Bio security and mites.

[Reggan]

Update: I hired help and we spent two full days 16 hours, taking apart all of my coop except for he main frame. We used a steamer in the main joints and torched as best we could. Then we put protected the rough exterior with Thompson’s water sealant. And I sprayed permethrin all on these main parts.
The blow torch was most successful. After torching flooring and roofing and all planks used for roost bars we scrubbed the debris using peppermint detergent and sesame oil solution. Once all the parts were dry, I thoroughly sprayed them with permethrin, and then we reinstalled. I even replaced the roost bars for extra measure. I took a magnifying glass and searched each plank and bar, and if I did see one crawling, we torched again. I was confident that we had every single mite. We even built a new nest box entirely and treated with permethrin before installing .

I’m not gonna lie the infestation was massive. I feel terrible. I can’t believe my birds are still alive and even laying eggs at least some of them were.
So this morning I did my detective work using a magnifying glass and flashlight. I checked the newspapers and I’ve been using instead of a wood shavings, didn’t find any but I checked one of the small planks that my pullets were sleeping on, and it was crawling with at least eight blood filled mites, I’m thinking that I had two types of mites. Then I removed that plank and brought it out into the sunlight and sprayed it with poultry protector, which is mostly citric acid to see if they would stop crawling. It took about two or three sprays before they all ceased. I’m thinking the hens must be carrying another mite that they’re getting in the environment. Upon inspection of the vent area, skin around the neck and breast. I don’t see anything. I even took one hen and use the magnifying glass. But just for good measure, I dusted them in DE and applied permethrin powder to under the wings vent area and neck, I was hoping that would kill whatever was on them but apparently it didn’t , what do you think?
In addition, I’m getting bitten when I’m in bed at night and that’s after a thorough shower and scrub down. Also, my dog and cat are itching and biting and I don’t see any fleas on them. So frustrating! what in the world?

Also put nustock in your dogs ears immediately and bath them in the Vetericyn parasitic shampoo. I could go on and on. Also know my house and animals are very clean. Cleanliness has nothing to do with this nightmare.

 

[Aimeeroy]

I also believe I am dealing with multiple kind of mites. It's been a nightmare. What made me reply to your post is your last couple sentences. We have them in our house and on our dogs now too. It's a nightmare. My coop, birds and enclosure run are doing better then we are now. Take heed and do some homework on bird mites in homes. It is real and has us in the fight of our lives. Get ahead of it and fast. If you'd like details let me know. I believe you might have read some of what I've done with the birds on another thread. My world is totally upside down since then.

Thank you for that information I will do more research on mites in home. Scary!

 

[Aimeeroy]

Spray your birds with the permethrin evey couple of days (4-5) for the next few weeks to kill the rest of the bugs BEFORE they get to egg laying stage. It will take multiple treatments to really get rid of them.

What about using Elector PSP on my bitdsvery few days?

 

[Sussex19]

One other thing that I thought worth mentioning, is how long mites can live away from chickens.
I had a coop with a bad infestation of red roost mites in in, so I just moved my chickens out to a different coop which was easer to clean.

Over a month later, there was still mites alive in the first coop.

 

[Shadrach]

Update: I hired help and we spent two full days 16 hours, taking apart all of my coop except for he main frame. We used a steamer in the main joints and torched as best we could. Then we put protected the rough exterior with Thompson’s water sealant. And I sprayed permethrin all on these main parts.
The blow torch was most successful. After torching flooring and roofing and all planks used for roost bars we scrubbed the debris using peppermint detergent and sesame oil solution. Once all the parts were dry, I thoroughly sprayed them with permethrin, and then we reinstalled. I even replaced the roost bars for extra measure. I took a magnifying glass and searched each plank and bar, and if I did see one crawling, we torched again. I was confident that we had every single mite. We even built a new nest box entirely and treated with permethrin before installing .

I’m not gonna lie the infestation was massive. I feel terrible. I can’t believe my birds are still alive and even laying eggs at least some of them were.
So this morning I did my detective work using a magnifying glass and flashlight. I checked the newspapers and I’ve been using instead of a wood shavings, didn’t find any but I checked one of the small planks that my pullets were sleeping on, and it was crawling with at least eight blood filled mites, I’m thinking that I had two types of mites. Then I removed that plank and brought it out into the sunlight and sprayed it with poultry protector, which is mostly citric acid to see if they would stop crawling. It took about two or three sprays before they all ceased. I’m thinking the hens must be carrying another mite that they’re getting in the environment. Upon inspection of the vent area, skin around the neck and breast. I don’t see anything. I even took one hen and use the magnifying glass. But just for good measure, I dusted them in DE and applied permethrin powder to under the wings vent area and neck,
In addition, I’m getting bitten when I’m in bed at night and that’s after a thorough shower and scrub down. Also, my dog and cat are itching and biting and I don’t see any fleas on them. So frustrating! what in the world?

The mites in the bedding if it's straw or hay. These little buggers are the likely suspects for giving you bites and your pets.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/straw-itch-mite.75561/

I'm pleased you found the blowtorch tip usefull. It's all I've used in the past with wooden coops, but I build coops with this type of cleaning in mind.

For dealing with the mites on the human body. I've also used this around the ears and eyes on chickens. Permethrin based.
https://www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/scabies/lyclear-cream

Forget about DE. I can't think how many times I've hear the I don't want to use any chemicals on my chickens etc etc. The chickens don't care, They just want to be rid of the mites.

I was hoping that would kill whatever was on them but apparently it didn’t , what do you think?

I think you've made a good start but I don't think it's anything like over. Keep at the coop areas you can get at with the blow torch. There really isn't anything better no matter what advice you may read.

I use a recycled plastic coop currently. It has wooden roost bars and that has been the only place in the coop I've found red mite. We had a very dry warm spell and the mites moved in. I was on the case quite quickly because I check the chickens and the coop on a regular basis.
This is the coop.

This is what I found on the roost bars on 17/06/2023.

I did the entire coop with Permethrin on that day and again 3 days later. Since then I've stripped out the roost bars every 3 days on average. Tonight I found one sole mite, which is now dead and a few eggs, also now dead.

The only place the mites are living is on the woodwork and all I've got is two roost bars made from wood. You've got a long way to go yet I would think.

 

[Kiki]

What about using Elector PSP on my bitdsvery few days?

ui am not familiar with that product and don't know if it is ok to use on the birds.
I know for sure permethrin can be used on the birds....and dogs.

 

[Reggan]

Thank you for that information I will do more research on mites in home. Scary!

I have spoke to a couple exterminators out west and in Texas. They deal with this and are a wealth of knowledge. Also Australia and the UK. Stick with agricultural research papers from some of the colleges, tons of info. It WAS the case they weren't zoological, but they they believe they are now. I can attest to that. Birdmites.org is a great site for info, though terrifying. This is a real problem and the scientific/medical community is years behind. Some vetinarians are also very knowledgeable. Hit them hard and fast from every which way. Ozone generators will be your best friends. Treat your coop and house with IGR'S. I have moved to Talak insecticide mixed with spinosad's and the an IGR for the coop. We coated out enclosure 36x15 12 ft rafters wrapped in hardy mesh with diesel fuel. Im adding injectable ivermectin to their water for two days every 10 days. Im dusting them with viper every 7 days. Im using sulfur everywhere I can. On us, in the coop, in the chooks dust bath area. I have all of us on MSM and garlic.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Update: I hired help and we spent two full days 16 hours, taking apart all of my coop except for he main frame. We used a steamer in the main joints and torched as best we could. Then we put protected the rough exterior with Thompson’s water sealant. And I sprayed permethrin all on these main parts.
The blow torch was most successful. After torching flooring and roofing and all planks used for roost bars we scrubbed the debris using peppermint detergent and sesame oil solution. Once all the parts were dry, I thoroughly sprayed them with permethrin, and then we reinstalled. I even replaced the roost bars for extra measure. I took a magnifying glass and searched each plank and bar, and if I did see one crawling, we torched again. I was confident that we had every single mite. We even built a new nest box entirely and treated with permethrin before installing .

I’m not gonna lie the infestation was massive. I feel terrible. I can’t believe my birds are still alive and even laying eggs at least some of them were.
So this morning I did my detective work using a magnifying glass and flashlight. I checked the newspapers and I’ve been using instead of a wood shavings, didn’t find any but I checked one of the small planks that my pullets were sleeping on, and it was crawling with at least eight blood filled mites, I’m thinking that I had two types of mites. Then I removed that plank and brought it out into the sunlight and sprayed it with poultry protector, which is mostly citric acid to see if they would stop crawling. It took about two or three sprays before they all ceased. I’m thinking the hens must be carrying another mite that they’re getting in the environment. Upon inspection of the vent area, skin around the neck and breast. I don’t see anything. I even took one hen and use the magnifying glass. But just for good measure, I dusted them in DE and applied permethrin powder to under the wings vent area and neck, I was hoping that would kill whatever was on them but apparently it didn’t , what do you think?
In addition, I’m getting bitten when I’m in bed at night and that’s after a thorough shower and scrub down. Also, my dog and cat are itching and biting and I don’t see any fleas on them. So frustrating! what in the world?

Sounds like you are doing a good job, keep it up!

As for feeling like you are being bitten at night in bed, that sounds miserable! Read @rosemarythyme post found HERE where she shares some tips of having the mites in the house/feeling they are in bed. She may want to chime in with more tips.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yikes, these sound like extremely severe cases!

Sounds like you are doing a good job, keep it up!

As for feeling like you are being bitten at night in bed, that sounds miserable! Read @rosemarythyme post found HERE where she shares some tips of having the mites in the house/feeling they are in bed. She may want to chime in with more tips.

My tips are pretty much what you see in that post linked above. I guess my only additional piece of advice is to minimize the number of household members going in the chicken area at this time, unless they're helping with treatment. I banned hubby from the chicken area entirely to help minimize the amount of mites that could get transferred around, plus HE was the one hugging chickens at night in his pajamas and bringing mites to the bed in the first place! He's still banned from going out there in his nightwear.

Good luck with getting this under control.

 

[BDutch]

That’s what I thought. My poor girls. They are definitely red roost mites as I checked tonight. Every 3-4 days will be be necessary to break the life cycle. I’m considering breaking the coop down and replacing the roost bars etc.

the second photo of plastic material is a black trash bag outside my coop next to some exposed straw bails I will be burning. The little white specks are either another type of mite or eggs but strangely they appeared after a couple of hours during the daytime next to some straw?

I really feel sorry for you and your chickens Don’t blame yourself for not knowing. We all make beginners mistakes. I was ‘lucky’ to read a lot shortly after starting with chickens. Because I had a few chicks dying just a week after buying them.

Next is my way and maybe you and other readers on this thread find something useful in it.

The first mite experience came the second year having chickens in my prefab wooden coop with self build extension/roost area. I discovered (monitoring weekly) the mites and a clutch of mite-eggs in a very early stage. They disappeared with cleaning (twice) and applying diatomaceous earth.

This year (after 8 years) I had my second infestation. Cleaning and applying DE on ‘touch’ surfaces and in their sand-bath area in combination with monitoring the roosts with cookie/biscuits rolls wasn’t enough this time, because they entered the nest boxes with chicks (shavings/hay?) and had spread more than the first time.

Cleaning twice, heavily smearing DE, buying supplements to make the chick/chickens blood disgusting for Red mites got it down to zero, 1 or 2 small and alive red mites daily with controlling rolls on many spots (in the nestboxes too). The control rolls are safe to reuse after 20 sec in the microwave. With an elastic band or tie wrap you can tie them under a roost.

Because I was leaving for a summer vacation I bought Permethrin to spray into some cracks I didn’t trust and to spray one of my chickens who was a stubborn broody and didn’t lay.

Not absolutely sure, but there weren’t any mite in any of the control rolls for 4 days when we left and it seems its under control now. The neighbour who looks after the chicks/chickens promised to monitor every 2 days.

DE is worthless. It can actually cause them skin irritation so stop using it.

This is not true for prevention, with constant monitoring and the use of supplements IMHO. But I wouldnt trust it enough with a mayor infestation too.

Permethrin is forbidden where I live to use on animals in the food production chain. But we can buy it for ornamental birds and pet rabbits. And because it’s poisonous, the pet shop owner advised to discard the eggs for several days - a week to be safe. The idea to apply it on the chicks was a no go for him.