Mites on my "Girls"!!

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Kuntry Klucker

Kuntry Klucker

Crowing
12 Years
Jun 9, 2010
1,623
972
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Tennesee Smoky Mts.
Hi All,

I have a flock on BO's 16 ladies and a Rooster.

I picked one of my hens up yesterday to do an inspection and found a few red mites near her vent.

I immediately cleaned the coop and put fresh bedding in.

Not all the girls have lice, just a few of them.

This is my first experience with mites. Thus, I have a few questions.

1. Is this something that the girls by nature will take care of themselves?
2. What illness or harm can a few mites to do their health?

If I need to intervene I am wiling to do so. I do however need some direction on what to do and
what is best to dust them with.

My flock is a free ranging flock, they have fresh water and food daily. It has been very muddy and snowy here
lately, so they are not dust bathing like they normally do. I am wondering if this is a direct affect of their dust bathing
schedule being interrupted.

Thanks
 
Mites live in the coop and feed on the hens in the night, then leave the hens again to hide in dark places in the coop. So you have to rid the coop of the mites in order to rid your hens of the mites. And yes, they can cause illness. They are a vector for several infectious diseases, and if present in high enough numbers can cause anemia in your hens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermanyssus_gallinae
 
DraigAthar said:
Mites live in the coop and feed on the hens in the night, then leave the hens again to hide in dark places in the coop. So you have to rid the coop of the mites in order to rid your hens of the mites. And yes, they can cause illness. They are a vector for several infectious diseases, and if present in high enough numbers can cause anemia in your hens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermanyssus_gallinae
Click to expand...
Ok, thank you so much. I guess I am going to have to do a deep cleaning. Our weather right now is below freezing so spraying
out the coop and doing a deep cleaning is not possible. do you think that I have a window of a month or so to do a good deep
cleaning job?
thanks
 
Sevin dust will get rid of them. Dawg had a great way to dust a coop.
Put a pile of Sevin in the door of a cleaned out coop and give it a blast with a leaf blower. That will get it in every nook and cranny. Then add back bedding, food and water.
 
Hi All,

Ok, I have done some research on mites on BYC. I just want to make sure that I have my facts straight and that I am
hearing this right.

First I take all the bedding out of the coop.
I then dust the coop, I heard that seven dust is great
Dawg had the great idea of using the leaf blower to get the dust in all the small spaces.
Put fresh shavings in.

Then I dust the girls, dust under their wings, their backs, and their tails.

Then I repeat the steps again in 7 days to get the eggs that hatch.

Do I have this right? Is there anything that I left out?

Another question, we still have snow on the ground here, so I cannot spray the coop
out with water quite yet. would the dusting method work till warmer weather comes
and I can do a proper spring clean out?

Thanks
 
I have just gone through this. I used frontline around all their vents then I dusted them with wood ash along with putting the wood ash in their bedding. They went crazy for it. I will always use wood ash now. My turkeys were break dancing in the stuff.
 
downrangechick said:
I have just gone through this. I used frontline around all their vents then I dusted them with wood ash along with putting the wood ash in their bedding. They went crazy for it. I will always use wood ash now. My turkeys were break dancing in the stuff.
Click to expand...
That is so funny. Nothing funnier than a chicken getting into the dust bath.
 

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