Single hen

[chicken-drummer]

Hi,

 

We recently noticed that our girls had lice and as the mite powder we were using was not being effective took them to the vet.

 

The vet prescribed a 5 day course of Panomec (Ivermectin) and advised an egg withdrawal period of 28 days. We finished the course on 31st March.

 

I've let the chickens out in the garden this morning and can see the tell-tale white specks of lice on 2 of them.

 

I'm not sure how Panomec works - as we can't eat the eggs does it mean it will still be effective against the lice - or do we need to go back to the vet?

 

Also, is there anything we can include in our cleaning regime to limit the liklihood of the girls getting lice again? We clean the cube out weekly with Ecover and a liberal sprinkling of red mite powder. The run is on a fixed site with auboise on paving slabs. We clean out the run about once every six weeks, wash the slabs down and sprinkle with Ly-san. We took out the wooden perches in the run (the only wood in the cube and run) when we knew the girls had lice and haven't replaced them yet.

 

Any advice would be gratefully received!

 

Thanks,

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Was it lice or mites - you mention both? Mine had lice last year and one or two sprays with Johnson's Anti Mite Spray did the trick immediately (only 3 days egg withdrawal too).

 

Not had mites so can't offer advice there, I'm afraid .

[Guest]

Poultry Shield will be much more effective than Ecover.

[Egluntyne]

If you prefer a more natural approach you can dust both the hens and the clean housing with Barrier Lice Powder or Diatomaceous Earth. Both useful.

 

I use Xeno 200 ** Not licensed for use on poultry in UK on my hens from time to time and had to repeat the dose on one occasion as it hadn't done the trick on one of them. I left a gap of a couple of weeks.

 

Might be worth giving the vet a ring and asking if s/he would advise it.

[chicken-drummer]

Thanks for your advice.

 

I'll track down some Johnsons Anti-Mite spray and give that a go over the weekend. Definitely not keen on using another treatment with such a long egg withdrawal period - hate having to throw away eggs!

 

And I'll give the poultry shield and diatomaceous earth a go too.

 

I'm waging war on those horrid little lice!