Hi,

I have laying hens that have eggs that are going to hatch in not to much longer.I have lice.can i spray the boxes or females witch make contact with the eggs?please help.

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by KAZ

If my breeding birds get lice I give them spot on ivermectin. Aswell as Mite and lice spray. Aswell as a powder that goes under the shavings in the nesting box. I wouldnt go soaking them too much but spray the perches and the floor and everything.

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by Pearce

Yep I agree with Pearce on this post.

Depends on how bad the infestation is and what type of lice/mites you have. ivermectin will not treat lice, but will treat mites. If you have some mild feather lice, i would wait to treat them all when the babies fledge. If you have red mite, then you will have to treat as Pearce mentioned. Eggs are porous, so be very careful.

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by **Liv**

Red mite are very annoying, I had them once and only one thing worked for me. Avian Insect Liquidator.

Ivermectin WILL treat lice, and mites and worms.

 

As red mite breed off the bird you really need to treat the perches, boxes etc. Believe it or not I use surface spray (mortein outdoors or similar) on my breeding boxes, cabinets and perches as well as using spot on ivermectin treatment for the birds themselves. I slowly worked from Avian Insect Liquidator to normal fly spray to surface spray as I had a really bad infestation which kept coming back. For the last 2 years I've used outdoor surface spray before putting birds down to breed (sometimes only allowing drying time before putting them in) with absolutley NO issue..... I was a bit scared at first and only tried it on a couple of boxes to start with. I'm close to sure that I've erradicated the tiny little buggers from my aviary.

 

But I would only use Avian Insect Liquidator in the box with babies currently in it. Not on the eggs themselves either.

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by nubbly5

In the research i have done Ivermectin only kills bugs that feed off the birds body fluids. as lice consume feather (which i believe Ivermectin doesn't penetrate) then the lice will not be killed.

Only if you just use the oral version of Ivermectin and then you are 100% correct as the lice only feed off feather particles and there is no bloody..... I meant blood...... supply to feathers as you said. HOWEVER if you use the spot on (Cattle Pour-On) this translocates around the bird quite readily (and through the skin too) and you will see pretty darn good lice & mite treatment via topical application (i.e.the lice coming in direct bodily contact with the Ivermectin). That's also why you see good scaly mite treatment - they also do not feed on blood. That's why using the Cattle Pour-On is so effective and the oral not as helpful except for worms.

 

Ivermectin is registered as a lice and fly treatment for topical application on sheep, also lice, mite, worm treatment as the cattle pour-on. None of these lice (appart from a couple of cattle face lice) suck blood either.

 

Ooooh, it's scary when you automatically type swear words....... blood v bloody.......... not just a potty mouth that I have, I've got potty fingers too.........

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by nubbly5

Very interesting nubbly I had a red mite problem 6 months ago and it took a while to get rid of them. I used ail, ivermectin and bird mite and lice spray.

Pearce, the more I read about your red mite problem, the more I thought that whilst the birds were treated, the mites were simply living off the birds for short periods of time, then reinfecting the birds as soon as they can.

You are probably right Dave. They kept coming back. It was not until I used A.I.L that they were eradicated for good. They were in the nesting box and they are very hard to see. They cover the babies at night.

Unfortunately with Pearces red mite issue he had faith in a petshop product that was not strong enough. Also as the mite eggs are so minute......like specks of ground pepper.....he may have underestimated how well these specks could be hidden and come out later as fully grown mites ready to eat again.

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by KAZ

Yeah I couldnt get rid of the eggs and I did use a really really terrible product from a pet shop. I wont be doing that again.

Yep with you on that. I found that even the AIL was not stopping the blighters as I could knock them back for a while but then the new hatchees would be back on the birds soon enough - horrible things. I therefore ended up resorting to surface spray. That works a treat as it has a 3 month residual so kills the little so and so's as they hatch - heeheeheehee. I was a bit concerned at first as I believed that birds can be a bit sensitive to some synthetic pyrethroids but they are unfazed luckily.

Hi,

Does anyone know if budgie eggs can have any lice spray on them?

 

Because I have laying hens that have lice and I would like to get rid of them before there is a lice infestatchion.

Depends on how bad the infestation is and what type of lice/mites you have. ivermectin will not treat lice, but will treat mites. If you have some mild feather lice, i would wait to treat them all when the babies fledge. If you have red mite, then you will have to treat as Pearce mentioned. Eggs are porous, so be very careful.

They are little black things and the hens are itching alot but the males ar'nt so much.Oh and how do the eggs go when you spray?I have fidos free-itch rinse concertrate for dogs,cats,puppies,kittens and cage birds.The enstructchion says for ornamental cage bids:mix 2ml of concentrate with 200ml of water and use this solution in a clean pump spray. Adjust spray to fine and spray bird lightly all over, ruffling the feathers to allow spray to penatrate to skin.Avoid contact with pets eyes.Alow bird to dry naturally in a warm place to prevent chilling.reapeat if nessary.It contains in the rinse:10g/L pyrethrins 18g/Lpiperonyl butoxide 3Og/L

n-octyl bicycloheptene dicarboximide

 

Do you think this would be alright to spray on the birds once the babies have hatch and have feathers or could I do it now?

Little black things are red mite.

Red mite is nasty and can kill chicks as they suck their blood.

 

I dont have personal experience with red mite but its better to treat sooner rather than later. I will do some research on your pesticide you have. But i think you will be better off getting some Coopex from the fodder store as its known to be safe (same active ingredient to AIL)

 

 

EDIT:

I did some hunting and personally i think you would be better getting Coopex. Coopex is made with Permethrin which can be used on tiny chicks. The chemicals in the one you have doesn't say its safe for birds so i really couldn't say if its suitable.

 

A link about the active ingredient in Coopex ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin

Edited April 14, 200916 yr by **Liv**

The product you have Clancy isnt right for this job. Either A.I.L. as recommended or the Coopex. You will have to carefully remove the eggs from the nest box and work fast. The best thing you could do is replace the nestbox with a new one after cleaning the cage and that gives you more time to get the mites out of the nestbox you have removed. You will have to be very thorough and also work fast if the Mum is incubating the eggs...she cant be off her eggs longer than 20 minutes. The mites eggs are like specks of pepper, you have to kill them all or you wont have solved your problem at all. you may have losses of chicks due to the mites sucking their blood and hiding in places like their ear canals, any chicks that make it may be weak and sickly, and you may have chicks with feather issues looking like french moult as the mites will interfere with the feather sahfts growing through in some cases.

Best idea would be to stop all breeding right now, and be sure the mites are gone before you begin again.

Edited April 15, 200916 yr by KAZ

Little black things are red mite.

Red mite is nasty and can kill chicks as they suck their blood.

 

I dont have personal experience with red mite but its better to treat sooner rather than later. I will do some research on your pesticide you have. But i think you will be better off getting some Coopex from the fodder store as its known to be safe (same active ingredient to AIL)

 

 

EDIT:

I did some hunting and personally i think you would be better getting Coopex. Coopex is made with Permethrin which can be used on tiny chicks. The chemicals in the one you have doesn't say its safe for birds so i really couldn't say if its suitable.

 

A link about the active ingredient in Coopex ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin

 

I am going to the vet thisafternoon to pick up my dog I will try to get that then if it is not to exspensive.But I am going to try to get it as soon as posibale as some of the eggs i have are due to hatch.Oh and how do you use it and it would be good to know very quickly.

Edited April 15, 200916 yr by clancy

Coopex is available from stockfeed stores and also some hardware stores. I havent seen it at a vets.

Don't spray it onto the eggs as the eggs are very porous and this could not be good for them.