@JensChickies I had to make my own judgement on this as my vet was knowledgeable enough about these mites, but I don't think he knew enough about treating them. He had suggested just one dose of the Cattle Pour On behind the neck. I have large breeds and put 5 drops directly on the skin on the backs of the necks of the birds. I noticed about 24 hours later there was a lot less chewing of the feathers and constant grooming. This lasted about 3 or 4 days and then they all returned to their chewing.
So a week later I repeated the dosage on the back of the necks and the same thing happened....the picking and chewing improved but again they returned to it but a few days later. Again a week after this I redosed them again. (what I think was going on was that the Ivermectin can't get up into these feather shafts, however mites that come down out of the shafts in search of a new feather to feast on, or any babies that have hatched in search of a meal, die when they hit the skin.)
Long story short, I ended up dosing them once a week for 5 weeks. Eventually the chewing and incessant grooming stopped along with newly formed bald spots from their plucking and festering. None of the birds ever got sick from these treatments however I have no idea if I over dosed them or did any damage to organs or the immune system.
But they are starting to molt and they are not messing with these new feathers and the newly grown feathers are not showing any of these horizontal thin lines associated with these mites consuming the feathers as they grow.
I won't be 100% sure I truly got them all until the birds completely molt out into new feathers, but I think at this point, I got most of these mites killed off.
So a week later I repeated the dosage on the back of the necks and the same thing happened....the picking and chewing improved but again they returned to it but a few days later. Again a week after this I redosed them again. (what I think was going on was that the Ivermectin can't get up into these feather shafts, however mites that come down out of the shafts in search of a new feather to feast on, or any babies that have hatched in search of a meal, die when they hit the skin.)
Long story short, I ended up dosing them once a week for 5 weeks. Eventually the chewing and incessant grooming stopped along with newly formed bald spots from their plucking and festering. None of the birds ever got sick from these treatments however I have no idea if I over dosed them or did any damage to organs or the immune system.
But they are starting to molt and they are not messing with these new feathers and the newly grown feathers are not showing any of these horizontal thin lines associated with these mites consuming the feathers as they grow.
I won't be 100% sure I truly got them all until the birds completely molt out into new feathers, but I think at this point, I got most of these mites killed off.
