small white bugs on chicken-what are they?

[Saaniya]

White bugs ?
Strange can u click a photo and attach

 

[rebrascora]

Last week when we gave her a bath a few tiny white/flesh colored bugs crawled off of her and onto us

The white ones will be immature lice, the flesh coloured ones are adults.

 

[Lyranonamous]

How is your coop made? Will it dry out properly if you pressure wash the inside?

My personal opinion it would be better to clean out the coop, remove as much dust as you can (I usually shop vac mine or blow it out with air compressor hose), then treat the coop with either Permethrin or you mentioned the Elector PSP.
I suppose a lot depends on your location, where I live we are humid enough, so adding water to the inside of my coop would end of with mold/mildew - that in itself will cause problems.

that is a good point about the coop. It is large and has lots of windows so might dry out. But then again it might not and you're right-we'd have a whole new problem. Thanks fo pointing that out.

 

[Lyranonamous]

I would not bath the chickens in water if that is what you are intending. Either dust them with louse powder or spray them with permethrin spray. To be honest, your other chickens probably are already keeping the lice at bay by dustbathing themselves. That is the natural way, provising they have access to dry loose soil to dust bath in? You can add a little wood ash to their dust bathing area to improve it's performance but most healthy chickens can keep lice to a minimum. My personal view with parasites on outdoor animals is that you should aim to keep populations low but total eradication is probably not practical. Monitor, provide dustbathing facilities and treat if things get bad or you have a sick bird like this that can't keep herself right. It would be easier to just check over the other birds for lice than to bath them all or even dust them.

Thanks for responding.
I was intending to do a regular bath for all. Should that be avoided? They do have a large area to dust bathe, and often tear up the lawn too. Today we are adding ash and some lime. I'm super glad to hear that most healthy chickens keep lice at bay. That said, 4 out of the 10 have dirty butts this year-something I didn't see last year (just 1 or 2) Would this mean there is some kind of lice problem? I will check the other girls..

 

[Birdsong 82]

I don’t know that a regular bath would do much for lice on chickens. I don’t know that a regular bath would do much for lice on chickens. I don’t know that it would hurt at all but I don’t think there would be much benefit As far as cleaning out the coop I would never be able to pressure wash the inside of mine without ending up with mildew so definitely understand that concern. You can always wash it by hand and I’ve heard of people spring Neem oil In the corners and cracks and crevices

 

[rebrascora]

By "dirty butts" do you mean poop soiled/caked butts or just dark dirt around the base of the feather shafts. Lice lay their eggs in hard grey clusters around the base of the feather shafts, usually near the vent and under the wings.... the nice warm places! Sometimes dirt from dust bathing gets clogged in and around the egg clusters, but if you examine them closely, you should see the obvious grey clumps at the base of the feathers if they have lice. Poopy butt feathers are a whole different matter can are often associated with abdominal swelling which can be an indications of reproductive problems or other health issues. Keeping them clean of poop is important at this time of year to prevent flies laying their eggs in it and the maggots eating into the hen (fly strike). It is also a good idea to try to figure out why they are soiling themselves. Checking for abdominal swelling can be done when they go to roost at night by cupping your hand between their legs as they are standing on the roost. You are feeling for any bloat between their legs or swelling at the back below their vent. Comparing one to another is the best way to assess if there is anything unusual. It may just be the heat and drinking more that is causing them to soil themselves but in general it should not happen and I would be watching monitoring their laying behaviour, particularly if any have abdominal swelling. Diet can be the cause of this so keep carbohydrate treats to an absolute minimum..... best to cut out scratch and corn and don't feed them bread as these can all cause excessive fat to build up and possibly lead to serious health issues.

 

[Lyranonamous]

I want to thank everyone for their responses to both the EYP and the lice. After taking her to the vet and giving her the meds she has completely recovered. The only thing we did for the lice was to improve the dust area by digging the holes a little deeper and add some ash.