Lice on Snowball?!?

[Noraaaaa]

I think that many of you have been following along with snowball. She is my sick chicken that I have no idea what’s wrong with. People thought that she might have reproductive issues or malnourishment or heart issues, but I think that I know the problem now.

HER SYMPTOMS:
Decreased eating, sitting in cup, falling on butt, walking with toes curled, un balanced. Read more here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/snowball-is-still-sick.1654383/


ANYWAYS: the lice.

Up till yesterday, I had thought that the eggs on her head were simply dead skin cells that were being built up because she had not been fist bathing. This is because she was sick. Anyway, she has a bunch of eggs on her head. And then I saw lice. A lot of of them. I had not seen them. I have pictures down below, but right now I will describe them. So many, very small, like to eat at roots of feathers.

WHAT I DID:

It appeared that only three of the other chickens had a few eggs on them with snowball being by FAR the worst case. I sprayed down every single chicken that I own. I also washed snowball fully (as in she was soaked to the skin and very very clean) and then blow dried her. She’s in my heated garage with water and food. I sprayed her a lot.

I sprayed with elector PSD.

Any advice or tips? Mainly I want to know WHAT ARE THESE PESTS???

 

[Ingrid_Grace]

I know it's not natural, but I used a dog flea and tick spray on my chickens once after discovering some sort of bugs living on them.
The spray killed them immediately and I resprayed every week 3 times.

This is the one I used. It is very unnatural, but works in an emergency.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Adams-Fl...jBd2f3f29IpZSni11ADqL-P5ITz0ONSBoCti8QAvD_BwE

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Those are poultry lice. Severe infestation can cause problems for chickens, I almost lost the hen in my pfp to severe parasite infestation a little while ago (She has wry neck and is unable to groom properly, lice get out of hand very quickly with her), she was very weak with loss of balance.
I'm not sure what exactly could be going on with Snowball, could just be the lice or could be the lice taking advantage of her being unwell. Treating the lice will go a long way in helping her recover as they're no longer putting stress on her body.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Yep, those are lice. But they may not be the cause of her problems and may instead be a result of her problems. I believe you mentioned earlier that she cannot preen or dustbathe properly so she cannot control the pests herself.

@Somewhere_In_The_Clouds beat me to it!

 

[StinkyAcres]

Definitely make sure to repeat the Elector PSP, I believe in 14 days, to kill the newly hatched lice.