wee black beasties on the chooks

[camillitech]

hi guys,
we've had 4 hens for a year now and they're great layers, well fed and have acres to scratch about in. they've always had a few of these mite like things round their eyes and combs but just lately there seem to be more of them. is this normal (time of year) or is it something to worry about?

cheers paul

[paddy]

Are they "Ticks" Paul..........sheep ticks about 3mm in size like a spider but have a reddish tinge to them.......but then they blow up loaded with blood.

[ohareward]

Hi Paul, Not sure if this is what you have.
Tropical Chicken Flea. This flea clusters on the comb, wattles and earlobes and around the eyes of the bird. It causes irritation to the membranes of the eye and may cause eventual blindness and death. It also causes a loss of weight and lowered egg production. Use carbaryl, coumaphos or malathion according to the manufacturer's directions.

Fowl Tick, or Blue Bug. The fowl tick, also known as the blue bug, is a soft, flat bug. Mature fowl ticks are 1/4 - 1/2 inch (6.3 - 12.7 mm) in length, leathery, egg-shaped, eight-legged, and thin bodied, and are reddish to blue-black in colour. The lavae ar six legged and 1/10 inch (2.5 mm) long and dark blue or purpish in colour. The adults are nocturnal feeders. Treat as for above.

Hope this helps.

Robin

[fenwoman]

hi guys,
we've had 4 hens for a year now and they're great layers, well fed and have acres to scratch about in. they've always had a few of these mite like things round their eyes and combs but just lately there seem to be more of them. is this normal (time of year) or is it something to worry about?

cheers paul

having "always had a few of these mite like things round their eyes and combs " is just not acceptable, any more than it is for a dog or cat to be infested with fleas and nothing done about it.
They suck blood and transmit infection.They pull a bird's health down and can make them anaemic and sick and susceptible to illness.
Get a good louse powder and delouse each bird. Then clean the henhouse, place clean shavings in (no hay or straw) and sprinkle louse powder all over it.
Treating for lice and deworming is basic animal husbandry and should be part of any minimum level of care. Anything less would be neglect. There is no shame in birds getting lice or scaley leg, but there is shame in not getting either of them treated properly to eradicate them.
Chickens don't have 'fleas' BTW, they get poultry lice.
Redmites on the other hand, live in the housing and come out at night to feed.
To have such a massive louse burden that they can be seen clustered around the face is something that I would be deeply ashamed of as it implies neglect.

[Millymollymandy]

Can you tell me what 'louse powder' is (i.e. the ingredients not the brand name) that you can actually put direct on the bird? We don't have such things in France for poultry care, though I have a powder for dusting around the hen house, which is an insecticide. It was based on Rotenone but that has been recently banned so it is Pyrethrum now. So I'm interested to know if it can be used direct on the bird if I ever spot any lice.

[fenwoman]

Can you tell me what 'louse powder' is (i.e. the ingredients not the brand name) that you can actually put direct on the bird? We don't have such things in France for poultry care, though I have a powder for dusting around the hen house, which is an insecticide. It was based on Rotenone but that has been recently banned so it is Pyrethrum now. So I'm interested to know if it can be used direct on the bird if I ever spot any lice.

The simplest solution would be to buy a tub of the stuff online from over here. SOmething like battles louse powder, to be applied direct to the birds. There has to be a product over there used for treating lice. Is your French good enough to ask at the local agri' merchant?Active ingredient seems to be 'permethrin'
http://www.alphahatch.com/index.asp?fun ... oductid=88

[Millymollymandy]

I will look up permethrin.

No there isn't anything in France. I have searched the internet in French to no avail. We have even asked at the vets and just got a shrug, a bemused look and a 'no idea' in response. Yes French is good enough!

[Millymollymandy]

Permethrin is a synthetic insecticide based on Pyrethrum, which is a natural plant based product. However I still wouldn't want to put it direct on my chooks not knowing whether I could or not! I do sprinkle it into the nest boxes and in the indoor dust bath though, so they do get a bit of it on them. Maybe that is why I have never had a problem with lice or mites?

[fenwoman]

Permethrin is a synthetic insecticide based on Pyrethrum, which is a natural plant based product. However I still wouldn't want to put it direct on my chooks not knowing whether I could or not!

Since battles louse powder is sold to be put on chickens, I don't really see where your doubts come in. I buy stuff online from all over the world. Why cannot you buy this or a similar product online from over here? I am amazed that French poultry keepers don't delouse their birds and an slightly unbelieving that they don't. My French is non existant so I am unable to ask some of the French poultry keepers I know of.

[Millymollymandy]

I didn't mean the Battles stuff, I meant the stuff I have! It says to use inside the house as an insecticide in cupboards etc, pet bedding and poultry sheds! It does not say apply direct to pets or chickens!

Most UK based websites won't deliver outside of the UK, and if they do, the postage is usually astronomical. I can't see anything that mentions delivery to the EU on the website that sells the Battles stuff.

You may not believe it, but really this is not a country that cares a huge amount about animal welfare! Most people don't get their cats spayed and they just drown the kittens. Hunting dogs are shut in tiny cages all summer long or kept tied up on chains and bark incessantly. Would they care about a few itchy chickens?

There may be stuff available to commercial breeders but not to Joe Public!

[camillitech]

having "always had a few of these mite like things round their eyes and combs " is just not acceptable, any more than it is for a dog or cat to be infested with fleas and nothing done about it.
They suck blood and transmit infection.They pull a bird's health down and can make them anaemic and sick and susceptible to illness.
Get a good louse powder and delouse each bird. Then clean the henhouse, place clean shavings in (no hay or straw) and sprinkle louse powder all over it.
Treating for lice and deworming is basic animal husbandry and should be part of any minimum level of care. Anything less would be neglect. There is no shame in birds getting lice or scaley leg, but there is shame in not getting either of them treated properly to eradicate them.
Chickens don't have 'fleas' BTW, they get poultry lice.
Redmites on the other hand, live in the housing and come out at night to feed.
To have such a massive louse burden that they can be seen clustered around the face is something that I would be deeply ashamed of as it implies neglect.[/quote]


cheers henwoman for the good advice and friendly helpful delivery i managed to stop my wife slashing her wrists last night so we can get some powder in inverness today when we go and visit my mother who has just had a stroke


bad manners don't come naturally, you have to work at them

[fenwoman]

I didn't mean the Battles stuff, I meant the stuff I have! It says to use inside the house as an insecticide in cupboards etc, pet bedding and poultry sheds! It does not say apply direct to pets or chickens!

Most UK based websites won't deliver outside of the UK, and if they do, the postage is usually astronomical. I can't see anything that mentions delivery to the EU on the website that sells the Battles stuff.

You may not believe it, but really this is not a country that cares a huge amount about animal welfare! Most people don't get their cats spayed and they just drown the kittens. Hunting dogs are shut in tiny cages all summer long or kept tied up on chains and bark incessantly. Would they care about a few itchy chickens?

There may be stuff available to commercial breeders but not to Joe Public!

I'll ask my brother (who lives in the Dordogne) to ask his poultry keeping neighbours if they know of a product they can recommend. Otherwise, if you would like something , let me know what it is, like the battles, and I will buy it and send to you at whatever it costs since I send my brother stuff all the time and the postage is reasonable. Otherwise, ask visiting friends or family to bring you what you need?

[red]

sticking nose in here.. and I don't even keep chickens at the moment! - but I would be cautious over importing chemical treatments into a country that does not sell it. - if its banned you could be breaking the law.

[red]

cheers henwoman for the good advice and friendly helpful delivery i managed to stop my wife slashing her wrists last night so we can get some powder in inverness today when we go and visit my mother who has just had a stroke


bad manners don't come naturally, you have to work at them

good reply
sorry to hear about your mum though

[camillitech]

cheers red,
mums just fine, hoping to be out on fri or sat. she's not worried about the fact she might have died just annoyed about being stuck inside with all this good weather and all she can talk about is getting her leaks in

now you must excuse me i have to go and thrash myself and put on my sackcloth and ashes cos i didn't have time to get the flea powder

paul n barbara