Mites and lice rarely kill quickly. They take sleep, feed and eggs a little at a time, and most of the work happens between batches.
Halaal Farms Ghana team16 August 2026 · 11 min read
A layer house can look perfectly fine from the door. The birds are scratching, the feeders are full and the water is clear. Then the egg count drops by a few a day, the combs look a little pale, and a handful of hens sit low on the perch with their feathers puffed out. Nothing dramatic has happened. Something small has been feeding on the flock for weeks.
Mites and lice are the usual suspects, and they seldom kill birds quickly. They take blood a little at a time, irritate the skin, and interrupt rest. A hen that cannot sleep properly does not put her energy into eggs, and a bird that is itchy all night eats less in the morning. That is why many keepers only notice the problem when the production line has already dipped.
Lice and mites are different enough that they need different handling, and this guide is about prevention and good husbandry first. Treatment choices belong with your vet, who knows your flock and the products registered in Ghana.
The two are often lumped together, but they behave differently, and that difference decides where you look.
Feather lice live on the bird. They spend their whole life on the feathers, mostly around the vent, under the wings and across the breast. In daylight you can part the feathers and see them moving. They spread when birds touch each other, so a crowded house or a mixed flock lets them travel faster.
Red mites work on a different timetable. During the day they hide in the cracks of the house: perch joints, nest boxes, the gaps round old wood, the seams of battery cages and the corners where dust collects. After dark they come out, feed on the birds and return to their hiding places before light. A bird can be bitten badly while the keeper sleeps, and the mites are gone by the time anyone walks in.
That is why a daytime walk through the house often finds nothing, while a night check finds plenty. It is also why cleaning the structure matters more than working on the birds alone.
Most houses have more hiding places than their owners realise. Old jute bags hung on a wall, split wooden perches, mud packed into a crack and never allowed to dry, and the underside of a feeder rail all make good shelter. Reused wooden crates as nest boxes are a common trouble spot, because the wood soaks up droppings and the cracks never quite close.
The outside matters too. Litter piled against the wall, feed bags left open by the door, and wild birds roosting on the roof all bring pests closer to the flock. Mites do not need a bird in the house to survive, but a bird is their route to a meal, and wild birds can carry them in.
Pests leave clues before they cause real damage. The table below sets out what to look for, where to look, the likely cause and the first thing to do. It is a starting point for your own observation, not a diagnosis. If the signs persist or the egg count keeps falling, call your vet.
| What you see | Where to look | Likely cause | First step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pale comb, restless birds at night | Perch joints, nest boxes, wood cracks | Red mites feeding after dark | Night check with a torch, then clean the cracks |
| Thin or dirty feathers around the vent | Vent, under the wings, breast | Feather lice | Part the feathers in daylight and look closely |
| Egg count dropping with no feed change | Whole flock, then the house structure | Pests, stress or disease | Check the birds and the house, then call your vet |
| Birds bunched in one corner, bare patches | Crowded or roosting corners | Pests combined with feather pecking | Check space per bird and roosting room |
| Tiny specks on your hands or sleeves after handling | Hands, sleeves, walls near the nests | Red mite infestation | Clean and dry the house before the next batch |
Go in after dark, when the house is quiet and most birds are on the perches. Walk slowly. Use a torch with a steady beam and hold it low, so you can see the perch and the boards beneath it. Work through the house in the same order every time, so nothing gets skipped.
Most of the pest work happens when the house is empty. Once the birds are on the floor, you are fighting a population that has already settled in, and every disturbance pushes the mites deeper into the cracks. Between batches you have time to reach every joint, and that time is the cheapest protection you will ever buy.
A workable order looks like this:
The drying step is the one most people rush. In the rainy months a house can look dry on the surface and still be damp in the cracks. Wait longer than you think you need, and check the wood with your hand, not your eye.
Broiler houses have a different risk. Litter is the bedding, so the main job is to keep the litter dry and to remove any old litter from the last flock completely. Layer houses have the cages, perches and nest boxes, which is where the cracks are. Both need the same discipline between batches, applied to the places that suit each system.
Warm, humid weather favours red mites. They breed faster when the house stays warm and the cracks stay damp, which is why many keepers see more trouble in the wet months. The harmattan dries the air and the dust, and that can slow things down. It does not clean a house, though. Dry dust packed into the cracks is still a hiding place.
Dust baths help birds keep their feathers in shape, so give them a dry, clean area with fine sand or soil that stays loose. Keep the dust bath separate from the droppings area, so it does not turn into a patch of old manure.
Whatever the season, pests usually come in with three things: new birds, used equipment and old litter. This is why the arrival routine matters as much as the cleaning routine. Equipment that has been to another farm should be washed before it goes near your flock, and any birds you bring in should be held apart at first. Our guide on bringing new birds in safely covers that step in detail.
Once you have found mites or lice, the temptation is to buy the first product the shop has and spray the flock. Resist that. Ask your vet which product suits your birds and your stage of production, and read the label before you open the bottle. Some products are meant for the house and some for the birds. Using them without advice can harm the birds, waste money and leave the pests unbothered.
Think about timing too. If birds are close to being sold for meat or eggs, the product label tells you how long to wait before the bird or its eggs go to market, and that wait is not optional. Our guide to the withdrawal period before slaughter explains how to plan around it.
Keep a simple record: the date, what you saw, what you did and when you did it. Over six weeks you will know whether the problem is shrinking or simply moving from one corner of the house to another. That record is also the first thing your vet will ask to see.
If you are short of money for a proper clean, do the parts that cost nothing first. Remove the old litter, scrape the cracks, wash with water and let the house dry. Those steps alone cut down what the pests can hide in, and they make any product you buy later work better.
A pest problem costs more than the product on the shelf. The birds eat the same feed while producing less, and feed is more than half of what you spend on a flock. A 50 kg bag of feed runs broadly from GH₵400 to GH₵470 depending on brand and season, so every week of lost laying is a week of feed bought for fewer eggs. Confirm the current price of your brand locally, because it moves.
Restless birds also bruise and feather-pick, and a flock that is always scratching cannot settle. Keep the house and the birds in good order, and most of these costs never arrive.
Sometimes, but they mostly hide in cracks and joints during the day and come out to feed at night. A torch and a night check are far more reliable. Feather lice are the exception, because they live on the bird and can be found in daylight by parting the feathers around the vent.
They can do real harm slowly, through blood loss, irritation and broken rest. They can also weaken a bird so that other problems take hold. If egg output or condition drops, have your vet check the flock and rule out other causes, rather than assuming pests are the whole story.
Clean and dry the house first, because most of the population lives there. Treat the birds afterwards, using a product your vet recommends and the label allows. Working on the birds alone while the house stays dirty usually means doing the job twice.
It can, if the house still holds old pests. Our chicks come from a clean hatchery, but any house with a pest history needs cleaning and drying before the birds arrive. Ask us about the batch you are ordering, and confirm the current price and hatch date before paying.
When the house is cleaned, dried and ready, the next step is a healthy flock to fill it. Send the order form on the site or call 024 915 1503. An order starts with a message, not with money. Before you pay, we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost, so nothing surprises you when the box arrives.
For the habits that carry on into everyday house management, read our guide to night checks during brooding. If you are planning a meat batch next, the broiler day-old chicks page sets out what we supply. Want to check the starting figures first? Our price page shows where prices begin, and you should still confirm today's price with us before you pay.
Written by the Halaal Farms Ghana team. We hatch and import day-old chicks at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and deliver to all 16 regions. This article is general guidance for farmers. For diagnosis and treatment of sick birds, speak to a vet or your district veterinary office.
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