After careful management for three years with no problems, I suddenly have lice on my chickens. I first noticed bugs on some chicks, I dusted them with Y-Tex/Gardstar Poultry Dust which contains permethrin. Most of the chicks did not survive, the one who did is doing well and is bug free.
I decided to dose all of my adult birds with topical ivermectin which I had on hand to treat my pigs preventatively for parasites. It's Noromectin 1% for Cattle and Swine, there are no label instructions for treating chickens. I've read that other people use Ivermectin for chickens topically, but at a higher strength per dose (5% if I'm not mistaken). This 1% Ivermectin used topically did successfully treat one of my mom's hens with severe Scaly Leg mites so I believed it would work for this lice issue that has effected some of my adult birds. I dosed the adult birds I could grab 3 days ago. Not all of them have evidence of lice eggs, but the ones that do have not shown any change. I can still see eggs on their butts.
My question is: Should I retreat the adult birds I've already dosed with Ivermectin? If so, should I hit them with Iver again? Or Poultry Dust/Permethrin? Bathe them with flea shampoo? Leave them alone and check back after a certain period of time?
I have treated some of their dust bathing spots with unmedicated DE, but I really want to be thorough with knocking the lice out that are already on my birds. Mostly because it's just so gross!
I decided to dose all of my adult birds with topical ivermectin which I had on hand to treat my pigs preventatively for parasites. It's Noromectin 1% for Cattle and Swine, there are no label instructions for treating chickens. I've read that other people use Ivermectin for chickens topically, but at a higher strength per dose (5% if I'm not mistaken). This 1% Ivermectin used topically did successfully treat one of my mom's hens with severe Scaly Leg mites so I believed it would work for this lice issue that has effected some of my adult birds. I dosed the adult birds I could grab 3 days ago. Not all of them have evidence of lice eggs, but the ones that do have not shown any change. I can still see eggs on their butts.
My question is: Should I retreat the adult birds I've already dosed with Ivermectin? If so, should I hit them with Iver again? Or Poultry Dust/Permethrin? Bathe them with flea shampoo? Leave them alone and check back after a certain period of time?
I have treated some of their dust bathing spots with unmedicated DE, but I really want to be thorough with knocking the lice out that are already on my birds. Mostly because it's just so gross!
