Remove mites and lice from chickens in three easy ways
Whether you have urban backyard laying hens or a rural chicken coop, lice as well as mites and other unwanted critters may show up, and there are easy, inexpensive and natural ways to remove pests like lice from chickens and keep them away. Follow the steps in this eHow article and you may see improvement right away.
Instructions
1. Put cedar chips in their nesting boxes. Cedar chips can be purchased bulk at garden, pet and feed stores. It's an old farmer's trick and repels not only lice, but other pest insects. Laying hens love it in their nest boxes. Some people say pine works just as well, others swear cedar is the best.
2. Use food grade diatomaceous earth. This is another old farmer's trick coming back into favor as the world goes green and discovers nature has better answers to almost everything. Diatomaceous earth is fossilized "diatoms" which are a type of algae. It's a white flour-like material that's completely natural and even nutritious for the birds, but its shape mechanically kills and eliminates flies, intestinal worms, mites and lice on chickens. Some DE is made for construction and swimming pools and isn't food grade, so get the food grade kind from pet, feed or seed stores. Add it 1 part to 50 parts of feed, and sprinkle it in nest boxes and into coop bedding. It's abrasive to human lungs so sprinkle it carefully and don't inhale.
3. Let them remove lice themselves. Chickens aren't the airheads we sometimes think they are as we roll our eyes watching them cover themselves in dirt while they take "dust baths." Being smarter than they are, we make sure we remove them from the earth and put them on concrete or in cages so they won't go through this ridiculous ritual, which happens to be how they get rid of lice. They sprinkle dirt and dust throughout their feathers, which rids and suffocates the mites and lice. Clear an area that remains dry and mud free where they can take dust baths from your natural soil. And/or, enhance a dust bathing area with wood ashes and a little diatomaceous earth. An area about 3 feet by 3 feet should be fine for up to half a dozen hens, make it a little larger or make more areas for more chickens. If they're inside on concrete, try filling a kiddy pool half way with dry soil, and add the ashes and diatomaceous earth.
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