Poo help please!

[cluckingmad]

Evening all

 

Thought you may be amused at todays antics at our little patch... after suspecting that Jemima has depluming mite and identifying lice on all our big girls, we decided that enough was enough, a permethrin bath was in order....

 

It was actually ok Jemima went first, was as good as gold bless her - think she actually enjoyed it! she was then gently towelled and blow dried before pottering off outside again. This was repeated for Molly, Maggie and Martha, all behaved themselve impeccably.

 

And then it was Esme's turn. And then I got slightly damp when she decided she didn't want to be bathed at all After a bit of a scuffle she setteld down and had her bath/blow dry. And then there was one....

 

And Pepper is a pain in the bum, took us ages to catch her (the others must've told her what was going to happen...), then she decided to take an attempt at flying allll round the bathroom (cotton buds went flying, towels shot out of the door... the peace lilly is now looking decidedly UN-peaceful). Eventually bathed her and got her ready to have to worst of the stuff showered off. All fine for 2 seconds, then off she went again....

 

After 20 minutes of this fun, I eventually appeared, soaked, with Pepper under arm in a towel..!!

 

I can highly recommend this entertaining activity

 

 

Anyway, to a question: the others were all fine (lots of nasty little lice died and fell off, HA Bite MY girls will you....) however poor Jemima had LOADS of lice eggs, all clustered around the base of her fluffy downy feathers. Should I repeat the bath in 7 days time to catch the newly hatch little whatsits, or will they have had time to lay new eggs on her by then?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sounds like a very eventful bathtime .

 

When Molly had lice, I carefully snipped off all the feathers that had eggs attached (there weren't very many though).

 

I suspect the advice may be to bath them again but I'll let an expert confirm that .

[Egluntyne]

I agree with AHN, I'd carefully snip away the feathers that are clustered with lice eggs and give her a spraying with Johnsons' Anti Mite Spray (works for Lice) in a few days. *Not licensed for use on poultry in UK. 48 hour egg withdrawal applies.

 

I suggest leaving it a little while is purely because I don't like to bombard the hens with too many 'treatments' in one go.

[cluckingmad]

Thanks folks,

 

agree - don't like to hammer them with treatments, isn't fir to the poor hens! The difference in the girls was noticable immediately - all so perky and Jemima bless her is holding her tail up well again and seems so much happier

 

Only problem was how itchy I felt after doing the baths - all these nasty little lice coming off them while blow drying was revolting!

[cluckingmad]

ew ew ew ew ew! Have taken advice and today brought Jemima in for trimming (!).. she was very good bless her, a couple of clucks to show disapproval, and a half-hearted peck at the scissors was about all the trouble she gave

 

Lots of nasty eggs now trimmed off, attached to the downy feathers... tried not to trim too many away, poor girl is already reasonably bald! She then showed her displeasure with a mighty flapping of the wings... lice egg-covered feathers EVERYWHERE. So, 10 mintues later with the dyson, and I think I've managed to get all the offending articles.

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to have a hot shower and scrub!