PANICKING!

[Poppy7]

Tonight I am really peeved :evil:

My chickens have lice. Horrible, light brown/some white (guessing younger) lice.

I'm mortified. They live in an a Eglu for cleanliness reasons and I am very vigilant about lice/mites as the thought of them makes me itch and feel awful.

I can only assume that my broody who lost all interest in her own self preservation picked up lice from wild birds whilst sitting on eggs (our house is surrounded by trees) and caused the start of this.

I found a lice on one of my beautiful chicks. I'm mortified.

So I have given everything a liberal dusting of a Smite...hens, bedding, dust baths everything....I have done this 3 times this week already and still I find the horrible things.

I'm now worried that the chicks may inhale the DE and get poorly.

I have done A LOT of research online tonight and have decided this plan of action...

Tomorrow I will bath both adult birds in a flea/lice shampoo. I will then apply Johnson's Antimite Extra to them both. The hen house will then be cleaned and given another dusting of Smite.

I have looked at the Frontline/Ivermectin route but will see if the above works first.

I am meant to be taking broody and chicks to my sons pre school next Wednesday for a show and tell so I need these nasty lice gone before then.

So can I have advice/reassurance. Will the DE harm the chicks and is my plan to eradicate the lice a good one???

Uuuurrrgh...I'm off for a bath as he thought of the lice makes me feel queasy....

 

[Marigold]

Hi Poppy, well, that's chickens for you, never a dull moment!
I'm sure your vigilance has prevented a worse outbreak and that you'll soon be on top of this one. What a good thing you spotted it when you did, I should think what you are proposing will give them a nasty shock. Do go gently with the D.E, though, as the dust is very dangerous when inhaled, both to you and the hens, and especially the chicks. Large amounts are really not necessary and can cause real breathing problems. Just a sprinkle in the angles of the coop and anywhere that might harbour mites is all that's needed. Some people mix a paste of it in water and paint this into the places at risk, which works well and avoids the dust. It's generally used against redmite and I don't think you have any of those, do you? Its tricky to keep a balance between effective treatment and over - dosing with stuff that may have its own side effects isn't it. Of course you have to treat the lice, but don't beat yourself up or feel mortified, or repelled by them - try to think of it as a routine chicken keeping job, most people get them at some point, like nits in a classroom.

 

[Icemaiden]

Hi Poppy,
My elderly Araucana had the same problem last year; she'd got too old & lazy to dust bathe regularly.
I started by dusting all of the girls with diatom, which helped but didn't eradicate the lice. I then used Ivermectin on the non-laying hens, including the araucana. One application did the job.

I now also put wood ash & anti-mite powder or diatom into the soil in the areas where the hens like to dustbathe, so they effectively treat themselves.

If you search the forum for "Millie" and "Ivermectin", you should find my post, in which I gave the dosage that I used. (The leaflet in the pack won't give dosages fro hens, as it's not licensed for them.) All the best.

 

[chrismahon]

We had a bad case of lice in one coop a few weeks ago. Obviously from the numerous wild birds. The lice then multiplied and spread by the dust bath. Treatment is very easy. Sprayed all the Wyandottes bottoms with 2 squirts of Johnsons Flea Spray, parting the fluffy feathers to get to the skin. Cat or dog version they are both the same and you can get it from any pet shop. The lice contact the stuff and die immediately. As they move around the chicken they contact the skin and feathers with the stuff on and die. It remains effective enough to kill the hatchlings from the eggs, which you will see stuck to the base of feathers in clusters. Put potash in the dust bath which suffocates lice apparently. Within a few days checked them all and any with surviving lice got one extra spray. They have all gone now.

 

[Marigold]

I would avoid using any kind of spray on your young chicks, though, Poppy. Contact sprays are effective but not licensed for hens, and you do have to be very careful not to overdose, especially bantams and small chicks, and there is an egg withdrawal period of at least 2-3 weeks as well, to be safe.
And if you still have some present when you go into the school, don't worry - just point them out to the children, they will be fascinated, and you can explain how they arrived from the wild birds. They will learn some more about keeping chickens! I might be a bit more worried about the stress to hen and chicks in this otherwise excellent school visit project - try to keep the handling down to a minimum if you can.

 

[Poppy7]

Thank you everyone for the great help. I have spoken to my vet about Ivermectin but he's reluctant to dispense which I totally understand.

Do you think bathing the girls is a little harsh? The thing is my broody is particularly mucky around her vent so it's hard to make the powder effective there. The Johnson's Antimite Extra spray is specifically for cages birds so I was hoping it was my safest option. Don't worry Marigold I wasn't planning on bathing or spraying the chicks...I was hoping that their close contact with mum would be enough to get rid of lice on them.

I totally understand about your concerns with mum and chicks getting stressed at the pre school trip. They are used to being handled but I do intend on keeping that to a minimum. I just thought it was such a lovely opportunity for the children (a small class of 10 on Wednesday) to see baby chicks.

My main concern now though......is that I've used to much Smite :| After reading on the container that it is safe, harmless, organic etc etc I went a bit mad with it. I was very generous with it. I then came inside and read online about DE and read lots of warnings about it being harsh when breathed in etc. How will I know if I've caused any harm to hen or chicks? Oh dear, I always manage to get in such a pickle. I just wanted to rid my girls of these horrible pests.