Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hi Poultry Talk Peeps!

My partner and I are new to backyard hen housing and we have acquired 2 barred rock hens. Neither of them are laying despite their age of about 25 weeks. We don't know if they were laying before they moved in with us 2 weeks ago because the flock they came from was too large for the owner to know whether individuals were laying. One of them is vary large and also lethargic. I sometimes catch her 'napping' on the ground in the run between 5-7pm.

The large one definitely has lice! We picked her up the other day and noticed the actual lice as well as egg sacks around the vent. Eeek! Could her lethargy be due to lice? Or might she be otherwise ill?

We have dusted them once with Carbaryl, but since it is a banned substance as of recently, we don't want to use it. They use a dust bath with sand, silt,and DE in it.

What is the best alternative solution to Carbaryl Dusting Powder and please let me know where (what store) to find it in your suggestions. We are in the Toronto area, but willing to travel to find what works!

Thanks so much for any advise you can offer!

honestly if you want to deal with the problem once and for all, use the carbaryl-there's not much more out there that will work and be done with it for lice, that won't affect the eggs. you need to treat her 2-3 times, day 1 (first treatment), again at day 10, and then again at day 20 (if you see anything on her). that will stop them completely. yes, lice can definitely affect the bird, they suck blood and if bad enough they can actually kill the bird.
you can also trim off the feathers coated with eggs using scissors-otherwise those will hatch....lots of chickens will nap on the ground, especially in the sun when it gets cooler in the evening.
if you want to eat eggs (when you get them) do not use the revolution type products...they get into the eggs and are found in the eggs for MONTHS....
honestly, carbaryl will solve your problem once and for all....i don't know of any other product that will work on lice that well, and when used responsibly it will not affect the environment. lice are not killed by ivermectin like mites....so you are quite limited to carbaryl....if you want to eat the eggs.

Thank you for your reply WLLady!

What will folks do when Carbaryl is no longer available? Does tea tree oil work the same on poultry lice as human lice?

Also, for Carbaryl, how long do you wait after treatment to eat the eggs again?

Thanks so much! We are really hoping to nurse her back to health!

no withdrawal for carbaryl. it's a dust so you can wash the surface of the eggs if you want, but there's no residue and it doesn't get "into" the chicken.
when carbaryl is no longer available i will call my vet and get carbaryl dusting powder. LOL. it will be available just by script by a vet. and of course likely cost more....

tea tree oil will discourage lice but not kill them. if you are lucky enough to get the oil on the louse it will smother it but it's super hard to get the oil right on the louse....they just crawl up the hair (or feathers) and you end up with a sticky gross mess of a chicken....the good news is that lice are not quite as prevalent as the northern fowl mite so once you get rid of them this time, as long as no wild birds bring any in, you should be okay. mites are carried by mice and rats too, but lice don't seem to like mice and rats as much....it's usually wild birds that bring in the lice.

so, fingers crossed, you'll nuke it and be done! i've only had lice once on one bird....2 carbaryl treatments cured that. mites on the other hand....yearly occurrance....darned mice....

where do you buy carbaryl? other than vets...

Garden department of a hardware store, at least that's where I stocked up when I heard Sevin might be taken off the market. I didn't find Sevin dust at the time, but I found carbaryl powder for vegetables, called Insect Stop.

At one of my local feed stores i noticed this past weekend that they still have two left on their shelves. You might want to check with feed stores in your area to see if they still have stock left.

yep my feed store still has a couple, and the garden centres, check for anything that is 5% carbaryl (4% will work too).

I looked around on line to find some and had 6 cans shipped to me. It's out there just harder to find. Works like a charm!