Lice???

[HayleyB]

There, just another thing we have in common .

- then I read the tub which says 'do NOT inhale the dust.' Ho hum!

I've discovered it makes my head sting but I get little spots - I was convinced it was lice.

I've breathed in tons of louse powder and always think...... gulp .

I bung it in the nest boxes too....

[Flummery]

They do eat the sand - too true. When one of them gets excitid and poos in the water bucket, there's a lot of sand when I wash it out (or is that too much information?) So should I put louse powder in the nest box and house one week and red mite another?

[Birdie Wife]

I don't think louse powder in the house will do any good I'm afraid - it needs to be on the chook to do any good if the chickens eat the sand, maybe the only option left is to catch and dose them properly.

[Flummery]

OK. They are easy to catch fortunately. I don't know if I should use it as a cure or as a preventative?

[Birdie Wife]

Depends what sort it is? Most of the ones with no chemicals in them are preventative (it should say so on the side) - ones that are used to actually kill the lice often aren't licensed for poultry but it doesn't stop people using them successfully! Some people use Nippon ant powder which apparently does a really great job of killing lice have a nosy on the Practical Poultry forum though, there are endless threads there about killing lice. My girls were plagueed with them constantly, despite regular dusting, until I started using Frontline (not the drops - which are too concentrated - the spray, which is at the weakest concentration of active ingredients).

[Flummery]

Thanks Birdie - what would we beginners do without you seasoned poutlry keepers?

[Birdie Wife]

Not seasoned, just obsessive about information gathering with a new hobby (like yourself!). I only started keeping hens less than three years ago!!

[Glutton4...]

Not seasoned, just obsessive about information gathering with a new hobby (like yourself!). I only started keeping hens less than three years ago!!

That makes you an expert as far as we're concerned!

[HayleyB]

Three years? three years? crikey you're a bladdy professor in chookology compared to us lot

[Birdie Wife]

LOL and I'm not infallable!! But thanks for the vote of confidence

[Flummery]

Love the new avatar Birdie! (Never like Battenburg cake!)