The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Pamela McLellan on January 26, 2015, 01:06:45 pm
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We have had several lots of chickens, but eventually they seem to get lice. We clear it by spraying the inside of the house (re-housing chickens first of course), and dusting the chickens.
However, there are a lot of other chickens around us and they soon get re-infected.
The problem is I am allergic to the mite bites and come up in large, red, very ichy weals which last 2 weeks (meaning sleepless nights too).
Can anyone suggest;-
1. a way to keep the chickens mite free and/or
2. something to counteract the allergic reaction to the bites ?
I would really like some more chickens.
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what are you dusting the chickens with? The Johnsons anti mite (does mites, lice) spray seems to be effective-you need something with permethrin in (which is toxic to cats FYI).
don't know about yourself, have you tried taking anti-histamine for the bites?
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I use a standard cheap ant powder and just blow it around the whole house and the birds.
Although it does as Lord Flynn says contain permethrin and is therefore a danger to cats.
No idea on the allergy thing sorry.
Definitely lice and not red mite (hides in the hen house) or northern fowl mite (lives on the bird)
Doesn't make much difference but may help with your allergy solution.
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We used ant powder in a bantam coop (attempting to control red mite which was a complete failure as they nested in it) and the dust caused an apparent collapse of their immune system. We lost two of three hens and the third was ill for months. The large fowl were able to tolerate it.
For lice we spray a couple of squirts of Johnsons dog or cat flea spray around the vent. It is unlicensed for chickens and contains Pyrethrum. It is 90% effective almost immediately as it kills the lice on contact as they move through the sprayed area. Occasionally we need to administer one more squirt in a persistent case. We follow it up with potash (wood fire ash) in the dust bath areas -just a little, as too much and it will be respiratory issues from the dust.
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Sorry to hear of your troubles, in 30 years we have only had lice once.
We use fire ash on the floor of the pen and several ash baths and kiln sand baths no idea what they do but we don't seem to get the issues other people get.
The wife mite powders any new hens coming in.
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Lice and mites are different things so you do need to know what you're dealing with. Lice live on the bird and are bigger. I don't think I have a problem with those - I've only ever seen them on a bird once - but they're much easier to deal with. I tend to treat broodies before they sit routinely by using a spot-on designed for cats which treats for fleas and lice.
Red mite on the other hand are a constant battle and require regular treatment of the house.
I believe the ash is much like diatom in that it's so fine, it can get under the 'shell' of the mite which harms it and prevents reproduction somehow.
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Thank you so much everyone for all the advice.
I think it must be mites as you can (just they are tiny)see them moving about on the shed walls as well as on the hens.
We used Jeyes fluid to spray the inside of the house, Nettex Total mite kill powder in the dust bath and nest boxes and Barrier Animal Healthcare Red Mite powder on the hens.
For me, I used Piriton tablets and anti histamine cream, neither of which worked.
Someone suggested getting a plastic hen house which could be pressure sprayed.
(pressure spray the hens ? no better not !)
I have just been down to the house to find the names of the treatments, and the little horror mites are still crawling about on the containers etc. this is 3 months since chickens were in there.
Will they ever die ?
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Real creosote, not the creocote substitute will help, I do all the corners, perch ends, cracks etc inside and outside the shed once a year.
http://www.creosotesales.co.uk/products-page/ (http://www.creosotesales.co.uk/products-page/)
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If you can see them on the walls it's red mite. Lice are about half the size of a grain of rice, light brown, fast moving and most often seen around the vent. Your hens could have both! Best solution for red mite is to remove the hens in the morning, when the mites have gone back to their hidey-holes for the day, then burn the henhouse. 4 drops of Eprinex on the skin at the back of the neck works for lice and any stray mites left on the bird.
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If you can, do the houses with a steam cleaner, boil the beggars!! Then, as said a drop of cat flea-er on the neck of the chickens. I wouldn't use dog treatment.