# Flea's or normal preening



## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

Can someone give me some pointers how to tell normal preening behavior apart from pigeons reacting to being bitten. I have treated my pigeons(most of them) with Ivermectin oil on the back, but some of them appear to be biting themselves. They are also molting because of the hot weather.
I cannot tell if I need to apply stronger parasite treatment(spraying each bird individually?) or if it is normal itchiness caused by molting. Can someone give me some pointers to look out for, I don't want to spray them with chemicals unnecessarily.

Thank you,
Brian.


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## PigeonQueen (Aug 13, 2006)

I think Ivermectin should work sufficiently but you could make sure there are big bowls of tepid water for the pigeons to have a bath in. When I find a pigeon with alot of lice , I tend to bathe the pigeon in water (nothing else) and alot of debris,lice etc drop off.

I only do this in warm weather though you can spray with tepid water during cooler weather. The pigeons need to be sprayed to keep their feathers in good order especially if they are living inside your place.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

My birds bite and act itchy when they moult. I have one young one who was doing that more than what I thought was normal though, so I dusted him with Permethrin dust. He kept doing it however. He's fine now, so I think it was just him moulting.


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## BHenderson (Sep 8, 2011)

great to get some other opinions. They seem quite happy to bath themselves every 3 days or so, so that must deal with lice. As jay3 says she has treated a young one who appeared to be itching too much and continues itching after treatment, this is similar to what I have so I am happy to leave it for a bit and see if I start getting bitten, as usually happens if they have something biting them.


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