Tiny white bugs...mites?

[JaxGrits]

I'm having a heck of a time this week with my girls. I have 2 silkies, an easter egger and a ameraucana. A few days ago I saw what appeared to be worm in one of the silkie's poop. I went ahead and treated them all with Safeguard (for goats). Thankfully that's the only time I've seen a worm in any of their poop and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed it if they were out of control- my deck seems to be their favorite place to do it.

This morning I picked up my ameraucana and noticed a few tiny white bugs crawling by her eye. I tote this bird around ALL the time. She's my girl. She is very vocal and loves to be carried around or sit in my lap while I'm watching TV at night. What I'm saying is- I'm always looking at her. This is the first time I've ever noticed any bug on her and I do check all of my girls. I checked down by the shafts of her feathers and didn't see any eggs. Then I checked my little black silkie- I did see what appeared to be eggs on her feather shafts but ONLY up by her ears. Nowhere else on her body. The other two girls appear clean. Tonight I dusted their coop and nesting box with Sevin dust and then I took a large make up brush (which I'm obviously not using) and puffed Sevin dust under all of their wings, their butts, chest, etc really trying to get it down in the feathers. I covered each of their faces with a dishtowel to prevent it from getting in their nose/eye/mouth. I know I have to repeat this in about a week.

I just need someone to confirm that I did the right thing. Is the Sevin going to be effective even though the eggs/bugs I saw were up by their ears?

 

[katelk]

I am new here and new to owning chickens, so I am by no means a pro. However, I recently had a rooster with a mite issue. Mites look like tiny little black or brown specks (or fast moving specks). Describing what your hen has as white bugs, I think you may be talking about lice. It may also explain why you were only *able to see* the eggs on your *black* silkie.
My roo had lice at the same time as the mites and it was actually pretty easy to get rid of!
First of all the Sevin dust was good. I used the food grade DE. That may take care of the issue.
My ignorance on the subject allowed for my roo to get pretty bad before I caught it, so that was not enough in my situation. SO he got sprayed with the Adams brand flea and tick spray (Walmart). Once I started spraying him with that, you could actually see the lice coming out of his feathers and falling away. I did make sure to keep it away from his head though and sprayed it upward into his feathers.
The mites were more of a pain, as the next day there were still some crawling and eggs around his head (where I was unable to spray). I ended up giving him a bath in a tub of very warm water and about a Tbs or so of Adams flea and tick pet shampoo mixed in. I used a cup and poured the water over him repeatedly. You could see dead bugs falling out. Then used a makeup brush to do his head. drained the tub, filled it with clean warm water, rinsed. I blew him dry with a hairdryer before taking him back outside. Have not seen a single mite or any lice since!!

 

[dawg53]

I'm having a heck of a time this week with my girls. I have 2 silkies, an easter egger and a ameraucana. A few days ago I saw what appeared to be worm in one of the silkie's poop. I went ahead and treated them all with Safeguard (for goats). Thankfully that's the only time I've seen a worm in any of their poop and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed it if they were out of control- my deck seems to be their favorite place to do it.

This morning I picked up my ameraucana and noticed a few tiny white bugs crawling by her eye. I tote this bird around ALL the time. She's my girl. She is very vocal and loves to be carried around or sit in my lap while I'm watching TV at night. What I'm saying is- I'm always looking at her. This is the first time I've ever noticed any bug on her and I do check all of my girls. I checked down by the shafts of her feathers and didn't see any eggs. Then I checked my little black silkie- I did see what appeared to be eggs on her feather shafts but ONLY up by her ears. Nowhere else on her body. The other two girls appear clean. Tonight I dusted their coop and nesting box with Sevin dust and then I took a large make up brush (which I'm obviously not using) and puffed Sevin dust under all of their wings, their butts, chest, etc really trying to get it down in the feathers. I covered each of their faces with a dishtowel to prevent it from getting in their nose/eye/mouth. I know I have to repeat this in about a week.

I just need someone to confirm that I did the right thing. Is the Sevin going to be effective even though the eggs/bugs I saw were up by their ears?

You're correct, you're dealing with lice and have done the right thing. Sevin dust will take care of nits and adults but not the eggs. I've read that coconut oil will remove lice eggs. Try to remove all of them before they hatch in 7-10 days. Once hatched, nits will become adults and will start laying eggs....completing the louse lifecycle. Then you'll have to start all over again.

 

[Eggcessive]

Permethrin (Poultry Dust) is another choice for lice/mite treatment. A good organic control after your second treatment in 10 days is finished (to get the lice eggs,) is to use wood ash (from your fireplace) in their dust bath areas. You can also dust them with the ash straight. Many people save their cool ashes in bags for year-round treatment.