Removing Lice NITS

[country]

Hi All,

We have a poultry show in a couple of weeks & my Silkies all have NIT infested beards! I have treated everyone with Sevin & Ivomec Eprinex, so they are all louse free - but how can I get the eggs out of their beards without pulling out the feathers? I've tried vinegar, which didn't work. I've read about WD40 on leg mites & I know it dissolves glue, so would it work?

Any suggestions would be welcomed & appreciated. Especially from those of you who have "been there & done that!"

Country

 

[chickenzoo]

I would not use WD40 on the skin... try putting mineral oil into a spray bottle, spray down the nits and try removing with a flea comb. Afterward give them a good warm bath with Dawn liquid dish detergent, then condition and blow dry......

 

[BWKatz]

Use a cat's flea comb.

 

[country]

Thank you both. I plan on trying the mineral oil and the flea comb. I have a few other ideas too & if anything works I'll post & let you know.

Country/Sheri

 

[Miss Lydia]

also neem oil is good for that also.

 

[country]

Final Test Results Are In!!
I cross posted to the show/breeding forum & there was a recommendation for coconut oil - which works great & the lice nits either disappear or fall off - not sure which. The only drawback is trying to keep it warm enough so it stays liquid. I put it in a plastic bottle, nuked it to liquid, & then wrapped the bottle in a sock. Worked great for a while but then it started getting hard. Luckily, I had some of those chemical hand warmers on hand so I wrapped those up in the sock & that solved the problem. The only drawback to the coconut oil was that it smelled so good it made me hungry!!!

When I first started treating, I didn't have the coconut oil so I tried corn oil, which also worked. Not sure if it was as good as the coconut oil as it took 2 applications. However, probably wasn't a fair test as the hen I used it on was about 5 times as bad as the others. The neem oil mentioned would probably also work but someone pointed out that mineral oil is petroleum based so it might not be good for chickens - same for the WD40, so I didn't try either of those.

Thanks for the replies. BYC'rs are the greatest!!

Country/Sheri

 

[they'reHISchickens]

I think a school nurse told me that the current recommendation is cooking oil on kid's hair to get the nits out, so I woudl think anything like that should work for feathers too. Then, lots of Dawn to get the oil out!

 

[welasharon]

Yes I used the coconut oil and it did work and smelled delicious. I wound up only using it the once cause I got sick and didn't feel like messing with it. I was not instantaneous but after a bit did work. I wasn't showing mine so I didn't wash it out and it went away fairly quick.
sharon

 

[paulina16]

Oils should help this then??

 

[Spalma916]

Oils should help this then??

I hope so, I thought my rooster was pooping on himself till he started walking funny. Now he's infested, gave him DE for 2 days an herbal soak of garlic mainly and peppermint,rosemary, lavender, & eucalyptus but those nits are still there, I'm going to try olive oil or cornola oil and see.