Poultry lice on face/hiding somewhere on the head?

[stepheuniie]

Hello everyone!

My hen has been unable to walk for 1 month, probably due to an injury (I'm hoping it's not Marek), so we are keeping her in the house. In the last week, I saw lice on her so I used some DE and gave her a bath with dish soap and salt right away - we really don't want lice on her or in the house! I saw a couple on her face and around her eye, so I also put some olive oil in her ears and diluted Vet RX on her face and comb after reading about it on here. I saw maybe 3-4 lice on her face since then, which I took with a q-tip and killed. But in the last few days, she started twitching and shaking her neck a lot. I also saw some little black dots on her comb, which are probably lice bites? She seems REALLY uncomfortable and stopped eating yesterday (though she's drinking ok). It looks like she's trying to scratch herself but because of her leg injury, she can't reach her face. She can't move a lot so she can't really do anything to help herself, poor little thing.

Is it possible that the lice are hidden somewhere that I can't see, other than her ears? As they seem to be around her face, it not easy to use DE powder or soapy water, do you have any tricks for dealing with lice in this area? Also, because of her injured legs, I've been giving her some extra vitamins (vitamin mix + B2 + E). A lot of the watery mix falls on her chest when she drinks, could it encourage lice to proliferate on her? Or maybe the heating of the house doesn't help?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hello everyone!

My hen has been unable to walk for 1 month, probably due to an injury (I'm hoping it's not Marek), so we are keeping her in the house. In the last week, I saw lice on her so I used some DE and gave her a bath with dish soap and salt right away - we really don't want lice on her or in the house! I saw a couple on her face and around her eye, so I also put some olive oil in her ears and diluted Vet RX on her face and comb after reading about it on here. I saw maybe 3-4 lice on her face since then, which I took with a q-tip and killed. But in the last few days, she started twitching and shaking her neck a lot. I also saw some little black dots on her comb, which are probably lice bites? She seems REALLY uncomfortable and stopped eating yesterday (though she's drinking ok). It looks like she's trying to scratch herself but because of her leg injury, she can't reach her face. She can't move a lot so she can't really do anything to help herself, poor little thing.

Is it possible that the lice are hidden somewhere that I can't see, other than her ears? As they seem to be around her face, it not easy to use DE powder or soapy water, do you have any tricks for dealing with lice in this area? Also, because of her injured legs, I've been giving her some extra vitamins (vitamin mix + B2 + E). A lot of the watery mix falls on her chest when she drinks, could it encourage lice to proliferate on her? Or maybe the heating of the house doesn't help?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help

I have never had lice on my chickens so i cant help much, but a picture would help. I can also say good areas to check for lice on chickens are near the preen gland under the feathering, around the vent, the face (as you saw) and legs. So it could be useful to look there. Hope she gets better soon!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Tractor Supply carries Permethrin based poultry dust and spray. Dusting her may work better, but I would take her outside while you dust so it's not spread all over the house.
Put some of the dust in an old sock or hosiery. Tap the sock onto her feathers releasing the dust and work it into the feathers to the skin.
Where she is staying, in a cage or box, you need to clean that out too and treat it. You can use the dust or a spray. Spray may be better for housing/box. You can get spray premixed or in a concentrate you mix yourself.

 

[stepheuniie]

Tractor Supply carries Permethrin based poultry dust and spray. Dusting her may work better, but I would take her outside while you dust so it's not spread all over the house.
Put some of the dust in an old sock or hosiery. Tap the sock onto her feathers releasing the dust and work it into the feathers to the skin.
Where she is staying, in a cage or box, you need to clean that out too and treat it. You can use the dust or a spray. Spray may be better for housing/box. You can get spray premixed or in a concentrate you mix yourself.




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Thanks for your suggestion! We can't find these products without a permit in Québec, so I've tried another salt bath. Hopefully that will resolve the issue, if that's really caused by lice.