Need advice on avoiding lice...chicken farm.

[hannabiss]

Im going to start working at a chicken farm. Many people I have told are warming me about lice. I hope someone has advice.

[Anje]

I don't believe lice that infect birds will infect humans long-term. (I don't have any specific knowledge of chicken lice, but human lice are very picky about sticking with humans, to the point that they diverged in whether the specialize in head hair or living under clothing roughly at the time when humans started wearing clothes.)

All the same, might not hurt to keep your hair up and covered. I'm sure there's all sorts of schmutz in an area with a dense chicken population that you might as well keep off your head.

[Panth]

I would wear some sort of hair cover, e.g. a buff or a hat. Never mind lice, it's probably going to be (at least in places) dusty, dirty and smelly.

[meteor]

Two words: Neem Oil!
Just add a couple drops to your shampoo right before you apply it to scalp every time you wash. Alternatively, you could use tea tree oil, but it could be drying.
Just don't add oil directly to your shampoo bottle: you don't want to mess with the product's preservatives. I squirt some shampoo into an application bottle and add water to dilute it before every wash: this really helps get the product distribute on the scalp better. This is when I'd add oils, if needed.


I would wear some sort of hair cover, e.g. a buff or a hat. Never mind lice, it's probably going to be (at least in places) dusty, dirty and smelly.

Definitely! Keep hair up and cover it. A scarf/hat/buff will make a huge difference in how clean your hair is and how often you need to wash it.

[hannabiss]

Thanka for the advice everyone.
Its a "factory" farm so the chicken population is going to be dense. Thanks for the advice. Ill definetly hide my hair and get some neem oil. Sadly ill have to start showing and washing hair everyday after work. So much for stretching washes.

[Baby_doll]

Neem oil is great, my mom used to use it for me and my sister, (we were the type to roll around in the grass) but neem oil is kind of costy so what my aunt would use when we would go to her house is just plain mayonnaise! it works like a charm. and its cheaper. she would leave it on our hair for like a half hour then just wash it out. and when you wear a hat, i suggest wearing a plastic shower cap under it, just incase anything gets on the hat it cant make its way through. good luck with the new job!

[Baby_doll]

almost forgot. sorry for the double post, if you do the mayo wrap it up in plastic. (my aunt uses the suran wrap stuff) but a bag would work too, and i doubt if you wrap your hair up right youll need to wash EVERY single day, try every other day maybe?

[Amapola]

Lice are species specific. The bird lice will not like you one bit - even if one should happen to get on you, it will drop off very quickly. You will never have a chance to use the Neem oil on them, they will be long gone, searching for another bird.

Also... I have no idea of the farm etc. but I know on my place, we did not have lice on our birds. We made absolutely sure of this. It brings down production, I don't imagine the farm where you will be going will tolerate lice on their birds as it affects the bottom line. Not that it isn't possible.

[hannabiss]

Actually i DO have to shower everyday as you have to shower in a locker room at the job site(seperate for men and women). They do this to ensure your not coming in with contamination. Idk what its all about but ill do it for my job. Also ill be cleaning cages encrusted with chicken poo. Ill definately shower after.

[embee]

That sounds like the farm is paying attention and does care about the birds, so you're probably ok. Pity about the hairwash every day, but a good rinse with *very* dilute shampoo can be ok. When I've done that I didn't even need conditioner to be able to comb out my fine hair. Get a plastic cup or tumbler add a squirt of shampoo and fill it with water. Pour half of it over your head and squitch it around. Pour the other half over and rinse very well. See how that does.

[lapushka]

Maybe CO would be great to use daily or every other day, depending on how often you want to use shampoo; even a sulfate-free one would be milder to use if you do need to wash daily.

[swearnsue]

When I cleaned my chicken coop I wore a face mask because of all the dust (and you know what is in that dust!) My hair was about 1 inch at the time but I wore a hat.