Warning: if you can’t handle creepy crawlies, don’t read this.



I have chickens. A couple of very handsome roosters, a handful of age-defying bantam hens, and a flock of generic layers.

The chickens have lice.

I now have lice.


Being a laz0r chicken: You’re taking authenticity a bit far, actually



Well, I don’t actually have them right now. $50 worth of insecticide, a bottle of head lice shampoo (mostly to make me feel better), a big pair of gumboots and a garden fork, and it’s all sorted.

The shed has been mucked out, perches have been sprayed, nest boxes dusted, birds ruffled. And to satisfy my own paranoia – my bed sheets changed, hair foamed, and shoes sprayed.

The hair foaming (with head lice shampoo – which was awfully nice, to be honest) was also partly because one of my stupid hens decided the best path to the outside world was via my HEAD. So along with ripping out half my hair and gouging my scalp, she probably deposited a nice brood of bird bugs on my head. Sigh.

I’ll be repeating the dusting and spraying (quite an expensive exercise) each day until I’m satisfied that walking into the pen to feed them will not re-infest myself.

I spent ~$100 on insecticides, shampoos, and new straw bedding. Plus I lost $100 in wages, having the day off to shower, go into town to buy powders and sprays, and then clean out the pen.

Ever have to tell your boss you need to go home because you have lice? Yeah, not the highest point of my week. Then, coming home from buying various bottles and boxes of poisons, a truck kicked up a stone and put a huge chip in my windscreen.


I sure could use a hug right now. Anyone..? I swear I’m lice-free now!

…Honest!



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