Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[CallyChook]

Hi, I was just wondering what the best way of treating lice on young birds is? My older birds are treated with the not-licenced frontline, but I was wondering if it might be too strong for the little ones (8 and 10.5 weeks), or maybe one drop would do it?

 

I check all my birds almost daily (due to this lot being hand-raised and spending a good amount of time having cuddles every day!) and have only spotted a couple on one's vent, but where there's a couple, there'll soon be a million, on all of them. They're just "normal" chicken lice, not NFM or red.

 

They already get dusted with diatom powder.

 

thanks for the advice

[The Dogmother]

I had exactly the same problem with two of my chicks - the broody mum (who is still with them) had a few lice and a couple of chicks too. The mum is regularly treated with a preventative treatment, so any lice on her would soon die anyhow. I sprayed her with a spray containing permethrin (NetTex Total Mite Kill, but the Johnsons spray does the same job)* and dusted the two 10 week-olds with a permethrin based powder*. They are all now free of lice.

 

Don't forget to repeat the treatment after a week.

 

*not licensed for use on poultry in the UK

[CallyChook]

cheers Clare, I know it's not normally used on the birds but I had an inkling that the permethrin powder might be a little less deadly than the drop on, and I can't just leave the poor beggar with lice on her bum. I've got a fairy liquid bottle drying in the window at the mo, and will give her a wee puff with permethrin later today x

 

I'm thinking of throwing my diatom powder in the bin, it didnt work against the big folk's red mite, and it hasnt kept lice off my bantams either... organic 0, chemicals 2

[The Dogmother]

Don't chuck the diatom out - use it in the dustbath instead.

[CallyChook]

their dustbath is a huge chicken-created (9ft x 3 ft) soily patch beneath the pine trees at the back of the garden... but I'll sling it all in there anyways

[CallyChook]

so far so good... i checked last night 24 hrs after the perm and couldnt find any lice on Ethel. None of the other chicks seemed to have a sign of lice but all had a poof of powder around their vent anyways and I went and diatomed them too out of habit and superstition i suppose!

 

Will be checking again tonight, then poofing again next week, and will put an update on xx

[The Dogmother]

That sounds positive. Chicks need checking regularly (if you can catch them!) as it doesn't take long for them to go downhill if they get infested.