Today I'm giving up my dream of ever having a mite-free flock of chickens.
We've dabbled in this mite battle with Northern Fowl Mite for about two years, but fully engaged the battle about a year ago. I've gone through more cans of Sevin and Poultry dust than I care to calculate. I've put it in their numerous dust baths, along with wood ash. I've fed them Feather Fixer feed. I've bathed them, dusted them, and most recently sprayed them with Poultry Protector (don't even ask how much I've spent on that). I've cleaned and dusted the coop (or cleaned and sprayed with Permethrin concentrate spray). Yes, I've repeated all of these things - every few days for several times. Yes, even the nest boxes & under the roosts! Yes, I pull out every single chicken every two weeks to check and spray with poultry protector. I even pull the roosters and anyone that had even one mite out a few times a week to spray until I see none from a vent and wing check.
And yet the mites are always there - always on at least one chicken. (No, I haven't put garlic in the water, used DE, or placed a gargoyle at the entrance of the coop, but that's about all I haven't tried.)
Today I was doing a rooster check and was pleased that he only had a few mites around his vent. That's when I noticed that he had a huge mob of scabs & mites on his chest.....and his neck.....and even his leg.
Apparently, my religious use of Poultry Protector has simply caused the mites to infest unsprayed areas of the chickens.
Not one to give up easily, I pretty much drenched the guy in Poultry Protector. Then I decided to just give him a thorough bath using Dawn soap. I soaked and rinsed all the way up to the tip top of his neck, and this was not a quick bath....it was a good scrubbing, soaking bath. Then I started to dry him with the hair dryer and noticed a mite still crawling on him. I would have never noticed it if I hadn't been using my headlamp and carefully inspecting him. I sprayed every mite I saw for about the next 20 minutes......I found them crawling on his neck, the very top of his neck, under his wings, on his leg, on his wings again, and several on his back, even one trying to escape on his wattle. Once he was dry I thoroughly dusted him with Sevin - but I'm guessing the mites are still crawling.
So, here are my conclusions:
- Chickens have mites and mine are simply always going to have them.
- Poultry Protector works if you don't have mites
- "Good" chicken owners can still have mites. I can't think someone with 25 chickens could do much more than we have to try to eliminate mites & keep things clean and still have "free range" chickens.
- I love my chickens, but they have disgusting bugs that could possibly infest my house. GROSS. I just took another big step towards the farmer mentality with my beloved chickens.
- I have now probably created a strain of insecticide and drowning resistant "Super Mites" in my flock. Surely only the strongest of the strong survived today on that rooster today.
- Finally, I may not be able to kill every last mite, but I can manage them. I will continue to do weekly dustings or sprayings on my flock and pay special attention to my roosters. It has to be better to have several mites instead of several thousand. I've seen what a severe mite infestation can do and its my responsibility to keep them as healthy and comfortable as I can.
Thanks for reading!
We've dabbled in this mite battle with Northern Fowl Mite for about two years, but fully engaged the battle about a year ago. I've gone through more cans of Sevin and Poultry dust than I care to calculate. I've put it in their numerous dust baths, along with wood ash. I've fed them Feather Fixer feed. I've bathed them, dusted them, and most recently sprayed them with Poultry Protector (don't even ask how much I've spent on that). I've cleaned and dusted the coop (or cleaned and sprayed with Permethrin concentrate spray). Yes, I've repeated all of these things - every few days for several times. Yes, even the nest boxes & under the roosts! Yes, I pull out every single chicken every two weeks to check and spray with poultry protector. I even pull the roosters and anyone that had even one mite out a few times a week to spray until I see none from a vent and wing check.
And yet the mites are always there - always on at least one chicken. (No, I haven't put garlic in the water, used DE, or placed a gargoyle at the entrance of the coop, but that's about all I haven't tried.)
Today I was doing a rooster check and was pleased that he only had a few mites around his vent. That's when I noticed that he had a huge mob of scabs & mites on his chest.....and his neck.....and even his leg.
Apparently, my religious use of Poultry Protector has simply caused the mites to infest unsprayed areas of the chickens.
Not one to give up easily, I pretty much drenched the guy in Poultry Protector. Then I decided to just give him a thorough bath using Dawn soap. I soaked and rinsed all the way up to the tip top of his neck, and this was not a quick bath....it was a good scrubbing, soaking bath. Then I started to dry him with the hair dryer and noticed a mite still crawling on him. I would have never noticed it if I hadn't been using my headlamp and carefully inspecting him. I sprayed every mite I saw for about the next 20 minutes......I found them crawling on his neck, the very top of his neck, under his wings, on his leg, on his wings again, and several on his back, even one trying to escape on his wattle. Once he was dry I thoroughly dusted him with Sevin - but I'm guessing the mites are still crawling.
So, here are my conclusions:
- Chickens have mites and mine are simply always going to have them.
- Poultry Protector works if you don't have mites
- "Good" chicken owners can still have mites. I can't think someone with 25 chickens could do much more than we have to try to eliminate mites & keep things clean and still have "free range" chickens.
- I love my chickens, but they have disgusting bugs that could possibly infest my house. GROSS. I just took another big step towards the farmer mentality with my beloved chickens.
- I have now probably created a strain of insecticide and drowning resistant "Super Mites" in my flock. Surely only the strongest of the strong survived today on that rooster today.
- Finally, I may not be able to kill every last mite, but I can manage them. I will continue to do weekly dustings or sprayings on my flock and pay special attention to my roosters. It has to be better to have several mites instead of several thousand. I've seen what a severe mite infestation can do and its my responsibility to keep them as healthy and comfortable as I can.
Thanks for reading!
