# Parasitic bugs found on pigeons



## Goldenpigeons (Aug 15, 2007)

I recently noticed that my baby pigeon (approximately 1.5 months old) has small bugs crawling within its feathers. I subsequently checked the parents and found bugs within them, too. These bugs are clearly present on the wings and neck area, but I'm sure there are other, less noticeable areas as well. I gave each of my birds a bath, but it did next to nothing.

Any suggestions? The baby recently lost the ability to use its legs; could the bugs be responsible for this? 

Here is a picture of one of the bugs:








They range from approximately one to three millimetres long.

Any help would be very much appreciated.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Sevin powder or spray (Carbaryl ) and Scalex (Pyrethrin based ) products will take care of this problem and most likely it isn't related to the 
baby's loss of use of the legs. These feather parasites look like lice and should
clear with reasonable ease if you spray the bird and the living area. Cut the
end of an old sock off for a hood when you spray the bird.

Could you please take some pictures of the baby, this will help members to
evaluate what is going on w/the baby.

I'll be back w/some pics for you as well.

fp


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## SkyofAngels (Jun 28, 2007)

Looks like pigeon lice. My birds had it when I first got them from the breeder. I got rid of them with a permethrin spray. I got it from nepigeonsupplies.com located in CT but there might be someone closer to you to order from or parakeet spray from a pet store you might find to be very helpful. As far as the babies legs I don't think the lice could have caused this, please explain the problem with there legs are they splayed(like the bird is doing a split) maybe you can post a picture of the babies and we can help more.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Here's a recent post on mice, lice and pigeon louse....it's so much easier to
just direct you there to read it:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=220751&postcount=4

fp


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## SkyofAngels (Jun 28, 2007)

Oops looks like FP got to this before me, you don't ever take a break do you even on your birthday. Talk about dedication.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Yes, but you forewarned them about splay leg and this is good...always room
for more help  

fp


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## Goldenpigeons (Aug 15, 2007)

Sorry for the late reply. I should let you know that this will be my last post until at least September 2nd, as I will be on vacation in western Canada beginning tomorrow. So, if there are any additional replies, I promise I'll get back to you in about ten days from now.

As labour-intensive as it is, using a pair of tweezers, we carefully plucked out every bug we could find on both the baby and its parents. Of course, we didn't get every single one, and after checking back again the next morning, we saw a whole bunch more crawling beneath their wing feathers. At the moment, our birds are in the hands of someone else since we are going away, but I will be sure to definitely check out the products you recommended when I get back. Do (or could) these bugs potentially cause any harm to the birds? Also, two eggs hatched this past Wednesday, and I'm worried the bugs might transfer over to the little guys.

As requested, here is a picture of the baby:










Thanks for your concerns about the possible splayed leg problem, but I actually created a thread enquiring about it a little bit earlier, and I got some wonderful advice and feedback from some of the fine folks on this site.  So, this is what we created to hopefully fix or alleviate the problem:










Here's the link:
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?p=220064


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