Topic of the Week - Lice and Mites - Prevention and Treatments

[-Flash-]

@Folly's place, you know about this sorta stuff... (Don't you....?)
Thanks!
Flash,

(Sorry if I'm being pushy. I just can't get the pertimane stuff.)

 

[Folly's place]

Not that this hen wants to soak in water! And the lice or mites will move up to her head; soaking her head for ten minutes would work for the lice, and then she won't care any more...
And at fifteen minutes per bird, how many hours will you spend doing a flock of any size? And what about the lice on their heads?
When a few seconds spritzing each bird with permethrin spray works better.
Mary

 

[casportpony]

Can you drown lice?

And would this work?
This are the instructions from the link: https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2017/10/controlling-poultry-mites-with-herbs-in.html

• Mix 2 cups of salt into 2 gallons of warm water.
• Soak the hen for 10 minutes, then soak her for five minutes in a tub of 2 gallons of warm water with 1/2 cup of Dawn dishwashing liquid and 1/2 cup of white vinegar mixed in.
• The lice should drown and float to the top.
• Rinse her well and dry her thoroughly.

(Or rooster)

When you bathe a bird it is very easy for them to become hypothermic (too cold), which could kill them, especially if they are infested with lice, and that's because birds that are infested with lice are usually sickly. Bathing sickly birds often results in death.

@Folly's place, you know about this sorta stuff... (Don't you....?)
Thanks!
Flash,

(Sorry if I'm being pushy. I just can't get the pertimane stuff.)

Why can't you get it?

 

[Folly's place]

Is the OP in Nova Scotia? Different products are available up there.
Mary

 

[-Flash-]

Here in Australia permethrin is like $40. (Plus I live in the middle of nowhere, and postage.... is dear...)
I'm willing to spend lots of time of this. Would the salt, vinegar and dishwashing liquid hurt the bird? I know it will take about 5 hours, to do the whole flock, but I'll just do it a few birds a day. I'll have to do the treatment multiple times, I know. And about the hypothermia, the weather here is stinking hot. Like 32 degrees Celsius and half the birds are standing in their water anyway.
Thanks,

 

[-Flash-]

It worked!!!!It really worked! I just used warm water and sat the chicken in it for 10 minutes and bam! Dead lice all over the bottom of the bucket!

 

[-Flash-]

This is great for mites on the chickens!

10 ounces of water
1 ounce of garlic juice (you can find it here)
1 teaspoon (total) any combination of these essential oils - bay, clove, coriander, lavender, spearmint and/or thyme

Just mix it all together, spray on hen (or rooster)

It works I tried it, the chickens fine, the mites are not...

 

[lnpranch]

I provide a dust bathing tray with a mixture of sand and ashes. If I've seen lice on one of the hens, I also add poultry dust (with pyrethrin).
For bad infestations, I treat the flock with ivermectin (applied directly to the skin at the back of their neck). I have read that ivermectin won't work for lice (or maybe it was mites?) but mine disappeared. Perhaps the dust bath got it under control.
I have not had to deal with northern red fowl mites, which I hear are more difficult to eliminate.

What do you use for your dust bath tray?

 

[lnpranch]

If you live in the US you can get permethrin spray or dust to use on your birds and in their coop. Ivermectin de-wormer also works, but you still need to treat the coops.

Carbaryl (Sevin) is no longer approved for use in poultry, and mites are showing resistance to it.

Spinosad could also be used, but it's very expensive.

You best bet would be to go to Tractor Supply and get some permethrin spray (Gordan's).

-Kathy

How do you use the Ivermectin de-wormer is it the one we use for our horses?

 

[casportpony]

You can use the cattle stuff or the horse paste. I'll look up the doses for you later.