Chicken Lice

[me&thegals]

Thanks! At 80-100 birds right now, all free ranging, looking each one over for mites seems a bit daunting. I love the warmer months when they're dust bathing outside and I feel pretty confident of their ability to keep themselves healthy. Maybe I can do some checking on the roosts this winter...

 

[Farmfresh]

I would just do a spot check of about 15 birds or so. That should take care of it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Me&, they will start to lose feaathers too. if your birds share their feeders/ barns with other birds, your bound to have lice at one time or another. at one point, I was going through a bag of feed every two to three days(and the chickens had lice), until i discovered why--other birds were eating the feed and living in the rafters of my barn. i put some barn cats in there, and i haven;t had birds in my barn, or lice on my chickens since.

Also, check your birds at night, while they are on the roost. Check their tail feathers. if you see a whitish buildup at thebase of the feathers--those are lice eggs.