Thank you never had mites or lice on mine knock on wood.
even us old dogs can learn new tricks
I have kept chickens my entire life, a long long time...and never had mites until I realized what they were...actually
SAW them.......then I was onto their presence..
Be aware of the bird's behaviours....for example, if you notice your birds are all digging at their skin, like preening, their tails, their 'crotch' area...all the time, so it seems non-stop...you may have bugs.
Also watch for dirty cushions...the fluffy pof under the vent and the area around the vent...if it is dirty, it well may be louse and mite eggs laid on the feather shafts there.....
Ig it is depluming mites, the birds will go crazy trying to get at the annoying biters and rip the feathers out...leaving bare bums and other areas.
Louse usually feast on feather shafts, and I have not seen any biting lice here.
I have seen some jumbo biting lice on water fowl, though....some BIG lice on geese & ducks.
Wild waterfowl usually swim & dip in salt water to get rid of these pests, and I guess those lice prefer water fowl over chickens.
I do not waste time bathing the birds...not to mention it is traumatic chasing them down and also I have so many it would be impossible to do...so no insecticidal bathes here.
What I do is go in at night, spray & grab the birds one at a time , get them on the floor and dust the daylights out of them.
Ivermectin works, too, and alot of people routinely rotate their anti-worm/parasite regimen so as to not get the bugs immune to its usage.
Saladin has said long ago, that if you meet a poultry person who insists their birds have never had mites, you have met yourself a liar.
You new people WILL encounter these hateful bugs sooner or later. Best be prepared.
One of the best things to do is have a dust bath available year round, with DE, sand & ashes (and a can of Sevin dust helps, too!) in the tub, and it has to be kept dry and fluffed up, and sifted, not full off poop. Birds can bathe daily & keep the bugs numbers down.
We get our tubs at Home Depot, they have 3 sizes, the largest is great for a duck bath:
Good Advice most of the time here:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/08/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification.html
