Poultry lice

[Homesteadermomma6382]

Discovered last week that my flock has a rather nasty infestation of lice. We set up de and permethryn baths. Put de in the area where they normally dust bath. Treated the birds, coop, and nesting boxes with the permethryn. The lice are still alive!! What else can I do?

 

[Briosafarm]

Sadly, DE does nothing except endanger your lungs (and those of your chickens.) Permethrin can work, but what's really effective is spinosad (Elector PSP.) It's one of the only treatments you only need to do once, as it also kills the eggs. People complain because it's pricey, but effective and "once and done" is worth it in my book!

 

[dawg53]

Discovered last week that my flock has a rather nasty infestation of lice. We set up de and permethryn baths. Put de in the area where they normally dust bath. Treated the birds, coop, and nesting boxes with the permethryn. The lice are still alive!! What else can I do?

Did you actually clean out the coop and nest boxes and dispose of all bedding by burning it or hauling it far away from the coop?
Then spray the coop with 10% liquid Permethrin concentrate and let it dry. Mixing instructions are taped to the container. The liquid concentrate has a 28 day residual effect.

As far as your chickens go, you can spray them as well. I prefer to dust them with permethrin dust.
Add a bunch of Permethrin powder in a paper grocery bag and put the chicken in the bag with its head sticking out the top, enclose the bag around the chickens neck with one hand and then roll the chicken around in the bag with your other hand. Shake and Bake. Then put some Permethrin dust on your fingers and gently work it on in her fluff and feathers on her neck and head, avoid the eyes. Then release her. She'll shake herself off and go about her business.

You can also use Permethrin dust to dust the inside of the coop rather than using the liquid concentrate.
Put a big pile of Permethrin dust at the entrance to the inside of the coop. Ensure all vents are closed, use old towels to cover them if you have to. Ensure feeders and waterers are away from the coop and no birds inside the coop.
Then get your leaf blower and turn it on and hit the pile of Permethrin powder full blast.
A dust cloud will fill the inside of the coop and the powder will get in every crack and crevice where external parasites hide.
It'll take a few hours for the dust to settle. Then open up your coop/vents and add fresh bedding as needed. Then sprinkle a little Permethrin dust on the bedding and pat it down with your hand. Done.
If you do any of this including dusting your chickens; wear chicken clothes, shoes and mask, and safety glasses if you wish.

 

[Homesteadermomma6382]

Did you actually clean out the coop and nest boxes and dispose of all bedding by burning it or hauling it far away from the coop?
Then spray the coop with 10% liquid Permethrin concentrate and let it dry. Mixing instructions are taped to the container. The liquid concentrate has a 28 day residual effect.

As far as your chickens go, you can spray them as well. I prefer to dust them with permethrin dust.
Add a bunch of Permethrin powder in a paper grocery bag and put the chicken in the bag with its head sticking out the top, enclose the bag around the chickens neck with one hand and then roll the chicken around in the bag with your other hand. Shake and Bake. Then put some Permethrin dust on your fingers and gently work it on in her fluff and feathers on her neck and head, avoid the eyes. Then release her. She'll shake herself off and go about her business.

You can also use Permethrin dust to dust the inside of the coop rather than using the liquid concentrate.
Put a big pile of Permethrin dust at the entrance to the inside of the coop. Ensure all vents are closed, use old towels to cover them if you have to. Ensure feeders and waterers are away from the coop and no birds inside the coop.
Then get your leaf blower and turn it on and hit the pile of Permethrin powder full blast.
A dust cloud will fill the inside of the coop and the powder will get in every crack and crevice where external parasites hide.
It'll take a few hours for the dust to settle. Then open up your coop/vents and add fresh bedding as needed. Then sprinkle a little Permethrin dust on the bedding and pat it down with your hand. Done.
If you do any of this including dusting your chickens; wear chicken clothes, shoes and mask, and safety glasses if you wish.

We did all of that. We cleaned out the coop and nesting boxes. Sprayed them with the liquid promethrin. Then after we put down fresh bedding we sprinkled the he'll out if it with the Prometheus powder. We also treated all the birds with the liquid first then when that didnt work we tried the powder. Today we got ivermectin for them, so we are crossing our fingers that it works. We have a flock of 100+ birds so we have been busting our butts for a week now treating everyone.

 

[Banana01]

What sort of organic materials are in the coop walls or flooring? What is the new bedding material you used? A week isn't a long time for insect infestations, may take longer and repeated cleanings. Any health issues with the birds or are you just visually seeing the lice?

 

[Homesteadermomma6382]

What sort of organic materials are in the coop walls or flooring? What is the new bedding material you used? A week isn't a long time for insect infestations, may take longer and repeated cleanings. Any health issues with the birds or are you just visually seeing the lice?

We visually saw the lice. We use all natural pine shavings in the coop. We emptied it burned the shaving sprayed with promethryn and then powdered the fresh shavings with promethryn powder. Did the same in all the nesting boxes. We saw no improvement in 2 weeks. We gave each burd a very small amt of ivermectin last Friday. Amazing results. Not only were the bugs pretty much gone but they all have a ton of new feather growth. Everyone got a second dose yesterday to treat any new hatches. We also recleaned the coop and used promethryn powder last Friday and yesterday to prevent any new nasties from taking up residence.