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Lice Menacanthus stramineus - Treatment with essential oils - Prevention through diet.

Here is Garbo getting ready for a treatment. It is best to do this in the evening, if possible and where it is warm and peaceful. This will put your bird in a relaxed state, so that she or he will be much more receptive to being treated. Using an essential oil, which has a pleasant and calming scent also helps! You can find Part 1 of this article on identification of poultry lice here

Garbo our chamois crested and bearded Polish hen

A few words on essential oils


In a following blog I am going to share in more detail the essential oils I use and the infused oils I make. I have been treating with them for many years, having first provided myself with a good 'textbook' and had numerous conversations with local organic farmers. In fact the oil I am using in this treatment was one recommended by the latter.

N.B. Except for Lavender essential oil and in a case of severe infection, Tea Tree, I would never use a pure essential oil  upon a bird. Oils should be diluted in a suitable organic carrier oil, such as olive, sunflower or coconut. The ratio I use is one teaspoon (5ml) of carrier oil per bird to 1-3 drops of oil. However, when I am treating a lot of birds at once I usually use no more than 10 drops at any one time in a large pipette bottle (100ml)  of carrier oil. In the case of a very powerful oil, such as essential oil of oregano, I would not use more than 3 drops in total for the flock. These are the rules I apply to my own birds and I have found that they work.


Essential oil for treating lice on a Polish rooster

Eucalyptus citriodora and how it works on lice.


All the lemon scented essential oils have the effect of disrupting the olfactory receptors, so the parasite can not easily find its host. Furthermore, when you apply any sort of viscous carrier oil to a louse, the spiracles, pores through which it breathes, become blocked and thus its air supply is cut off. You might therefore ask why bother with the essential oil. Well, I have read that in laboratory tests on lice, an hour after being blocked with oil, the spiracles begin to clear and the louse actually revives! Therefore, as a back up procedure we add the essential oil, eucalyptus citriodora, which has the properties of an insecticide. In using this essential oil you thus have the double effect of killing the ectoparasite and discouraging any others, who escape, from coming back.

How, when and where to apply


Treating lice with essential oil

Because I have been using essential oils for a long time I find it easy to apply them straight from the pipette bottle. These, by the way, you should be able to purchase from your local chemist or on-line. However, if you are worried about the bird moving and spilling it or getting it on sensitive areas, then you might feel happier using a cotton bud dipped in the oil.

Checking along the back of a Polish hen for lice
First check the obvious areas, remember you are looking both for the lice and their eggs (nits). You do not want to put too much oil on the bird, apart from being limited to how much essential oil you should use, you do not want to saturate the down feathers and risk chilling the bird. On the first treatment I would check all the key areas where the lice congregate. These are mainly those where it is difficult for the bird to reach and groom. Therefore, around the vent, along the spine, under the top of the wing, in the depression at the back of the neck above the wing, on the breast and if they have one, on the crest. Strangely enough I rarely find lice on my Polish birds' crests, you would think it would be a great hiding place but it is also possibly one area really obvious for other birds to notice and groom.


Polish rooster's crest - checking for lice

Assess, which areas have the highest concentration of lice and in particular nits and treat them first. You can leave other areas until the next day. Already you will be getting rid of the greater proportion of parasites and making the bird feel better.  You want the bird to remember a positive outcome, rather than for it to feel uncomfortable because you have kept it too long under a possibly stressful treatment. Keep assessing the bird as you treat, if it starts to kick  or make worried noises then stop and take a break. Everything you do now will impact on how easy it will be to treat in the future


My Polish hen being checked for lice

Lice move really fast once you expose them to light, so get yourself organised and ready to treat as soon as you move the feathers aside. Having a bird who is co-operative is a real bonus. If you are treating a bird for the first time he or she is obviously going to be a bit concerned as to what you are doing. They will also see the pipette as threatening and possibly try to peck or bite it. Given also the sensitivity of the areas you are treating just be aware of how they will be feeling, so having birds that are tame and who already know and trust you is really a prerequisite of a successful and stress-less experience. If you are not in this position with your birds then having someone to help you hold the bird and keep it calm may be a good idea. As you progress with treatments your birds will soon get to realise that what you are doing is in their best interests.

Checking a Polish hen for lice
If your bird has only a few lice, you may have treated the problem within a few days. However, consider the life cycle of the louse, the speed with which it matures and the egg-laying capacity of the female. You will need to keep  checking the bird for 10 days or so after the first treatment, just to make sure nothing has hatched!

Vitamin A - Preen oil -  The multifunctions of the uropygial gland


Apart from the fact that a good and in my opinion paleo, diet should keep your chickens healthy, there is  also a body of research to suggest that this also effects the way in which parasites attach themselves to a specific host. In particular, it has been found that birds with a deficiency in Vitamin A seem more prone to infestation. Given that lice appear to like a very dry environment, it has always been my guess, that this may be one of the links.

Chicken food with carrots a good source of vitamin A
Reading around the subject, Vitamin A deficiency does indeed lead to preen gland malfunction, with the gland becoming  enlarged due to the papilla (the projection through which the oil is dispersed) being blocked with a plug. The worse case of lice I ever had in a bird,  was in one I bought from an exhibition. She was a blue Barbu de Watermael, which is a rare bird in a rare colour, she had, I guessed, been exhibited and therefore bathed quite frequently.  In her case the infestation was so bad, it crept up on us both so quickly after I bought her, that I ended up having to put her up to her neck in warm water to get rid of them. I then made sure she was well provided with a good diet and I rubbed coconut oil into the parts of her skin, which were already excessively dry. It is funny that it is often said for children that lice are only attracted to 'clean' heads, it is more probable that they are attracted to over-washed ones! In fact vitamin A deficiency not only causes dry skin but it also has the effect of causing the over-production of keratin in hair/feather follicles Follicular hyperkeratosis - in other words one of the louse's favourite foodstuffs!


There is on-going research to study the complexities of the function of preen oil in birds. So far it has been established that this contains not only antimicrobials, to protect the feathers from deterioration by bacteria but also that it has antifungal properties. However, the oil has insecticidal as well as insect deterrent properties, possibly subject to many factors including age, diet and stress.

Vitamin A and Protein


There is a link between the  storage, transport and utilisation of Vitamin A and the intake of protein. The quality of the protein also seems to have an important role in Vitamin A metabolism, so again think chicken paleo, thus invertebrate protein rather than feeding protein in the form of grains and legumes.

Now if you would like to sit back and watch the second part of my lice film.



I can provide the links for the several scientific papers, I read whilst researching this subject, for anyone who is interested in following them up.

Thanks for dropping by and if you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it and also may be about joining this blog. Please also feel free to ask questions or make comments in the section below.

All the very best,

Sue

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© 2014 Sue Cross


4 comments:

  1. Hi Sue

    I hope you, Andy and all your feathered friends are well? :-)

    I just wanted to say how well the natural lice treatment works. I love using all natural in my own life as well as for our rescue/adopted fur and feathered friends, the wild visitors and environment, as much as possible. Roddy, our adopted chamois bantam Rooster, has always had lice now and again throughout the year, and he is usually the first one I treat ... they free range in their own decent sized garden spaces that include grass and a large compost heap, along with enclosed tent business with tyre-filled/cat litter box dust bathing spots. I do add shredded cabbage and apple to their feed, but know I should do more regularly. During autumn and winter when it can become scarce, especially this winter, for greens, I noticed that Roddy, and everyone else appears not to have a single louse upon them!! I have been giving almost all of the eggs they produce as hard boiled, daily, and think this super food treat has done the job!

    All the best, Kirsty xx

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  2. Hi there Kirsty, Good to hear from you and yes we are all doing well.
    I am so please this treatment worked so well for you, it certainly did for my flock. One thing I also started doing in earnest last year, was to start growing kale. The way things were going at one point, it sadly wasn't certain that small shops would survive and as you know I get a lot of trimmings and damaged organic veg and fruit from my local organic shop. As it happens, here anyway, there was a big public reaction and in fact the small shops are doing better than ever! Kale is a real 'Hungry Gap' forage crop, so although we had quite a few hard frosts it still sprung back during the day. I grew a bog standard animal forage kale but there is a 'Jersey Walking Stick' Brassica oleracea longata variety, which not only is for the suggested use of making sticks from the stalks but which grows up into a tall 'palm tree' so, well above the height of jumping chickens! I also love that kale is both easy to grow and that it self-seeds really well, so after your initial purchase, you are off to a perpetual harvest. Watercress is another easy and very nutritious crop https://holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2018/04/organic-quail-and-watercress-winning.html#.YEIxs7rk-V5 and you don't need water just damp soil. The drawback being that can be badly damaged by frost. However there are several other really low temperature green leafy crops which I grow; mizuna, mibuna and American land cress, which make for great Winter salads too. You are so right though about egg - it is a super food. Hope this is of use and I can't tell you how pleased I am you took time to tell me of your experiences! Big hug to Roddy and friends and love to you from sunny Normandie, Sue xxx

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  3. Hi Sue

    Thanks so much for your reply, which I enjoyed very much to read ... feel very good within my heart that people matter very much and we CAN overcome by simply helping each other, as your local community have obviously done ... that is such great new!! People do not realise how powerful they actually are ... I wont go on as this should be chook business only lol!

    I'll definitely look into the kale and watercress, thank you!

    We've been having some pheasant beauties visiting, and my Hubby saw a bunny in the garden this morning ... being giving one of the 5+ year old adopted chooks some maggots daily, in the hope it'll help her crop ... the liquid paraffin isnt a success sadly as they are all very flighty ( 4 big lasses) and most of the stuff goes down me or squirts around the room, although handling her daily to give her some maggots is definitely helping lol!! Also have a crop bra that I need to try again with her... I have been able to hand feed a female pheasant with some maggots, and there appears to be one boy in particular that has started waiting for (chook food) breakfast, and I can get quite close to him without upsetting him :-) Best wishes. Love Kirsty xxx

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    1. Hi there Kirsty, Thanks for your comments, much appreciated and I don't believe we can divorce anything from the narrative at the moment - everything is linked in some way, keeping chickens included. I meant to write back sooner but we have been putting a massive spurt on here with growing food and sorting out the outbuildings and the time just seems to have gone. Also now I've got a new bird - a rescued baby goldfinch - which is keeping me very busy too - more to follow on film hopefully! I love pheasants - we rescued one once, one of those caged bred for hunting, it was stuck in a garden fence, they are so tame and so beautiful!

      Is this impacted crop you have with your birds - are they ex batts? I always associate impacted crop with toxins - chemicals from feed or old pesticides in soil like lead arsenate but any heavy metal including lead from paint chips can cause this condition. You could think about them drinking 'clay water' - just follow the protocol for using clay on my injured pigeon article: https://holistic-hen.blogspot.com/2018/08/green-clay-treatment-wound-on-pigeon.html#.YKTx0rpvaV5 and use one dessertspoon of clay to a breakfast bowl of mineral water, mix well and then allow to settle and give the hens the 'clay water' to drink off the top. This will bind to any heavy metals and then pass them out through the poop, I would do this in a run of sorts, so you can collect the poop and dispose of it, so it doesn't go onto your land. Hope this helps and all the very best, Sue xx

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