chickens and goats with lice?

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help! hubby picked up one of our newly hatched chicks today and found small clear bodied ,thin bugs on his hands.the chick is coverd with them. would these be mites or lice? i have heard wood ashes will work to kill them, anyone use this before? what should i use on the inside of the hen house,this part of the shed also connects to the goats. i saw some type of lice? on the goats also. could this be the same bug?would wood ash work on the goats if i rub it on? the chickens are all free range ,with 3 nests hatching and 2 done. any ideas would be great. also should i worry about the potbelly , pony and the dogs?

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), May 01, 2000

Answers

Goats do get lice,especially over the winter. Clean the barns out well, get all the old bedding out of there before you try dusting the animals, because the lice are in the bedding. Please don't use wood ashes- they are caustic, especially when wet. Diatomaceous earth is cheap,works well,and is not caustic. For the chickens, you might be able to put some of the D.E. where they do their dust bath, and let them fluff it through their feathers. If it is warm at night where you live,I'd clip the goats hair short,give them a bath with shampoo, and dust them with the D.E. too.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), May 02, 2000.

Renee, you probably should check the other animals. When we had lice on our goats the first time (they are prone to them), I asked the vet about it, and he said that although the lice are somewhat species specific, and may not reproduce on another type of animal (i.e. bird lice v.s. mammal lice) they will get on them. Also, he said people lice and animal lice are different, and not to worry about getting them on ourselves. Again, they might get on you and bite, but can't reproduce on human blood -- according to the vet! For the goats I used a pour-on dairy insecticede -- probably wasn't the best choice, but I hadn't heard of the D.E. and couldn't see milking my goats, with my head leaning up against their sides, while they were crawling with lice!!! Yick!! Anyway, good luck -- it's not the end of the world!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 02, 2000.

I dust all the animals about 3 times a year with Sevin dust. You can get it at any gardening/hardware store and it's pretty cheap. Since your animals are infested, I would do it once a week for about 3 weeks. The chicks need to be treated immediately ! Lice infestation can kill animals quicker then you would think. A day could make a difference ! And yes, clean out the bedding areas and dust them too. I also put the dust around the hen yard and in their dusting holes.

-- Monica (zpepenovia@excite.com), December 28, 2000.

Not to be contentious, but I used Sevin dust several years ago on a garden, and every time I did, I felt sick afterwards, sore throat, etc. I would NOT use it again, and especially wouldn't use it on any goats that I cared about. Try diatomacoeous earth (wear a dust mask while using it so it won't damage your lungs).

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), December 28, 2000.

I would recommend not using the sevin dust on any living thing. It is extremely harsh and very much anti-rganic. In other words, I would not use anything in contact with the animals for food.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), December 28, 2000.


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