Four Ways to Treat Chicken Lice

Like mites, lice are a parasite that may infect your chickens from time to time. Lice will live beneath your chickens’ feathers, lay eggs there, and suck blood from your chickens’ bodies. Although lice are small, they can cause huge damage to your flock: an infestation of lice can cause a decline in egg production and anemia, and, in severe cases, death.

An infestation of lice is not necessarily a sign of bad chicken coop hygiene. Keeping a clean chicken coop will certainly help prevent lice, as will regular dust bathing, but lice is usually transmitted to chickens through wild birds. Lice that afflict your chickens is different from human head lice, so don’t worry about catching lice from your hens.

Lice are difficult to spot, so it’s important to check your chickens regularly. The easiest places to find lice are around chickens’ vent area and under the wings. You may also see lice around the chicken coop if you have an infestation.

If you find that your chickens have lice, you’ll need to treat it promptly and aggressively. Here are a few ways to treat lice in chickens:

1. Diatomaceous Earth. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is the safest way to treat lice in chickens. DE is not a chemical, but it comes from fossilized marine algae (diatoms) that is reduced into a powder. DE works by tearing the bodies of parasites like lice and causes them to die within one or two days. If you use DE, make sure that you use food-grade DE. All other DE (like DE for pools) is too strong for chickens and will kill them. Even if your chickens don’t have lice, sprinkling DE around your chickens’ coop, nesting boxes, dust bathing area, and in their feed is a good way to prevent parasites from feeding on your flock. It is safe to eat your chickens eggs while using DE and DE may not be effective for severe infestations of lice.

2. Sevin Dust. If you have a severe infestation of lice, you may need something stronger than DE, like Sevin dust or Adams spray, to treat your flock initially. The active ingredient in Sevin dust is an insecticide called Carbaryl. When purchasing Sevin dust, make sure the product contains at most 5% Carbaryl. Wear gloves when handling Sevin dust, and follow the package directions accordingly, adding the dust to water to make a spray. Apply the spray all around the interior and exterior of your chicken coop, including your chickens’ nesting area. Do not apply Sevin dust directly to chickens. 
   

3. Malathion Spray. Malation spray is similar to Sevin dust. To make a Malathion spray, mix 1.5 pounds of malathion with 10 gallons of water. Malathion spray can be applied to the chicken coop’s walls, roosts, and ceiling. Do not apply Malathion spray directly to your chickens or on their feeders, waterers, or nests.

4. Permethrin. If you need a lice-killing product to apply directly to your birds, mix 6 ½ ounces of 10% Permethrin with 10 gallons of water. This solution can be applied to chickens directly. Lice like to congregate in your chickens’ vent area, so use Permethrin generously there as well as underneath their wings.