Poultry lice or mites issues, need help...

[tezolt]

I noticed my rooster wanting to sleep on the coop floor rather than roosting. At the same time, a new hen that I was given seemed to acquire a bright red area under her vent. She also started having a very messy vent. My other hens seem to be getting a little more messy around their vents more than normal as well but no red/inflamed skin. After looking over the rooster one day, I noticed lice around his tail feathers right away. I bought 2 bags of diatomaceous earth, dusted the whole run and coop. The chickens were also dusted. Later that night I checked the rooster and he had lice crawling on his waddles so I bathed him and put poultry dust on them with permethrin powder. Over two weeks later I don't see any lice when I check every night. The rooster still will not roost on his own. His skin is so inflamed without any improvement. Some spots look raised and dry, other areas the redness and irritation looks very deep. It almost looks like a severe case of wind and sun burn combined around his neck, vent, belly, and ankles. The one hen still has a red area under her vent. Other hens seem fine. How long will this skin issue last or if all the lice were eradicated should his skin look better? Should I be able to see mites when I check at night? I tend to be very observant but I don't know if I am missing something here... I'm tempted to treat with injectable ivermectin, however I just dewormed them a few months ago with valbazen just as an annual precaution.

Lesson learned here is that I will never build another chicken coop under a huge pine tree that all the local wild birds use for winter lodging....

 

[Eggcessive]

My guess is that the new hen probably had lice and spread them to your birds. Lice hatch out every 10 days, so the chickens have to be dusted at least twice, and again if you keep seeing nits on their feathers. The coop also has to be cleaned out, and treated. They can take awhile to get rid of completely. Permethrin is good to use and comes in dust and a 10% spray.

 

[tezolt]

I did not know about the spray. I dusted the coop, but I will try to find the spray to treat the cracks and crevices of the coop this weekend. Thank you for the advice.