I've been battling poultry mites since March. It's been a cold, wet spring; a cool, damp summer; and heading into the same for fall (in N. IL). I've seven dusted, I've replaced bedding so much so that my 4 pallet compost bins are now 8 pallet compost bins. I've sprayed, dusted and pestered my girls to no end about mites. But at long last, I think I've figured out the source of the problem....
The mites seem to be in the feed! Anyone else see this before?
I buy feed from Farm&Fleet, only keeping what I use in the current month on hand. I have the following:
Nutrena All Flock, 16%
Nutrena Meat Bird, 22%
Agrimaster Scratch grains (for making fermented feed)
There are chipmunks and mice in the barn - it's a barn! The mites are the incredibly small, nearly clear or slightly white, incredibly fast moving variety. So after I dig a scoop into the feed, the mites are at my elbow by the 20steps to the coop. And when I say at my elbow - there's over 75 mites on my arm!!! This is beyond creepy, there's mites just all over the feed.
Should I freeze the bags of feed to kill off the mites? I typically just open the bags of feed and scoop directly from the bag for feeding. I also divide the feed into 5gal buckets (1/2 bag per bucket) and store sealed tight in the barn - and also in the coop. ALL locations of feed show mites, which to me means the feed bag is the source of the infestation. I typically do not wash the buckets between refills....think the eggs are in the dust in the bottom of the bucket? If that were so, why are there mites in the bags? Bags are not stored with the buckets....
Could I put seven dust in with the feed or would that hurt the hens? (External use only, right?) Yes, I've tried DE in with the feed also - no help there.
Should I seven dust the bins, wait 7 days, reapply, wait another 7 days, wash out and then refill the buckets? Would a good dose of bleach kill these little buggers so the wait time is eliminated?
Should I just get rid of ALL feed, put feed somewhere else for a month and then try again?
Could the chipmunks/mice also be carriers of the mites?
Just when you think you've got a good grip on being a chicken keeper, life throws you a curve ball......six years of chicken keeping and I was confident in my management of the flock. Bad roo? Check. Bumblefoot? Check. Broody hens? Check. Pecking order problems? Check. Meat bird flock? Check. But this is more than I can figure out....
Thank you for your help! This one has me stumped.....
The mites seem to be in the feed! Anyone else see this before?
I buy feed from Farm&Fleet, only keeping what I use in the current month on hand. I have the following:
Nutrena All Flock, 16%
Nutrena Meat Bird, 22%
Agrimaster Scratch grains (for making fermented feed)
There are chipmunks and mice in the barn - it's a barn! The mites are the incredibly small, nearly clear or slightly white, incredibly fast moving variety. So after I dig a scoop into the feed, the mites are at my elbow by the 20steps to the coop. And when I say at my elbow - there's over 75 mites on my arm!!! This is beyond creepy, there's mites just all over the feed.
Should I freeze the bags of feed to kill off the mites? I typically just open the bags of feed and scoop directly from the bag for feeding. I also divide the feed into 5gal buckets (1/2 bag per bucket) and store sealed tight in the barn - and also in the coop. ALL locations of feed show mites, which to me means the feed bag is the source of the infestation. I typically do not wash the buckets between refills....think the eggs are in the dust in the bottom of the bucket? If that were so, why are there mites in the bags? Bags are not stored with the buckets....
Could I put seven dust in with the feed or would that hurt the hens? (External use only, right?) Yes, I've tried DE in with the feed also - no help there.
Should I seven dust the bins, wait 7 days, reapply, wait another 7 days, wash out and then refill the buckets? Would a good dose of bleach kill these little buggers so the wait time is eliminated?
Should I just get rid of ALL feed, put feed somewhere else for a month and then try again?
Could the chipmunks/mice also be carriers of the mites?
Just when you think you've got a good grip on being a chicken keeper, life throws you a curve ball......six years of chicken keeping and I was confident in my management of the flock. Bad roo? Check. Bumblefoot? Check. Broody hens? Check. Pecking order problems? Check. Meat bird flock? Check. But this is more than I can figure out....
Thank you for your help! This one has me stumped.....