I posted yesterday about our hens that have lice, and I just finished trying to treat them, and it was a disaster.
It probably seems like a silly question to seasoned chicken owners, but this is all new for me, and I'm still getting used to picking them up/handling them myself as we've never had chicks.
They weren't handled by the person that raised them from chicks so they are so flighty and flap like crazy if you get anywhere near, and run fast
It's a super windy day here, not good for DE, and it's also a little chilly, so my melted coconut oil spray hardened before I got to the last of them. I put the wire top of a guinea pig cage in their pen and got them in there one at a time, but they ran and hid under the coop (where it's really hard for me to get to them) or in the coop, which I also can't get to them because I foolishly told my hubby to make it so I wouldn't ever have to go in there. They also squeezed through the door of their run which I had forgotten to fasten completely so some ran out to free range before getting treated.
Do most of you do things like this alone or do you wait until you have help? I really need them to sit still(but not squat) and probably on their back so I can actually get to/see the vent area where the lice are. I couldn't get the coconut oil spray past all their feathers/poo so I'm pretty sure it did no good.
Then they all had their usual fight over the nest boxes, I saw 5 in one plastic tub, pretty ridiculous. (there are 3 nesting boxes but they constantly line up in front of one, ignoring the empty ones and squash in on top of the others and the preferred box changes each day). So the coconut oil I did spray on their feathers was everywhere on other chickens, disgusting.
Is there a better way to handle/trap/position them so I can treat them? I know it really needs done to get the lice under control.
Thank you
It probably seems like a silly question to seasoned chicken owners, but this is all new for me, and I'm still getting used to picking them up/handling them myself as we've never had chicks.
They weren't handled by the person that raised them from chicks so they are so flighty and flap like crazy if you get anywhere near, and run fast

Do most of you do things like this alone or do you wait until you have help? I really need them to sit still(but not squat) and probably on their back so I can actually get to/see the vent area where the lice are. I couldn't get the coconut oil spray past all their feathers/poo so I'm pretty sure it did no good.
Then they all had their usual fight over the nest boxes, I saw 5 in one plastic tub, pretty ridiculous. (there are 3 nesting boxes but they constantly line up in front of one, ignoring the empty ones and squash in on top of the others and the preferred box changes each day). So the coconut oil I did spray on their feathers was everywhere on other chickens, disgusting.
Is there a better way to handle/trap/position them so I can treat them? I know it really needs done to get the lice under control.
Thank you
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