Chickens and Lice

Wannabefree

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am I the ONLY one that read chicken and Rice? :/
 

aggieterpkatie

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My coop definitely is dirty. They poo a LOT when they sleep! They're rarely in there during the day, but it gets pretty grody. I'm going to pressure wash that coop until it begs for mercy!! :lol: And I think I'll paint the walls. I painted the floor when I built it, but I didn't do the walls and I'm kicking myself. The walls are OSB, so they could use some extra protection.
 

FarmerDenise

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Some years ago I had a vet, who treated chickens.
He told me that flea stuff that is safe for kittens is safe to use on chickens. He also told me that putting the stuff you put on the necks of cats would work for chickens.
I provide my chickens with wood ashes for dust bathing. I make sure I save some to last me all summer.
When I notice an outbreak of any type of bug on my chickens I treat them with De Flea spray or shampoo. www.naturalchemistry.com I specifically asked my vet if this product is ok and he said yes. Our store charges about $19 per 16.9 fl oz bottle. It lasts us a long time. We can use it on the dog, cat and the chickens and have even used it on ouselves.
It works.

Chickens that are difficult to catch, I treat at night with th help of another person. I catch them off the roost and while one person holds them the other sprays them.
 

FarmerDenise

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In addition SO sprays the hen house with a bleach solution 2x a year and whenever we have an outbreak of bugs.
He mixes about 1/4 cup of dishsoap and a glop of bleach in an old miracle grow hose end dispenser. He fills it to the top with water. Then he sprays the cleaned out hen house with the solution, which foams up nicely. He leaves it for about 20 minutes and then rinses it off. Then he lets it dry.

We usually take out all the "furniture" and give it the same treatment outside of the hen house.

We do this on a warm sunny day, so the sun can dry and disinfect everything as well. We wait until the hen house is throughly dried out, before we add fresh bedding to the floor.

Our hen house is made of unpainted wood with a bare dirt floor.
 

gettinaclue

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FarmerDenise said:
Some years ago I had a vet, who treated chickens.
He told me that flea stuff that is safe for kittens is safe to use on chickens. He also told me that putting the stuff you put on the necks of cats would work for chickens.
I provide my chickens with wood ashes for dust bathing. I make sure I save some to last me all summer.
When I notice an outbreak of any type of bug on my chickens I treat them with De Flea spray or shampoo. www.naturalchemistry.com I specifically asked my vet if this product is ok and he said yes. Our store charges about $19 per 16.9 fl oz bottle. It lasts us a long time. We can use it on the dog, cat and the chickens and have even used it on ouselves.
It works.

Chickens that are difficult to catch, I treat at night with th help of another person. I catch them off the roost and while one person holds them the other sprays them.
That is good to know! Thanks!
 

savingdogs

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Well it says the active ingredient is "carbaryl" and this is 2 percent. Since I have it already I suppose I should use it since I do have this problem.

I DID lose a hen, I thought she was possibly egg bound. She did not have severe feather loss though. I also sold six hens because of extremely low egg production at age 2 years. Within this flock of ten hens, half have feather loss and the best layers have their feathers and are the friendliest. I don't know if that all correlates or not.

So, if I DO use Sevin, do you put it directly on the hen? :ep It says right on the label not to do that. This is a powder, not a spray, but I could dilute it into water I suppose and spray it on the coop and let it dry?

Powder it down and then hose it out? Gosh, wearing a gas mask.

I can' t quite picture just dusting this stuff around like I did the DE. I'd almost rather try the DE one more time on the birds and the Sevin on just the coop. :sick

And WHAT cat flea product can be used on chickens? There are several products you can apply to a cat's for fleas, I happen to have two here (frontline plus and revolution). That would be easey peasey, and that is a great idea to try putting stuff on them when they are sleeping. Why didn't I think of that. Duh.

You guys are so smart.
 

aggieterpkatie

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See, I'd be more leary of using cat flea meds because they're meant to be absorbed into the skin. Won't Sevin just treat the mites/lice on their skin if they're dusted with it?
 

gettinaclue

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savingdogs said:
And WHAT cat flea product can be used on chickens?
When I spoke with this lady, she said over the counter meds and gave the name of one, but I can not for the life of me remember which one she said.

Sorry.
 

bama boy

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The mites and lice on chickens are not the same on cats or dogs. And DE will not kill them at all. I just went thru this with my birds. Go to BYC and you will comfirm, and find many solutions. If you dust, be sure to do all the roosts. The mites will congregate on them. TSC has all you will need to do this. I opted for the dust, and did each bird, coop floor, and roosts. No more mites or lice, and birds are puttin out fine..........
 
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