Ticks (disgusting!) 🤢

[hidezchick]

Hello chicken friends!

Last night I checked on the chicks before I went to bed I saw a small bug on one of my chickens foot. I killed it and determined that it was an adult poultry lice. I check on them every night as they are roosting and inspect under their wings weekly. I have never seen one of these before.

I barely slept last night and this morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and went on a cleaning rampage inside the coop and run. I found one more adult tick in the little space where the roost bar sits but no other signs of an infestation. I took all the roost bars out and power washed everything inside. The coop I have is brand new, we just put it in 6 weeks ago. I'm hoping I caught it before it got out of hand and there are no more ticks hiding in there. On my way to to tractor supply now to get some Permethrin spray.

Anyone have any experience/tips on this topic? If I had an infestation would it be obvious?

I saw a whole post on here about caulking cracks and spraying orange guard. I wonder if I need to get on that level.

 

[azygous]

Go for the caulking. But first, spray deep into the cracks with the orange oil, and add thyme oil to it for maximum effectiveness.

It's important not to let the chickens into the coop until the oils completely dry as it can be a little toxic in its wet state.