Mites -- help!

[springchicken81]

Update.

After the oil/water/soap mixture, we doused the coop in DE late yesterday and really rubbed it in to every surface and nook and cranny. We let the chickens sleep in the run (their preference at the moment) and first thing this morning went out to check on things. We didn't see a single moving mite! Yesterday morning the coop was swarming with them at that hour.

But we're not letting this fool us, so we still sprayed down the coop with a 0.5% dilution of Permethrin, and sprayed the chickens with a 0.01% dilution. Letting everything dry throughout the day and will use DE with new pine shavings later today. We're also making them a peet moss/sulfur dust bath in their run.

Hopefully the ladies can go back in the coop tonight and get a good nights rest.

We'll do the Permethrin over again in 6-7 days. And then 1-2 more times after that.

Question: Our ladies just turned 19 weeks. Will were getting excited that egg laying is near! Will all of this hoopla throw them off?

 

[cmom]

I use permethrin. Most insecticides don't kill the pests eggs so weekly repeated treatments are necessary for 3 or 4 weeks. I used DE in the past and it didn't work for me. I know some people swear by it and if it works for them great. I use the permethrin concentrate but I have several coops. You can also get the premixed sprays. I also put poultry dust in the nest boxes. The bonus is that their is no egg withdrawal period. Good luck...

 

[Briosafarm]

If one was getting ready to lay this week or so, it could possibly delay them a tiny bit as chickens don't like change (and itchy mites stress them as well) but shouldn't set them back more than a very short time, especially since they will now feel better! Good wishes for the mites (hate them!) to be gone.

 

[cmom]

Check the birds at night after they roost. Some mites only come out at night to feed on the birds so you may not see any during the day. Also you can take a paper towel and rub it on the roost including the bottom and look for any smears on the paper which can also be a sign of mites. When I inspect the birds in the evenings I wear a headlamp so I have both of my hands free to inspect the birds. Good luck...

 

[cmom]

 

[springchicken81]

I use permethrin. Most insecticides don't kill the pests eggs so weekly repeated treatments are necessary for 3 or 4 weeks. I used DE in the past and it didn't work for me. I know some people swear by it and if it works for them great. I use the permethrin concentrate but I have several coops. You can also get the premixed sprays. I also put poultry dust in the nest boxes. The bonus is that their is no egg withdrawal period. Good luck...

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How many times to you spray per weekly treatment??

We did a spray yesterday, let it dry (SOOOO many dead mites), and then powdered the coop in DE. The ladies were still hesitant to go back in for the night so we put them in there. This morning, we found a bunch more dead ones stuck in the DE (all grey). We didn't see any red ones. No blood smears on the roosts.

Our plan was to repeat this in 6 days or so to get the next round of eggs. But I'm wondering if we need to spray again this week??

• Can we rely on the DE to keep small numbers of them at bay?
• Is it unrealistic to completely eradicate them?
• Are we always going to have some level of them crawling around?
• And will our ladies ever voluntarily go into their coop again?