Treating poultry lice naturally

[inkydew]

I'm such a novice at this so would appreciate more detail. For the Neem (it's on its way), and the Dawn dishwashing liquid, do I fill a basin or sink 1/2 way? And then rinse it off?.

 

[inkydew]

Will use the Dawn only routine with Vaseline if the Neem doesn't work.
My biggest quandary is WHERE did they get lice? A passing coyote or raccoon?

 

[shortgrass]

Well if you want to bathe the chickens, dont put the Neem in the water, that's just for the roosts and soil surrounding the coop... I've never "bathed" a chicken lol, so that advuce I hope another member can help with

The Neem oil is easiest spread using a garden sprayer, the ones with the wand attached... A gallon one works perfect. 1 ounce per gallon, which I guess actually ends up close to 2 TBSP.. And a few drops of Dawn dishsoap (that's to help it stick to surfaces)... Then shake well and mist down the roosts, ground, nesting boxes, etc.... This is going to hurt some if the beneficials in a deep litter method, but they will bounce back in due time.

Don't spray so much that it runs off, just coat surfaces and let dry. You can move the chickens out while you're doing it, because it smells kinda funky, not chemical, but spicy onions maybe? Lol its a very distinct smell

That should get you a clean slate to work with; lice can almost "sniff out" a good meal...strays, wild animals, eggs in unclean soil.. It just so happens your environment favored their growth. More dust bathing areas should help. When the birds can keep themselves preened properly, and with the alkaline PH of wood ashes and razor sharp edges of DE in dust baths, it makes living in them unbearable to a louse, and that's the goal.... Make them miserable so they don't come back

Edit for spelling lol

Oh and duh lol, you'll probably want to give the coop a good purge, clean it out completely, then spray, get rid of the old eggy bedding

 

[North feather]

Thank you for this post- Our chickens (3) have lice. We gave them all a DAWN dishwash soap bath on Monday as suggested by another person on this site. We will do again today and again on Saturday. We clipped off the feathers around vent that were egg infested and rubbed vaseline on the feathers and bare spots to smother any eggs left. We are cleaning coop daily (especially roosting area). Hoping to buy the Neem oil today as well.

I thought clipping feathers makes the chicken bleed from that spot. No? I had a cockatoo a while back and was told that a broken feather still has blood flow because it is a live part of the bird and that she may bleed through that spot because that blood would still be flowing through that area. Or have the nits at the base of the feather killed the feather already? We have had a long cold snowy winter and my chickens have not had a chance to have dust baths for a while. I was just doing a cull and found that most of my chickens have lice (11 chickens). Poor things. I also want to take care of this problem naturally. I have dusted them twice this week with diatomaceous earth and did some research online and found a lady online (http://www.instructables.com/id/Poultry-Lice-What-Why-Who-When-and-Where-Treatment/)who recommended treating the nits with eucalyptus citriodora GREATLY diluted with a carrier oil (Fractionated coconut oil is what I always use to dilute essential oils with) and coat the eggs with that and whatever lice I see at that spot (mostly around the vent). gave them all a dusting with DE. Also I cleaned out the coop and roost and nesting boxes and dusted them down with DE. The chickens seem to be doing well so far. I am thinking of doing the Dawn bath but it is still cold outside - above freezing by a few degrees but not warm enough to have them running around outside all wet. And I don't want 11 chickens running around inside my house while they dry. LOL!

 

[Molpet]

dust box with 10% sulfur... I use 9lbs sand and 1 lb sulfur
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22458590