Poultry Lice?

[mosander]

Doesn''t matter where the lice came from and permethrin is awesome. DO follow specific dilution directions. Planning to do legs only, I got the bottom 1/2 of some of my chickens wet. Looked around on one easter egger was on her back waving her feet in the air. I grabbed her and washed off the permethrin which was apparently too much for her. Only one hen with a problem and she recovered nicely without incident. But it is great stuff and you can spray all the crevices and nest boxes (in the afternoon they have quit laying and the next boxes will be dry by morning).

 

[aart]

Planning to do legs only, I got the bottom 1/2 of some of my chickens wet. Looked around on one easter egger was on her back waving her feet in the air. I grabbed her and washed off the permethrin which was apparently too much for her.

This is confusing @mosander .
If your birds had lice, why would you only do the legs?
Did you use a 10% formulation with no dilution?

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Thank you both for your suggestions- I will further look into the product. My only concern is that Permethrin is considered a natural insecticide derived from Chrysanthemums. I do like the idea of hearing "natural" when speaking about plant-based medication, but the product is synthetic so I don't necessarily think it's correct.

I intend to search around, though, and put the idea to thought. Thanks again for the help.

Pyrethrin is the natural insecticide made from mums. Permethrin is a synthetic analog (similar molecule but not "natural"). Permethrin is longer-acting.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the others. I have had a severe infestation in the past and tried everything. Permethrin worked. My birds were in pitiful shape I thought there was a chance I could loose some (they were molting at the time but upon further inspection found they were infested) but they rebounded and now they are beautiful again. It started in one coop and progressed to another coop so I treated all of the coops. Also there is no egg withdrawal period.

 

[ev-chicka]

Pyrethrin will work, although it doesn't last as long, so might need to be repeated more often as permethrin spray or powder.
Also it might be harder to locate.
Birds will die with lice or mites! Get them and your coop treated ASAP!
Mary

This has been very helpful. I discovered lice this week and have been very discouraged and about to give up on chickens (also struggling with sour crop and respiratory so it feels like I have 10 newborns with all the time and energy they’re taking!). I have cleaned the coop as best I could and sprayed with pyrethrin but was worried that wasn’t enough. I also treated the birds with ivermectin.

So with my pyrethrin spray should I be spraying everything down every few days? Over the course of a few weeks? And then how often as preventative? How liberally are you spraying? Thank you!

 

[Folly's place]

Follow the directions on the pyrethrin container, or every two weeks.
ivermectin will do a good job on many parasites, and have some residual in the egg yolks, which is why it's not approved for use in chickens in the USA. I wouldn't eat their eggs for at least a week, and throw them out, and then decide who will be eating them after that time. An individual who's really allergic to it could have a problem, although that's likely pretty rare.
Mary