does anyone have a natural cure for lice? the hens I got from the friend who was going to destroy them have lice. they are in general poor health. I have been pouring the vitamins and feed to them and lots of fresh veggies, but have noticed a few with a few lice on them. I don't want to use any pesticides if at all possible. anyone know something I could use for a large # of birds that I would not have to handle each one?
natural cure for lice
I have used Vaseline on the vents for lice - it smothers them. That is fine when they have a minor infestation. For bigger infestations, not so easy. I use permethrin dust now. I know you said you want a "natural" cure with no chemicals, but permethrin is made from chrysanthemums, so I call it natural because it is a naturally occurring substance. So I guess it depends on what you mean by "chemical" but in the true meaning of the term, water is a chemical, likewise sugar, salt, etc.
Diatomaceous earth would be helpful for preventions of future infestations, although I'm not sure how effective it would be on more heavily infested birds. It is certainly natural.
Thanks Moxon. I appreciate that. Where do you get permethrin? I don't think I have ever seen it.
I buy it from here:
http://www.randallburkey.com/prodinfo.asp?number=60275
At 3.99 for that shaker of it, it lasts me a long time. Your local TSC or similar may have it also. Mine has Sevin dust but I refuse to use that because it is not what I consider a natural type of remedy. Therefore, I buy online!
cool thanks Moxon. I will order now.
I have used Sevin, but I like to keep the coop dusted down with Diatomaceous Earth. I use it the botton of the coop under the shavings and in the nest boxes under the cobb bedding. It has kept my birds free from critters.
de is all natural. sevin is a strong garden pesticide both work. i mainly use adams flea and tick spray now. it is faster and lasts 3mths.
I used a combination of DE and seven. I had to dust the entire flock. I counted as I dusted and have over 200 birds... who knew? I just kept collecting them. anyway the flock is free of bugs and are starting to fluff out and look really good now. It had to be stressful.
anyway thanks for the support.
I don't use sevin because like silkie says it's a strong pesticide and i have known 3 people who were hospitalized for getting it in their lungs or on their skin while dusting.
I figure if it's toxic for me to use then it could be toxic to my chickens. I use permethrin and only a small amount sprinkled on their vents and the DE is a good choice too.