getting rid of mites naturally?

[chooks4life]

Hi dayspringfarm. I replied via PM. Best wishes.

 

[Sophia5]

Actually, I believe neem oil does work. I agree, don't use tea tree oil. Pyrethrins will work and this is I believe a "natural" remedy, but they are active only for a short period of time as they break down in light, if I remember correctly. A pyrethrin/permethrin mix is fairly effective, commonly available as poultry dust or flea and tick spray, and from what I've read, a much less "serious" chemical than Sevin. Some use flea preventive drops for dogs and cats with good results. You would have to research this, but I believe this is not an insecticide as such. DE will not resolve the problem.

Neem oil does work good as well as it works good with lice and red mites.
You could always try giving them a dust bath in wood ash it suffocates them.

 

[chooks4life]

Neem oil does indeed work. I use neem seed oil, cold pressed. Many people use any adulterated and overprocessed mix of anything and complain it doesn't work, then condemn anyone else using it like we're so bent on natural remedies for some reason that we'd continue using things that don't work when our animals are dying.

 

[1stACT]

I honestly don't know of any natural ways to get rid of mites, I ended up using proynl, which is a cheaper version of frontline, and putting it on all twenty something of my birds. got rid of them within the day!

How did you apply it? What strength did you use? Can you give me more info please?

 

[CarolinaSkies]

I agree with the wood ash and neem oil advocates. I put ashes in a knee-hi hose, tie the end and dust each chicken. Clean and burn bedding, spray coop with neem oil which is sold at Home Depot/Lowes and many other places in the insecticide section. I have used DE in past under pine chips, but I'm concerned about breathing it(DE), so I will no longer be using it. Very interested in trying the ground up tobacco stalks.

 

[MetallicBlue]

I was wondering what your take is on using basil to control mites/lice. I remember reading something about it somewhere. It sounded pretty effective, I just can't remember where I read about it.

I have 8 hens who are a little over a year old and 4 of them seem to have bare butts. I'm going to go check for any kind of mites/lice I can find. The one who's butt became bare first (Eartha) seems to have feathers growing back in. It's just on her butt, so I'm thinking it isn't molting. Anyway, any suggestions are appreciated.

As far as natural tobacco goes, we can get it (Florida, USA). My deal with my husband is if he wants to smoke he can smoke the non chemical natural stuff and I won't complain. It's also about 50% cheaper.

 

[MetallicBlue]

Well I've just taken a look and I didn't see any bugs. The more I look closely at their butts, the more it looks like they may just be molting. They are showing no signs of distress. Everyone is still laying, active and busy through the day. I was trying to get some pics, but they weren't being very cooperative. It was probably pretty funny to watch me running around the chicken run attempting to take pictures of chicken butts.

For now I think I'm going to watch and see.

 

[chooks4life]

Haven't heard about using Basil on poultry parasites but I had heard it's often made available in the vicinity of beehives to help them control their own parasites. Might also work for poultry. I do feed it to mine on occasion.

 

[lindsay750]

Hi

We had a problem, used one of the fumers in the house (like a powder bomb) I'm sure if you used the right amount for the size of stall it would work. Then we did catch all of our 18, not easy!!! And powder them. Then just powder the house every 3/4 weeks. (without jinxing myself here!) it seems to be working!

Good luck

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Red_Mite_in_Chicken_Houses.html

http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Poultry_Keeper_Range_Mite_Killers.html

 

[barrybigbelly]

Hi ive used DE before and it does work, but very slowly. Ive found it dosnt kill the mite eggs though. Not wanting to use chemicals on my chickens i stumbled upon a 99% natural product called "smite that mite". Basicly you put it in a sprayer, and spray the mites directly. its best to use it at night or after dusk. It took me about 10 Nights spraying to get the mites mostly gone.
I also dusted with DE every other night.

The same folks also produce a product called "douse that louse". It killed all the lice AND THE EGGS in 20 minuets! And I didnt see a louse on my chickens for a few weeks.

try Googleing it to find a supplier near you.