out of sight, so after 2 days, must be repeated--and a check in another 2-3 days will likely take care of them. Then, daytime, spray/dust the roosts, roost shelf, wall at the ends of the roosts. They will move to new areas in unbelievable time! But they can be controlled without much trouble. Oh,and if you have setting hens, mites love the warmth to explode in the nest. Check eggs every few days--mites will be speckles on setting eggs and maybe blood spots on the eggs from biting the belly of the setting hen! Take the hen out and spray or dust her belly--and vent and oil gland area. Spray her nest (straw or bedding with eggs removed carefully. They can be gently rolled when put back in the nest, but not covered with spray or dust. Eggs are porous and you do not want to allow the stuff to get in the eggs and harm the embryos! It is one of the tasks that we must do for our chickens health and comfort! Good luck!!!

 

[casportpony]

Only in very bad infestation will they be under the wings or top of the head and neck.

There are many types of lice. Some live by the vent, but other species live under the wings, on the head and neck, on the legs, etc:

Figure 1. Chicken lice (not to scale) collected in survey of backyard poultry in California. (A) Chicken body louse, Menacanthus stramineus; (B) Menacanthus cornutus; (C) Shaft louse, Menopon gallinae; (D) Fluff louse, Goniocotes gallinae; (E) Wing louse, Lipeurus caponis; and (F) Chicken head louse, Cuclotogaster heterographus. Image by A. Murillo, UC Riverside
http://veterinaryentomology.ucr.edu/chickenlice.html

Main species of lice on domestic birds

Cuclotogaster heterographa, the head louse, is about 2.5 mm long and is found mainly on the head and the neck of birds. It prefers to stay close to the skin or at the base of the feathers. It does not suck blood, but feeds on skin and feather debris. It is more frequent on young birds and turkeys. Heavy infested birds may even die before maturity.

Eomenacanthus stramineus (= Menacanthus stramineus), the chicken body louse is the most common species on domestic birds, and probably the most damaging one. It is rather large (2.5 to 3.5 mm long) and of a brownish color. It feeds mainly on feather debris, but is capable of sucking blood. It lives mostly on the skin of birds, seldom on the feathers, and prefers body parts with few feathers, e.g. around the vent, although in case of heavy infestations it may be found also on the head, under the wings and on the chest. The eggs are laid in clusters on the feathers or directly on the kin.

Goniocotes gallinae, the fluff louse, is one of the smallest lice of poultry, only 0.8 to 1.5 mm long. It is found all over the birds' body, but less densely on the head and the wings, on the fluff or base of the feathers. It also feeds mainly on feather debris.

Lipeurus caponis, the wing louse, is 2.0 to 2.5 mm long, and has a grayish color. It is found mainly in the inner part of wing, tail and head feathers. It only feeds on parts of the feathers, but so intensively, that is also called the depluming louse.

Menopon gallinae, the shaft louse, is rather small (1.5 to 2.0 mm long). It feeds mainly on skin and feather debris, but may also suck blood from the wounds it produces. It prefers the chest, the shoulders and the back of birds. Eggs are whitish and are laid often in clusters at the base of the feathers.

Columbicola columbae, the slender pigeon louse, is 2.0 to 2.8 mm long. It can be found all over the body, especially at the inner side of the wing feathers. It feeds on feather debris. Eggs are laid preferentially are the small feathers under the wings.

 

[gardenKate]

@gardenKate hope you don't mind me piggy-backing on your thread? I can start a new one if you prefer, no problem. Don't feel bad to tell me to go away.

Not a problem at all! Hope you have success treating the lice and the ear. Looks sore!!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

You are wasting your spray/dust if you fluff it on the feathers. These critters are feeding by sucking blood, and mainly around the unfeathered area vent and maybe around the oil gland at the tail connection. Only in very bad infestation will they be under the wings or top of the head and neck. You must kill them by contact with them. This takes little spray or dust on those mites or lice. Lice are often killed with one dusting--spray (not to soak the area, just hit the lice (that will crawl into the feathered area around the bare skin, so you need to work fast) with the least spray you can get on their skin. Mites are most often sucking blood and do not let go so quickly, so you have a chance to hit them--that will kill any that are sprayed or dusted. Yes, at night or dusk, it is easiest to handle them from their roosts--a helper with flashlight is good. The critters do not move away as fast when in the dark. Mites are so small, some will crawl out of sight, so after 2 days, must be repeated--and a check in another 2-3 days will likely take care of them. Then, daytime, spray/dust the roosts, roost shelf, wall at the ends of the roosts. They will move to new areas in unbelievable time! But they can be controlled without much trouble. Oh,and if you have setting hens, mites love the warmth to explode in the nest. Check eggs every few days--mites will be speckles on setting eggs and maybe blood spots on the eggs from biting the belly of the setting hen! Take the hen out and spray or dust her belly--and vent and oil gland area. Spray her nest (straw or bedding with eggs removed carefully. They can be gently rolled when put back in the nest, but not covered with spray or dust. Eggs are porous and you do not want to allow the stuff to get in the eggs and harm the embryos! It is one of the tasks that we must do for our chickens health and comfort! Good luck!!!

2 Days? Most of the info I have read says to reapply after 7-10 days to get the hatching eggs? If you dusted every 2 Days, you wouldn’t get the eggs that hatch - especially if you only dusted twice? Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post?

 

[JeanR]

A good spray or dust will kill the eggs. Of course, you must check your birds regularly. In more than 30 years, I have only had lice on my birds twice. First kill was so easy, kind of colorless lice. The 2nd time, the lice were colored. A Grizzly bear broke into the end pen of one house, took out 9 birds --maybe one at a time, as every one was eaten outside the house, leaving just one leg of each and tip of one wing of each--spread wide enough that each could be seen separately (and I could identify each--very sad!!) Not long after this breakin, those colored lice appeared on birds in that same house--pens not broken into. Fish, Wildlife, Bear man, collected Griz hair, set trap, caught a Black Bear, but no other visit by the Grizzly. The pen had some cages with birds, NPIP tested. ready to go to Canada, trashed and birds taken out. This was in October that year--and first time EVER Grizzlies had been in the valley. Lice were killed easily, but only treated the birds that had them. Lice do not travel about the houses as fast as the mites. Only one experience with Red Mites that came with some Silkies shipped to me--must have been crated the night before shipping, or they would have been left behind. Had never seen them, and lost a Silkie hen that was setting before learning about them. THEN found them in small red collections on the wall above her nest box. Smeared them with my fingers. Short time, no more red circles (size of quarters) and no more red mites. Just lucky that they had not spread to other birds!!! Different parts of the country have different lice and mites--not the whole list that are pictured. Indeed you may have to treat differently, we learn by experience. And for nearly 2 years, my birds have had NO MITES. Sometimes in years past,the first time they appeared was on setting hens--took care of them and the hens and eggs and chicks! Products change. YEARS ago, we used Black Leaf 40 on the roosts--did the job, not available for a long time.