[Chookster]

I heard you can use ant powder instead of paying out for red mite stuff - is there a shortcut to lice??

I had a check on my chickens today and they have suddenly had a small invasion of lice (where do they come from?? I know with kids they have to have head to head contact and the lice apparently don't fly) Is there a cheap and effective way of dealing with it?

I dug them a new dust bath today as the last one has had a copost bin put on it and they havent been dust bathing for two or three weeks. Is that why?

Interested to hear from anyone with any knowledge or advice, best regards, Amanda&hens

[karlooben]

hiya your birds can get lice from pretty much anything i.e wild birds  etc etc . mine have had lice an they have been treated with diatom { get that online for under £10 } and also lice powder for horses you can get that at any horse feed store or anywhere online . u can add some to a dust bath area for them that will help keep the lice at bay once u do a full treatment course as they dont always die with the first dusting .

also i have read on here that frontline for cats is good although i am yet to try that but i will be over the next week or so .

[Chookster]

right, that's a good start then and not too expensive.

Do they somehow drop from over flying birds or something?? Are they just hanging around in the grass for an opertune chicken to pass them by?? Can they get them from kids at all?? Does anyone think they're the same type of lice humans can have at all?? My kids have had headlice in the past a couple of times and they look pretty similar. do they irritate the birds at all??

(you can tell it's my first time LOL, but you guys are very full of useful knowledge so i must ask!)

thanks by the way

[karlooben]

  i still class myself as a newbie as i have only kept my girls since last august, i dont think the lice are the same as you would find on a human but we can carry them from pretty much anywhere . at the time my girls had them my horses also got them { never had to deal with them in 25 years of being with horses i was shoocked }  so for me it could of been pasted ethier way .

i would think its poss they could full of birds flying over or roosting near by but someone with more experience will be along soon .

[Chookster]

aaw, thanx looby

i have to say we've had a lot of big flocks of starlings flying over in their formations in the last week. wouldn't be surprised if it could be partly part of it??

[Hensington]

Johnsons anti mite EXTRA pump spray kills everything and prevents infestation.
Make sure it's the pump spray EXTRA NOT the aerosol as they contain different active ingredients.

One pump under each wing and one around the back end.

[Chicken n Veg]

Hi Amanda,

I have eight hens and have recently discovered lice in my 3 ex-battery hens. I suspect, in my case, that they had a small number of lice when I bought them a month ago. That number has grown quickly with the recent warm weather. As Karlooben said they can also come from wild birds, perhaps sharing the hens dust bath.

I was trying to treat their lice with a poultry louse powder which is licensed for hens. In my opinion, however, the problem with most of these licensed products is that they may be effective preventative treatments, but are not so effective with established infestations. As I could see my ex-battery hens were still suffering, after more than a week of treatment with standard poultry louse powders, I visited the vet yesterday. I was prescribed Frontline Spray (normally used to treat cats and dogs with fleas). This should kill all the lice very quickly and keep on working for several weeks. This is not licensed for hens. The vet advised giving the hens 6-8 sprays of the Frontline product (depending upon their size), possibly following up with a second treatment in a months time. It is not absorbed and stays on skin / feathers, but he still suggested an egg withdrawal time of 7 days. I will try it this weekend at the same time as disinfecting their house.

I have heard good things about diatom but have not tried it yet. I have got some on order to add to the preventative regime I will start after the current infestation has been dealt with.


John

[karlooben]

diatom is very good but i found that i had to do at least 4 sessions  with it as well as louse powder .

[Hensington]

I agree with John a lot of the licensed products are either not very effective or are completely useless....don't get me started on verm-x....

Creosote for red mite
Johnsons anti mite extra for mites on the bird
Benyzl benzoate for scaly leg

Above are treatments I have found to work first time with no messing around.

[nzdunn]

I have the barrier louse powder but am gonna get the Johnsons spray, will this be used instead of the louse powder and in terms of weeks how often should you spray them,  and when you put these products on the birds are the eggs safe to each
 also.   nickyx

Oh ps, i was just reading about the anitmite extra and it says it kills red mite aswell, is it effective.      nickyx

[Chookster]

  thanks guys, gives me something to get on with.  Is there a green / organic way of dealing with lice at all?

Shampoo and nit comb?? 

[Aunt Sally]

I agree with John a lot of the licensed products are either not very effective or are completely useless....don't get me started on verm-x....

Creosote for red mite
Johnsons anti mite extra for mites on the bird
Benyzl benzoate for scaly leg

Above are treatments I have found to work first time with no messing around.

I certainly have to agree with you about verm-x 

I presume you mean the "original" Creosote which is unfortunatly not available to us mere mortals    Does the modern stuff do the job better than poultry shield ?

Johnsons anti mite extra is not licenced for food animals but I'm sure you're right that it works well - these forums cannot recommend it though 

Benzyl benzoate is a treatment for scabies so should work well on scaly leg mites but care must be taken when using it.  It's not licenced for poultry but many keepers use it.

[nzdunn]

aunt sally when you say the johnsons mite extra is not licensed for food animals does that mean the eggs aswell as the bird.  nickyx

[karlooben]

although i have used barriers lice forumla i would really only use what is actually recommended for poulty that way at least u know your safe and dont damage your birds .

some of you here say that your vets recommend frontline  spot on for cats or spray  well i asked my vets an they were really not happy about me even asking let alone using it  but i suppose its down to each individaul on what they use at the end of the day we can only offer suggestions .

[Chookster]

hmmm... the plot thickens...

what about something with tea tree oil in it?? you know how that can help deter headlice on kids is where i'm getting at. Could it work safely on chickens?

OR... what if i gave my chickens a grade II?

(note to animal welfare and DEFRA - i WAS joking )