Natural Way to Rid Chickens of Lice & Mites

Wood ash kills lice and mites that live on chickens. Yes, just the plain old ash you get from burning fire wood. If you happen to have a wood-burning fireplace or a wood stove in your home, you already have a way to create your own natural treatment to rid your flock of mites and lice.

The house I am currently living in has a gas fireplace, but I have a good friend who heats her house with a wood stove. I regularly fill up a bucket with the ash she would otherwise throw away to take home and dump in my flock’s dusting areas, on Bee’s advice.

Providing my flock with ash to dust in whenever they like helps avoid the problem of external parasite infestations.

It is not unusual for chickens to have a few mites on them, but just like anything else, mites and lice become a problem when there are too many of them trying to feast upon your birds. If your birds’ combs and wattles are looking pale and dull, if your birds are always scratching at their ears, shaking their heads a lot or if you see mites, lice or nits on your birds, you may have a real issue.

I had been worried about these creepy-crawlies when I started my flock this past summer. Initially I made the mistake of going out and buying some chemical insecticide poultry dust… thankfully before I opened it up, I ran across Bee’s story of the Gnarly Bunch, and about how she used wood ash to rid her own birds of mites and lice.

I’m so glad I did! (Which reminds me – I still need to return the chemical-stuff to the store from whence it came!)

If you ever find you need to treat a bird - or a whole flock - for mite / lice infestation, plan ahead and get everything you will need, together. A suggested list would be:

• A helper
• 1 large bowl (big enough to fit most of a chicken into)
• Plenty of wood ash (make sure it’s a few days old and not smoldering… unless you wish to cook your birds instead of cure them)
• NuStockointment
• NeemOil

Fill your large bowl part way with a good amount of wood ash, and be sure to have more ash in reserve.

The best time to treat your flock is after dark, when your birds are roosting and drowsy. It’s much easier to catch your birds in a closed coop… in fact chances are you’ll be able to walk right up and gently pull the bird you wish to work on down from its roost. It might flap a bit in surprise, but chances are it will calm down quickly as it will be rather sleepy and subdued after bed time.

If light is a problem, then try first thing in the morning before your birds have been let outside. 

Treat one bird at a time by setting it in your bowl of wood ash. While holding the bird with one hand (or by enlisting a friend to steady the bird while you rub the ash on it) work the ash deep into the feathers and onto the skin. Try to cover every inch of your bird, being careful around the eyes and nostrils.

Once your chicken has been fully saturated with ash, have your helper apply NuStockaround the eyes, nostrils (being careful not to block the nostrils with the ointment) the legs and around the vent. (Or perhaps your helper could hold the bird and allow you to do the dirty work… ) Please resist the urge to vigorously shake the excess ash from your chicken…

If you have observed nits (louse eggs) which may look like dirt particles around the feather shafts, close to the skin, you’ll want to coat those nits with NuStock also. The NuStock will kill off the eggs, which is important if you want to break the life-cycle of these parasites.

NeemOil should be sprayed on the roosts of your coop to kill off any parasites running about on them. This can be done either before your flock goes to bed the night you plan on treating them, or the morning after. The wood ash and NuStock will control the parasites on your birds for a time, and likewise with the Neem Oil on the perches.

Your birds may look rather rough for a few days, but they’ll be feeling much better without those awful critters chewing on them and making them miserable! Provided your birds are otherwise healthy, the eggs they lay after being treated should be fine to eat - - after all, you haven’t used any chemicals or insecticides at all.

And whether or not you have had an issue with infestation… be sure to keep wood ash available to your birds to dust in year round. It will go a long way to keep your flock healthy and happy. You may even see your birds eat a bit of the ash every now and then. This helps control internal parasites and neutralize other toxins, naturally. Your chickens will know if they need it, so just provide it for them and let nature take care of the rest.

Leigh -

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Chicken Keeping Food For Thought... And a Winner!

By Leigh:

Every now and then, I’m going to infuse this blog with little bits and pieces from the perspective of a Chicken Newbie… (that would be me). I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful mentor in Bee – and some other “Old Timers” that we’ll be hearing from later on down the road.

You see, when I first became interested in keeping chickens, I wanted to do so for a number of reasons, not the least of which was to have my own source of organic, free range eggs.

Ironically, information junkie that I am, the more I read for the purposes of learning how to raise my own chickens, the more I learned about the use of chemicals and medications…

So… if I de-worm my chickens 4 times a year with chemical de-wormer, if I put antibiotics in their water at the first sign of a ruffled feather and if I rub my flock down with chemicals to treat or prevent mites and lice, how would I be eating organic eggs?

I wouldn’t be!

It was only by chance (or fate) that I happened to stumble upon an informational forum thread on a popular chicken website… and I found Bee and her no-nonsense, all natural wisdom. This was what I had been looking for all along! If I wanted to use chemicals and antibiotics, what would be the purpose in raising my own chickens? Why not just buy chemical and antibiotic-laden eggs at the store?

So how does this chicken newbie do things differently than she would have if she’s followed the most common advice out there?

• I don’t use poop boards or clean out my coop daily. I use the deep litter method which is healthier (and more natural for my flock.
• I do NOT useDiatomaceous Earth (DE) in my coop or on my chickens… ever. I don’t want to kill off those good nematodes that feed on the larvae of mites and lice!
• I provide wood ash for my birds to take dust baths in. Wood ash kills mites and lice, and my chickens love to roll about in it. And it’s free. Can’t beat “free!”
• I feed my birds chopped pumpkin seedsevery now and then – it’s a natural, organic de-wormer… and the chickens think it’s a delicious treat.
• I ferment the chicken’s feed – they are better able to absorb the nutrients in this feed, and I’ve cut my feed costs by 2/3rds!
• I use unpasteurized apple cider vinegarin their fermented feed and in their water. The U-ACV has many benefits, including making my chicken’s digestive tract a “hostile environment” for parasites. It may also change the pH and mean more of their fertilized eggs will result in female offspring. Not proven, but I’ll report back on that when I start hatching.
• I understand now that if kept healthy, most chickens with good genetics will not succumb to common illnesses like coccidiosis.
• All critters – including humans and chickens – carry parasites and bacteria. It’s a fact of life. It is only when there is an overgrowth of either that we have problems. Balance is the key! Living in a sterile coop is no better than living in filth. The most natural and organic way to achieve health is by finding that middle ground where a symbiotic relationship is created with both bugs and bacteria – not too many and not too few… just the way life was created and developed on this planet.

So there’s my perspective on some of what I have learned so far.

Oh… and you’re still probably wondering who won the key chain?

Drum roll please…

Commenter #7 – Aoxa

Anonymous November 21, 2012 10:50 AM

Wow! Awesome post :D

I often get eggs with blood on the shell and never considered it abnormal. Usually it is from pullets coming into lay or really big eggs like Bee said. :)

-Aoxa

(And if you’re wondering, multiple comments by one person were counted as one, and MY posts don’t count. I also didn’t count those that were just a question about another comment.)

So congratulations, Aoxa! Please email me at shabbychicken@hotmail.com with your mailing address and your choice of keychains!

Leigh –

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Ask Bee - Lice, Mites, Bumblefoot, Poor Feathering... Where Am I Going Wrong?

Dear Bee,

I live in Colorado and have 9 backyard birds ranging in age from 7 months to 5 years. The birds sleep in a coop overnight but are allowed to free range in the yard the rest of the time. The pen that contains the coop is covered with a metal roof and tarped on the north and west sides.  It is a 10 x10 dog kennel. There is also a small dog house in the pen that has a single nest box in it. The birds lay in the coop and the dog house. The coop is too small to house the birds indoor and so they are never locked up in it even in bad weather but they have access to a wind free, dry pen at all times. The bottom of the coop is covered in wood shavings and the nest boxes are filled with straw. I scoop the overnight poop off the shavings daily and change out the nest box straw monthly. The inside of the coop and perches are washed down spring and again in the fall before winter really sets in. I use a bleach and soap mix and let air dry in the sun completely before putting the birds back.

             

The area they free range in is divided. One side of the yard is wood mulch with no grass at all (I have a dog who has a contact allergy to grass). The other side is grass which is never sprayed with fertilizer or pesticide or herbicide.

They eat Purina layer crumbles, nutrena scratch wild bird seed with BOSS, I cook special meals for them regularly and they also get leftovers and scraps from the kitchen. They get some kind of a mash type breakfast every day. I add crushed egg shell 3 to 4 times a week to their feed as well as a kelp, nutritional yeast, garlic supplement 2x a week. They also have constant access to oyster shell. I feed minced raw game meat 2 or 3 times during molt which typically occurs in the fall (right now) and again in spring. The water dish is changed daily and has Apple Cider Vinegar added daily as well

The problems I am having are a constant battle with lice, thin shelled eggs, poor feathering, constant head shaking like they have ear mites and the jersey has had a bald patch on her chest since this past spring. I also have 5 out of 9 birds with bumble foot although none of them are evidencing pain or limping. I haven’t seen any worms in the poops. I don’t count on the silkies for eggs and the buff orp has never been a layer so that leaves me 6 active layers and I get anywhere from 3 to 6 eggs a day. I average 4 eggs a day from 6 birds so I feel like egg production is right where it should be but the birds aren’t in optimal health and I’d like to change that.

I have been dusting the birds weekly now for over a month. I dust with Diatomaceous earth (DE)one week and then with permethrin the next week. This summer I cut off the feathers with egg clusters around the vents and dusted birds in an effort to short circuit the breeding cycle of the lice - but no luck. I have washed dusted and sprayed the coop and perches and nest boxes as well. The nest boxes have DE in them. I have not attempted to treat the bumblefoot as of yet.

I don’t know where to go from here. I think I’m doing what I should be but I’m clearly failing somewhere.

  

Answer:

I can't say for sure about things unless I actually saw your land and setup but I can make a few suggestions that may be a turning point in their health. 

First, it sounds like they may be a little overfed but I can't be sure because I don't know if you feed free choice or by the meal.  All the cooking and preparation of foods isn't necessary for chickens, though I know a lot of people think that's the way to go.  If you make any adjustments to your feeding regimen, I'd suggest moving towards just fermenting the layer feed and whole grains that you currently feed and feeding them once or twice a day until they are doing better, then maybe moving that to once a day. 

From the internet:

Bumblefoot - Causes:

When birds are overfed food that contains uric acid, such as boiled eggs, it will provide the blood with a high level of uric acid content, which will then cause the uric acid crystals to pool together in the joints and on the bottom of the bird's feet and toes. 

Unsuitable Roosts / Standing & Walking Platforms:

These abscesses are frequently caused by unhealthy "perching" conditions, such as sharp-cornered perches, the standard perches that tend to come with prefab coops of a uniform diameter, or wire floors.

Next, pumpkins are a good supplement in the middle of winter when they lack any good, fresh forage, so I'd let those ferment as well and feed them later on.  Not daily... maybe weekly or bi-weekly if you have the pumpkins.

Bleaching any environment or equipment in the coop is just not something I ever recommend, nor dusting the whole place with powders of any kind – including Diatomaceous earth (DE).  All that does is kill everything... unfortunately it also kills all the beneficial bacteria, yeasts, good microbes and other organisms that keep a healthy balance in their environment.  Doubly unfortunate, the bad guys grow and populate that now empty slate much quicker than the good guys and then they rule once again.  This necessitates repeated bleachings and poisonings and so the cycle goes round and round, where it stops nobody knows.

Diatomaceous earth (DE) just kills all the goodies in the soil.  Not a good thing to do… ever.  

Start a deep litter going in your coop (see the Deep Litter tab at the top of the page)...  I know you said you have pine shavings but deep litter is a little different than just having deep shavings in the coop that you keep raking out.  Leave that poop and work it into the litter and keep building on that.  Contrary to theories that deep litter is a hiding place for mites and lice and will promote their life, it is also a hiding place for those creatures that prey on their larvae.  Yes, even parasites have parasites.  Make a good home for the parasites of the parasites and you won't have a good home for the parasites.  I hope that wasn't too confusing. 

A good deep litter system is a healthy way to help chickens who need good bacteria in their lives, as the deep litter is just a petri dish for the growth of beneficial microorganism. 

So... to recap, good fermented feed to populate their insides with good bacteria and deep litter to grow good bacteria in the coop environment.  These are long term fixes that, when nurtured and developed, will keep your flock from getting these bad things instead of trying to treat for them once they have been gotten. 

For fast relief of the current problems, place NuStock on those nits at the base of the feathers, on the skin of their face and ears, and dust these chickens thoroughly with wood ashes.  Not Diatomaceous earth (DE).  Wood ashes worked lovingly and deeply under the feathers and into the skin.  Then set up a good dusting area of the same.  You can even place the ashes in the nesting box. 

Speaking of the nesting box... get rid of straw.  Hay - yes, straw - no.  Straw has lovely little tubes where bad boys like to hide and live until they can come out at night and bite someone.  You can use hay or pine shavings for the nest boxes and even place a little wood ash in there. 

If the coop is too small for them to get into and out of cold weather, this is something I would change.  I assume CO has weather somewhat similar to where I live and though an open air coop system is nice for the ventilation, birds like to sleep somewhere a little more snug and out of the wind when cold weather blows.  If not, they will be using all the nutrition in their feeds to keep warm instead of for health and growth.  If your coop is too small for all your birds at once, change the situation... either eliminate some of the birds or construct a bigger coop space. 

If eliminating, I'd start with your Buff Orpingtons and the Silkies... eating lots but not producing much.  In these economic times, it just isn't feasible to keep supporting non-producers.

- Bee

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Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 12 - 9/29/12

9/29/12

Did a one week raid on the coop tonight to check progress on all the gleet, lice, skin mites, scale mites, etc.  I'm adding bumblefoot to that list.... I guess their feet were so dirty when they arrived that I didn't catch this, but seeing clean feet tonight I noticed that several of them have had bumblefoot at one time or another.  Several feet with the callous, dark scab and evidence of a deep wound bed... none currently inflamed and no chickens limping, so I won't get too enthused with that little item. 

GOOD:  Not one single bird has lice or skin mites now.... not one.  Clean as a whistle! I know... I'm stunned also.  Just a few days ago we had checked and there were three that still had a good showing of lice and skin mites.  Now there are none. 

GOOD:  Lots and lots of feather regrowth going on.... many, many pin feathers.  Even in the places that were bald from gleet and lice damage.

GOOD:   All birds that had previously been noted to have had pretty bad gleet were showing signs of gleet free skin, no new fungal growth at base of feathers, no bad smell from the gleet.  All that was left was NuStock residue that could be combed out or flaked off easily.  No balls of fungus!!! 

I don't know if you have ever smelled or seen this stuff but it smells like pure rotten meat and it looks like runny, oozy, diarrhea water on the feathers and the fungal knobs at the base of the feathers look like crusty little balls of poop… but they aren't.  They cannot be washed off like you could do with poop but would have to be soaked, scraped and pulled off forcibly.
 

GOOD:  Scale mite is not progressing and some scales on a few birds are grooving up in a ridge in preparation of falling off, with new growth underneath.... that fast.  I know.  This NuStock is some kind of miracle.  It did it that fast last time I used this stuff and I was so duly impressed that I've been singing the praises of this stuff ever since. 

BAD:   Found one chicken that we had missed medicating around her vent with the NuStock upon arrival.  She had lots of good feathering there and we just missed her... no evidence on her skin or feathers that we had applied NuStock previously.  She had gleet really bad... I mean stinking, wet, horrible won't forget that smell anytime too soon bad.   Clipped the wet feathers away from her vent and cleansed the whole site with straight ACV (apple cider vinegar).  I know... harsh.  But it was all I had on hand at the time and it did a good job.  She had bleeding ulcerations on the inside lip of her vent which were consistent with what I had read about gleet. 

We cleaned it good and applied NuStock to the whole vent area and the surrounding tissues.  I even applied some right up inside the vent on the ulcerated areas.  We'll check this bird in a week and see if there is any progress. 

BAD:  Everyone's still too skinny but that is to be expected in only a week.  Some feel like they've added a few ounces but not enough to really make a difference. 

If you had ever told me that I would be down on my knees at midnight, combing and clipping bird butts I'd have told you that it may happen in some kind of parallel universe... but not in this one.  

Overall I am very, very pleased with the progress made in one week on these birds... no lice, no skin mites, improved scale mite damage, drastic decrease in gleet symptoms, good feather regrowth starting, clean and healthy looking feet, cleaner and healthier looking feathers, improved comb and leg coloring. 

Everything I've read about gleet would suggest that it could not be resolved that fast and that it was systemic and all through the alimentary canal.  All I know is that the birds that had it that got NuStock treatment to their vents and their swollen, reddened abdomens have shown marked improvement with no signs of gleet around the vent and the swellings are about half the size they were.  The one bird that didn't get any NS on her vent still has active gleet... I don't know what to make of all that but I will not be surprised to check her in a week and find that gleet gone. 

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 13 - 10/1/12