Red mite eggs coating feather shafts -need advice

[Poultry parent]

you can also give them a bath, wash them in a big bucket or sink, with very warm water, get the bird totally wet, and then get some soap and rub in in really good around where the most eggs are. when you rinse her make sure to get all the soap out or she will look scruffy, towel dry and you're done! it might take another bath or two but it does work. not practical if you have more than 5 birds though

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Folks I know swear by wood ash in their dust bath. The ash is supposed to smother the critters better than just regular dirt.

The active ingredadent in wood ashes is lye.
I rather deal with mites which are a spider than with lice which is an insect. As improbable as it sounds, Northern Fowl Mites give birth to live young. Wood ash is OK but it is a prophylactic treatment and will not usually "Cure" a preexisting case of either mites or lice, and especially not a Red Mite infestation. If your birds have a bad case, take heart, the start of the molt is not far off. Yanking the worst of the egg encrusted feathers out and burning them may pay dividends. A dip in either a Pyrethrin, (the natural version) or a Permethrin (the synthetic version) of this natural insecticide may be in order. Treat, dip, spray, or dust first and repeat once each week for 3 weeks then reexamine once each week for the next 30 days to be sure you have achieved CONTROL. Repeat every 90 to 180 days depending on need. Don't forget the wood ashes!
You can set up for and dip a hundred chickens while your looking for your hens' squeaky duck toys so that you can give them a bath.

 

[azygous]

Thanks for all the tips! I will be bathing, scrubbing, and dusting this weekend.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Quote:
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I know this is a couple of days old, but to help get the eggs (they look like qtips at the end of the feather shaft) you can help dissolve/smother them with some coconut oil. It would be time consuming

 

[18palm]

How do I put the coconut oil? Please explain

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How do I put the coconut oil? Please explain

You would have to apply coconut oil to each quill base by hand to help soften the nits, hence the time consuming comment.
As @chickengeorgeto suggests, for infestation, poultry dust (Pyrethrin /Permethrin) is your best option. If you have some quills at the tail that are very bothersome to your hen, then applying the oil may help (you will need to rub into the "qtip"), but you will still need to dust/dip birds and repeat in 7days to kill off anything that hatches out.

 

[18palm]

Thank you very much. I will do that

 

[Leahs Mom]

@azygous

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