Does anyone know how to get rid of lice on chickens, ive used mite powder which did nothing, ive cleaned the run, but nothing has helped, ive heard about deosan spray or frontline but i'm just not sure.
Frontline won't do anything for lice, only mites. Lice eat the feathers and the dust thereof on the skin so any systemic de-wormer won't harm external parasites unless they suck the blood of the animal.
The powders are not very effective as the birds are very good at shaking their plumage getting rid of any foreign matter in their feathers - this is why lice are so hard to remove by hand, they have hooks to hang on to the feather vane.
Dipping the birds in a bucket with a weak malathion solution is very effective and will get rid of the mites and all exoparasites as well. This needs to be done on a warm day as total soaking of the plumage is required. NOTE: The head must not go under and make sure the birds do not ingest any. Some pigeon clubs sell this to their members with the proper dilution rate. Only use this if you have the proper dilution rate as malathion comes under a heap of tradenames and has different strengths.
Deosan spray can also be used but care should be taken with the dilution as it is mainly used on horses. You can make up a solution in a small garden spray type bottle. I am not sure if it is available in small quantities thuogh.
hi there, i was wondering if you had any success with you chickens and the lice problem, i have two girlls that have lice, i have dusted them, but been unsuccessful. would appreciate your help
hi, we ended up going to the vets, they said nothing is licenced for chickens. she gave us frontline spray. worked really well, never had a problem since. you can buy it over the counter at the vets. good luck