Think we have lice

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stamford

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Think we have lice
« on: June 18, 2009, 22:28 »
Hi all, long tim since Ive been here, now need some advice from you please...

Wondered why I was coming in from the coop at night and feeling itchy, then noticed tint tiny lice like creatures crawling through the hairs in my arms but though nothing of it until tonight... Last few nights 2 of our hens have not wanted to go to the coop and would rather sit outside in the run, so put them away tonight and seen hundreds of these tiny critteres on one of the walls inside the house  :ohmy: Ive done a quick check through and pretty sure they are not red mite but chicken lice......

Will the hens be ok till i get home tomorrow and I presume I use Diatom, how is it used ?

Any other suggestions welcome

Thanks, Stamford

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SnooziSuzi

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2009, 22:33 »
where are the hens tonight?  if they are in the coop then they will be pretty uncomfortable; imagine being forced to sleep in a bed of fleas!

To use Diatom just squirt it under the feathers, onto the skin.  If you are buying a bucket of the stuff then decant it into a clean washing up bottle and use this like a puffer to puff it onto their skin, right under the feathers.

you will have to do all over, ie necks, wings, armpits, back, vent, legs, bellies as there are different lice types for different parts of the hen!

you may also have to consider getting your own house fumigated as these critters can live on humans.  I'd recommend Nuvan StayKill spray for your furniture.

EDIT:  You will also have to re-treat the henhouse in 7 and 14 days to make sure any babies that have hatched don't survive and give the hen house a good clean out with Poultry Shield to kill anything else in there.

Come to think of it, even though Nuvan StayKill hasn't been licenced for use on poultry it is very effective at killing fleas, so perhaps using this in the hen house too (but deffo not on the hens) would help your situation.  Still use the Diatom in 1, 7 and 14 day intervals on the hens even if you do use the Staykill.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2009, 22:35 by SnooziSuzi »

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stamford

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2009, 22:38 »
Thanks for the reply suzi, they can get to they're run so they can escape if they need ei they're not cooped up so to speak... I have a very good pet supplies store locally, do you reckon I could get diatom from there or is it generally online ?

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SnooziSuzi

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2009, 22:40 »
I haven't found Diatom at our local pet places (one independant small petshop, the other Pets At Home) but I bought mine from Wells Poultry (www.chicken-house.co.uk).

I have found their service to be very good and reasonably priced too.

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Hensington

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2009, 22:47 »
Red Mite, close up first, ewwww not nice. See how small they are, they are not always red, only red after feeding. Note how they can actually live and breed in the screw head!





Not so close up, note the tell tale signs of poop, it looks a bit like ground pepper. If you see this, you have red mite.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2009, 22:51 by Hensington »

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stamford

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2009, 22:54 »
Well it looks kinda peppery inside but the mites are definatley not red.... We're talking TINY little things.. Am i right in saying the red mites are the ones you used to squish with you fingers when you were kids ? If so, definately not those

Pretty sure its lice i'm dealing with  :blink: :blink: 99.9% anyways

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Hensington

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2009, 22:57 »
Red mite are tiny and not always red. I'll put a pic up in two tics or non red red-mite.

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SnooziSuzi

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2009, 22:57 »
the red mites are only red after a meal;  that's your chickens blood that you can see when they're red  :ohmy:

Aparantly diatom is effective agains RM too as it weakens their skin cells and causes them to rupture, but I have no proof of this.

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Hensington

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2009, 23:16 »
Here is a another close up form the shot above, as you can see they are almost black.
They can be white, grey, brown, red or near black. VERY small, poultry lice are much bigger than mite and very easily seen whereas mite are tiny and just about visible.


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GrannieAnnie

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2009, 23:21 »
Yep, sounds like red mite you have, chicken lice are bigger.

Our birds have never had lice, but Brian culled and dressed some birds for someone lst Christmas and they were covered in them!  Bird lice look very similar to human lice.

Red mite are tiny tiny things!!!

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Vember

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2009, 23:21 »
Am i right in saying the red mites are the ones you used to squish with you fingers when you were kids ? If so, definately not those

I think Stamford and I might ( :blush:) be wrong,  the ones your thinking about are red spider mite (see them on walls and stuff in warm weather?) if so then they are different :(


Sarah :)

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stamford

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2009, 23:26 »
Great  :ohmy: Looks like I'm dealing with mite then  :tongue2: Fantastic, i see an expensive day tomorrow, presume the girls will be OK till I get home with my stockpile of sprays etc !!

I dont have any spare room to put the girls in the evening, need to lock them away somewhere cos of the resident foxes...

I'll pop to my local supplies store in the morning and see what he says, he's pretty clued up, has 50 chickens himself so he must know what to do i guess......

Cheers for the info Hensington & Suzi, will keep you informed what happens over the next few days

Red Spider Mite, that was them Sarah, cheers

Thanks GrannieAnnie

Any advice before i go to the supplies tomorrow ?

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Hensington

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2009, 23:32 »
The only effective treatment I have found is original creosote. Sorry I can't help further.
I did try one from the feed shop, was £14 came in a white bottle, I *think* it was made by the folk that make poultry shield. Anyways the red mite were bathing in it and doing the backstroke, certainly not dying like they were supposed to for £14 a bottle. (I did condsider a bottle of vodka would be cheaper and I could of drunk it then hit them with the empty)

If you find something that does work then let us all know. I'd rather not use creosote if there is a viable alternative.

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Hensington

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2009, 23:34 »
Actually, neat Jeyes fluid kills them stone dead but it's damned expensive stuff to do a whole coop with :(

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stamford

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Re: Think we have lice
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2009, 23:39 »
I know my supply staore has quite a lot of stuff, so we'll see what he says, thanks all  :)



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