Technique for dusting chickens

[Oisian]

I use First Saturday Lime. It's like DE but it doesn't matter if it gets wet. DE has to be reapplied if it gets wet. I have a flour shaker and I just powder the girls up, then sprinkle a layer over all their bedding and the floor of the coop and run. I like the litter box idea, might use my old one to make a dust bath area for the Seramas. Currently I made a rectangle of cinder blocks in their coop and filled it with top soil and some of the FSL. They use it all the time.

 

[aart]

Does the dust go through the sock? It seem a bit hard to imagine that it would.

It might, depends on the sock.
..... but still remember, the permethrin needs to get on the skin of the bird in order to kill the lice.

 

[raingarden]

Does the dust go through the sock? It seem a bit hard to imagine that it would.

Old sock, new sock, red sock, blue sock. They all work. When you pat them it makes a cloud of powder. Much better than trying to throw powder up under their wings and having the powder clump and fall to the ground.

I can't believe nobody else does this. It has been standard practice when dusting any animal for generations

 

[Folly's place]

After that one miserable dusting experience, I dust nobody!
In winter, dust is safer, but not done by me.
Mary

 

[NatJ]

I'm in the process of treating for lice, using a pyrethrum and sulphur dust.
How do you go about dusting them?
It seems very hard getting it under the the feathers, in the moment I'm resting them on their sides, and parting a patch of feathers.
This means that it goes on in patches, so I'm not sure its getting on all the lice.

Have you tried holding a chicken upside down by the feet? They usually hang there with their feathers all fluffed up, so it would be easier to get the dust into the feathers & on the skin.

(If the chicken flaps & struggles while you are trying to hold it that way, just gently push it down again, and it should settle down pretty soon.)

 

[SpiritWolf]

What I did when I dusted for mites was I used a cat litter box with a lid, and dusted the birds generously inside the litter box, working it into the feathers best I could. So when I released them they'd shake right after, and the dust cloud of pesticide would redistribute itself on each bird inside the box.

I just toss the Diatomaceous Earth into their coop. Usually where they've started a dust bath in the dirt. And they take it from there. My Guineas were having a good time taking their bath. All 14 of them at once.. Whereas my chickens will take turns.

 

[Sussex19]

Have you tried holding a chicken upside down by the feet? They usually hang there with their feathers all fluffed up, so it would be easier to get the dust into the feathers & on the skin.

(If the chicken flaps & struggles while you are trying to hold it that way, just gently push it down again, and it should settle down pretty soon.)

I have tried, but the feathers still block the dust from reaching the skin.
I did some more recently, and ended up holding the hens upside down until they calm down, and then kneeling down and holding their legs between my knees.
This let me have my hands free for parting the feathers and dusting.
I'm still thinking of how to improve it, however!

 

[Clucktown]

I have tried, but the feathers still block the dust from reaching the skin.
I did some more recently, and ended up holding the hens upside down until they calm down, and then kneeling down and holding their legs between my knees.
This let me have my hands free for parting the feathers and dusting.
I'm still thinking of how to improve it, however!

It is difficult for chickens to breath when being held upside down.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Old sock, new sock, red sock, blue sock. They all work. When you pat them it makes a cloud of powder. Much better than trying to throw powder up under their wings and having the powder clump and fall to the ground.

I can't believe nobody else does this. It has been standard practice when dusting any animal for generations

makes sense to me. it’s the same concept as a resin bag used in baseball..or bowling.

 

[Sussex19]

It is difficult for chickens to breath when being held upside down.

I agree, it's only for a moment, and then they are quite comfortable looking on their side.