Chicken lice research

Monday was back into the swing of things after my LSU weekend.  I started the chicken research project.  So what we are testing is the repellent effect of a certain product against lice on poultry.  So today we measured out the product to make sure all the chickens are getting the same amount, randomized the chickens so the investigator (Dr. Jennifer Ketzis) doesn't know which chicken gets what, and then set up the room for the chickens.  At lunch there was a talk on avian clinical cases that I went to.
Tuesday, the school showed the recording of Kelli and Gavin's House Hunter's International.  They were very cute and very entertaining.  I then stayed on campus for a while to catch up on the lectures that I missed while at LSU.
On Wednesday, for the chicken research we set up the vitro trial (this is in order to see if the lice on a petri dish are actually staying away from the product or if it affects them at all).  The chicken arrived, so we did vet checks on all of them, weighed them, tagged them, harvested lice from one chicken and treated that one chicken. The treatment of the chicken consists of spraying them with the product, washing it off, then drying the chicken. We then set up the lice in the Petri dishes.  Every few hour we had to go check the chicken to see if there were any skin reactions from the product.

Thursday we treated two chickens (spray, wash, dry) and feed/water them and checked them for reactions.
On Friday night after volleyball, I will feed/water, check the temperature in the room, and check for skin reactions on the chickens.  Some friends are having a big party at their house, so I will hang out there for a little while.
Saturday is a long day for the research.  At 7am, we will check all the chickens, feed/water them, then do lice counts on each of them.  We will treat the last three chickens and check for the start of exposure.  We will then do lice counts every two hours.
Sunday - Happy Easter! Thanks for the Easter goodies mom!  A few of us are going to brunch at Carambola.  That evening, I will check the chickens, feed/water them, check the room temperature, and check for skin reactions. The chickens will then be euthanized on Monday for the anatomy lab.