Poultry Lice

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by helenlee, Apr 4, 2010.

  1. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    My memory is growing dim & I can't remember exactly what I'm suppose to do for poultry lice. Can anyone help please? I was squatting on the ground near the chooks roosting perch yesterday & suddenly had an urgent desire to take off my pants! And when I did, I had an urgent desire to get in the shower! Yep - bird lice. Yuk.

    I have caught the chooks & very thoroughly dusted them with dolomite right down to the skin & have thrown dolomite over the perches & the ground. I've taken all the straw out of the nesting boxes & let them air out.
    Is dolomite enough or do I need to get something specifically for poultry lice?
    Thanks,
    Helen
     
  2. Shortlyone

    Shortlyone Junior Member

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    After you've finished liming their foul house, changed their straw & litter Etc, mix equal parts talk & derris dust & dust your birds. It will take 3 to 4 apps applied ever 3rd day to get rid of them, assuming that you have eradicated them from the birds environment.
    A 1/2L plastic milk bottle with lots of 1.5mm holes drilled in the lid makes a great "shaker". Or you can cut the corner out of a feed bag just big enough for a chook head. put chook in bag with head sticking out + a good cup of derris mix, hold the end of the bad closed & "foof" the chook about so she is thoroughly dusted.
     
  3. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Liming with what sort of lime exactly?
     
  4. Shortlyone

    Shortlyone Junior Member

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    I use agricultural lime mainly because its nice and fine, and i always keep some on hand + its cheap ($52 BB)
     
  5. Wombat

    Wombat Junior Member

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    Find ( or better still plant) a Southern Wormwood bush - then place a sprig in each nesting box - refresh as needed (about monthly) Also/as well - have a smoker save their butts - soak in water and spray the 'tea' on the perchs
     
  6. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Thanks for the tips guys. :)
     
  7. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Dust baths!!!!

    Years ago I got my brothers chooks which arrived infested.

    My neighbour told me to dig some of the ground over so they had bare earth and to make sure they had something to bathe in even in winter/rainy season- so somewhere covered.
    They disappeared and I have never had that problem since.

    Not sure to honest if they were lice or fleas but they had little sticky up tails like chooks do, never seen them before then an never since, but I always make sure the girls have bare dirt to wallow in.
     
  8. Rainbow

    Rainbow Junior Member

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    If your chooks have a regular dust bathing area, fill it with Diatomaceous Earth.
    Dust bathing is the chooks own natural way of dealing with crawlies such as flas, lice and mites, the DE just helps with the process by literally slicingup any bugs it comes into contact with, without harming your chooks in any way.

    You can even add a bit of DE to a mash and feed to them once a month to aid with worm and internal parasite control.
     
  9. ebunny

    ebunny Junior Member

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    I had a lice problem (and other crawling things I didn't like the look of) and did all three things as suggested - lime, wormwood (even put some cuttings in with the straw) and dust bath and they were very quickly lice and bug free.
     

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