The Easiest Way to Get Rid of Chicken Mites and Lice

The Easiest Way to Get Rid of Chicken Mites & Lice

If you've ever struggled with battling chicken mites or lice, you know it can be AWFUL. I'm ashamed to say that, by the time I realized my chickens had bugs, they were BAD, and they had both lice and mites. I mean, I couldn't pick up any of my chickens without being covered by the tiny bugs you can hardly see, but you definitely feel them. And don't even get me started about the times (yes plural!!) that they got into my hair!
Chicken. Bugs. Are. AWFUL!! I hope you never get to the point where I was, but if you've been there, you know. 

I tried everything I could find... I cleaned my coops meticulously, dusted them and my chickens with diatomaceous earth and sprayed them with need oil... I even dipped my chickens in a bath with neem oil in it. Some of the things I tried seemed to help for a bit but nothing I tried actually fixed the problem. Everything had to be done over and over again, and I had over 100 chickens at the time, so treating each chicken individually took FOREVER. I really didn't want to have to use chemicals, but I did get desperate enough to buy a chemical chicken powder for bugs... Although I don't think I ever actually used it. 

Then I stumbled upon an article with a different bit of advice than I had seen before. It suggested putting sulfur powder into a little cotton sachet bag, that you then hang in your coop, somewhere where the chickens have to brush up against it at some point in their day. 

I decided to give it a try, and it didn't fix the problem over night, but one day, I realized that the bugs were just gone. There were even some that had climbed onto the bags of sulfur and just died right there. I wish I had kept track of how long it took for the sulfur to rid of my bugs, but I didn't even think about it at the time. But let me tell you, this stuff WORKS! 

How it works

If you look, you'll find all kinds of advice on using sulfur that includes everything from feeding it, to dusting it directly onto your chickens and adding it to their dust baths...

This is the method that I chose to use, and it worked like a charm, and, for me, this was 100% the easiest method. All you have to do is get one or two cotton sachet bags (like the ones you can find on Amazon here). For perspective, I have over 30 chickens in my coop now and only 2 bags of sulfur hung up. It's been over 3 months and there's still plenty of sulfur powder left in them.

You'll also want to get some sulfur powder that's at least 99% pure, to avoid harmful fillers. This is a link to the sulfur that I use here.

 

Fill your sachet bag with the sulfur powder and hang it somewhere in your coop where some of your chickens, at least, are sure to brush up against it at some point during their day. I have my bags hung up in the door to their roost, so they all brush up against the bags when they go to bed and when they get up in the morning. The great thing about this method is that, even if some chickens don't touch the bag of sulfur directly, they will still get some of it on them by touching the chickens who did touch the bag. 
That's it, you're done! Just make sure to hang the bag securely, so the chickens can't knock it off onto the ground. 
I like this method because it works, it's super easy, one bag will last you months, and this way, I don't have to worry about irritating the chicken's sensitive lungs by filling the air with dust from diatomaceous earth or sulfur powder. 

A little bit about sulfur

Sulfur is a naturally occurring compound and is traditionally used in a wide variety of ways, including fungus and pest control in gardens. Elemental sulfur or dusting sulfur is even approved for use in organic gardening. It's also used in a diluted solution as a dip for dogs and cats to treat things like ringworm, mange, pests, and other things.

Handling sulfur safely 

Sulfur is highly flammable and is toxic if ingested or inhaled and it can be irritating to some peoples' skin, so handle with care. Wearing rubber gloves when you handle it is a good idea, just in case you might be sensitive to it. 

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