simple lice remedy? flour?

[Lea71]

Speaking of DE....I've been mixing it with dirt and providing it as a dust bath.....they love it! I have a question though....can I put just DE in their dust bath box or should I continue mixing it with dirt? My chicks are 4 wks old....I love it when they dust bathe, they hop out looking like little white ghosts.

Thanks......

 

[MissPrissy]

Keep the sand in there. They also use the sand as grit.

I have seen grown hens fill their feathers so full of cool sand they stagger under the weight when they get up. LOL

 

[Lea71]

Thanks.....they do peck out the little pebbles, so ingesting some DE is probably good for their gut. It's pretty funny when they hop out of the dust box, they shake off and then strut around....then one of the other girls hop in the box.

 

[Littlecimarron18]

so.................... home depot only had the spray.... I ended up driving around town till i found some. = ). now i just gotta wait till they start roosting. then the fun begins

 

[ams3651]

maybe a dumb question, but in the interest of adding to my chicken knowledge.....the Sevin dust, is that the same as you use in the garden or is it something different?

 

[Katy]

Same thing that you use in the garden.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Your coop may prove difficult to treat with only the dust.

Here is a very good article (not poultry specific) on INERT DUSTS (ash DE etc) and their efficacy in dealing with mites etc.
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/grsc_subi/...ure_slides/GRSC651_lect_20(1)_Inert_Dusts.pdf

ETA: Sorry but I cant seem to be able to get the link to work (google INERT DUSTS and oznet.ksu.edu)

a small excerpt from this excellent article:
" ..1.6 Advantages and limitations
The advantages and limitations outlined below apply mostly to DE dusts that are now becoming commercially acceptable by the grain and food industry. Fields (2000) described some of the advantages and limitations in detail. Advantages Inert dusts have low mammalian toxicity (e.g., DE rat oral LD50, >5000 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (Subramanyam et al. 1994)). They are stable on the grain, and provide protection as long as the dusts remain dry. Unlike organophosphate grain protectants, they do not leave toxic residues. It was thought that insects may not be able to develop resistance to inert dusts (Ebeling 1971), although it now appears that such a development is likely (Korunic and Ormesher
2000)...
..........Inert dusts are ovicidal (El Halfawy et al. 1977), and such an action may be of value when they are applied as a surface treatment to empty storage facilities, warehouses, and mills. The hatchability of eggs of T. castaneum, O. surinamensis, the cadelle, Tenebroides mauritanicus (L.), R. dominica, and C. chinensis was reduced when the eggs were exposed to Petri dishes lightly dusted with 0.5 grams of each of 12 inert dusts. The hatchability of untreated eggs ranged from 94-100%. Across all 5 species, about 35-85% of eggs exposed to diatomaceous earth hatched.
The hatchability of eggs exposed to kaolin clay was 20-52%. The exact mode by which hatchability is reduced following exposure to an inert dust is unclear. The reduced progeny production, to some extent, may be due to the eggs failing to hatch on inert dust-treated grain. ....... "

 

[LeslieReese]

New to the wonderful world of chix by 3 months. I want to make sure mine do not have lice, but how do you get them to check them over. I tried picking one up when they had gone into the chix house at night. All the squawking upset the rooster. I feel itchy after being around them but could just be my imagination. Have Orange Guard ordered to treat nest boxes and roosts. Thanks for any info.

 

[MissPrissy]

Lice is species specific. You can't get chicken lice.

Go out at night with a flashlight. Turn up butts. Rooster and all. Look for moving things deep in the feathers around the vent. The warm moist area is where they feed.