Urgent!!! Awful mite infestation killed three hens while we were on vacation! WHAT DO I DO?

Tookie

Eggsuberant
Premium Feather Member
Dec 19, 2021
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Central Texas
I really suggest giving them a "butt bath" until you figure out what your using to treat them. I would give them a bath once a week and every day you don't give a bath spray them with neem oil.
 

EEforMe

Crowing
Sep 5, 2021
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Northwest Washington, USA (near Seattle)
Upon inspecting the bugs in their feathers and the bugs in their coop it looks like they might have both mites and lice!!! I took one of each and looked at them under a microscope and the ones in their feathers looked like what I saw when I searched “chicken lice” up on google and the ones in the coop looked like what I saw when I searched “chicken mites” up on google. Pls tell me I’m wrong and it’s just part of their life cycle or something. What do I do???
 

BrandonsQuails

Imagine Quails 🐣🎶
Premium Feather Member
Feb 22, 2022
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Upon inspecting the bugs in their feathers and the bugs in their coop it looks like they might have both mites and lice!!! I took one of each and looked at them under a microscope and the ones in their feathers looked like what I saw when I searched “chicken lice” up on google and the ones in the coop looked like what I saw when I searched “chicken mites” up on google. Pls tell me I’m wrong and it’s just part of their life cycle or something. What do I do???
Without pictures no one's going to be able to verify it for you
 

CFLRanching

Chirping
Apr 17, 2022
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EEforme, sorry about your birds. Lice (and mites) aren't fun to deal with especially when you keep trying. I had reserves (when treating) like your parents, didn't want to use a chemical. So use neem. Get it in the garden section, your feed store might also have it. It's perfectly safe. (it won't hurt your birds or effect eggs) Dilute a capful into warm water (close to chicken's body temp but not over (especially with the heat right now) with about a 1/2 tsp of natural dishsoap in a vessel/tub deep enough that you can hold the birds under on their backs (don't dunk their heads, spray their heads lightly afterwards with neem/warm water (look up neem garden spray recipe) and keep their bodies submerged for 10 min (usually easier if you rock gently (swishing the water through wing feathers and tail) like a baby). Dip the birds all the way up to just under their beaks/eyes/ears/nostrils. After you're done just let them air dry (as long as it's warm out) and they'll preen their feathers and help spread the neem more throughout and get any parasites that might still have survived. Do this early in the daytime so they have all day to dry. You might have to change the water a couple times and reapply the mixture to the water (as the birds will leave with it on their feathers). You should actually be able to see the lice and mites (dead) floating on the surfece. Repeat again in a week.

Permethrin actually can be used in the organic form, (chemically It's the same as RIT they use on head lice in humans) you can find natural organic pyrethrins online, it's derived from the chrysanthemum flower family. Pyrethrins only paralyze the pest, whereas neem kills(when my daughter had lice 6 years ago, I opted for neem vs RIT, worked like a charm).

OR you can also use ivermectin. We use ivermectin on our flock (we used to just do the neem baths, but that can be hard to control inside the actual coop) we now do ivermectin (we use the sheep drench on their bodies (small dots under wings, vent, down back, hackle area) and it works great (made from a bacteria found in the sand in Japan). Eggs can still be consumed. And then we spray the coop with permethrin.

All of these methods are useful for control and safe for your flock. But you need to make sure you repeat when needed as lice and mites hatching is cyclic (that's why it's harder to control in the coop walls, boxes (ground). We used to try DE too, but never had much success, and also worried about the fine particles we (or our chickens) might breath in, now we use it on ant beds only.
If you're able too keep them out of the coop for 3 weeks (if you have somewhere else to house them safely). This would hopefully allow you to treat until the 2nd cycle has hatched (and without a host hopefully will die). As another said pressure washing prob will do more harm than good to the coop itself (lice and mites that are living can actually hold their air in when submerged for hours).

Hope this helps, and hope you are able to get your situation under control. Maybe show your parents this thread, then they might understand a little better why we suggest what we do. We're not saying our methods are the ultimate say, but a lot of us are speaking from experience. Blessings for the best of luck.
 

EEforMe

Crowing
Sep 5, 2021
1,293
3,034
261
Northwest Washington, USA (near Seattle)
EEforme, sorry about your birds. Lice (and mites) aren't fun to deal with especially when you keep trying. I had reserves (when treating) like your parents, didn't want to use a chemical. So use neem. Get it in the garden section, your feed store might also have it. It's perfectly safe. (it won't hurt your birds or effect eggs) Dilute a capful into warm water (close to chicken's body temp but not over (especially with the heat right now) with about a 1/2 tsp of natural dishsoap in a vessel/tub deep enough that you can hold the birds under on their backs (don't dunk their heads, spray their heads lightly afterwards with neem/warm water (look up neem garden spray recipe) and keep their bodies submerged for 10 min (usually easier if you rock gently (swishing the water through wing feathers and tail) like a baby). Dip the birds all the way up to just under their beaks/eyes/ears/nostrils. After you're done just let them air dry (as long as it's warm out) and they'll preen their feathers and help spread the neem more throughout and get any parasites that might still have survived. Do this early in the daytime so they have all day to dry. You might have to change the water a couple times and reapply the mixture to the water (as the birds will leave with it on their feathers). You should actually be able to see the lice and mites (dead) floating on the surfece. Repeat again in a week.

Permethrin actually can be used in the organic form, (chemically It's the same as RIT they use on head lice in humans) you can find natural organic pyrethrins online, it's derived from the chrysanthemum flower family. Pyrethrins only paralyze the pest, whereas neem kills(when my daughter had lice 6 years ago, I opted for neem vs RIT, worked like a charm).

OR you can also use ivermectin. We use ivermectin on our flock (we used to just do the neem baths, but that can be hard to control inside the actual coop) we now do ivermectin (we use the sheep drench on their bodies (small dots under wings, vent, down back, hackle area) and it works great (made from a bacteria found in the sand in Japan). Eggs can still be consumed. And then we spray the coop with permethrin.

All of these methods are useful for control and safe for your flock. But you need to make sure you repeat when needed as lice and mites hatching is cyclic (that's why it's harder to control in the coop walls, boxes (ground). We used to try DE too, but never had much success, and also worried about the fine particles we (or our chickens) might breath in, now we use it on ant beds only.
If you're able too keep them out of the coop for 3 weeks (if you have somewhere else to house them safely). This would hopefully allow you to treat until the 2nd cycle has hatched (and without a host hopefully will die). As another said pressure washing prob will do more harm than good to the coop itself (lice and mites that are living can actually hold their air in when submerged for hours).

Hope this helps, and hope you are able to get your situation under control. Maybe show your parents this thread, then they might understand a little better why we suggest what we do. We're not saying our methods are the ultimate say, but a lot of us are speaking from experience. Blessings for the best of luck.
Oh my gosh! Thank you for such a detailed post! I will definitely talk to my parents about your suggestions!
 

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