Mites that won't die... HELP

[HeatherTheMommy]

ok so this all started on Sunday. A month or so ago I got a beautiful polish hen and I had her quarantined. I never saw mites on her but I realize I only checked typical areas. I didn't really check her crest. Big mistake. So the other day I picked her up and was sitting with her looking at her and petting her crest when I noticed tons of red mites in her crest. She is in my silkie flock so of course all of my silkies have them also. I checked my main flock and ayam cemani flock and a few here and there had a mild case. So Sunday evening/ night I treated every single bird with ivermectin pour on. Even the chicks. I also cleaned every coop and put In new bedding and sprinkled poultry dust on the roosts, nesting boxes and floors. So then Monday still saw mites on the silkies. Decided to give it another day. Same on tuesday and I sprayed them with poultry protector. Yesterday the silkies were still full blown infested in their crests mainly. So I dusted each silkie mainly their crests and vents and also dusted the polish. This morning I caught the polish and she still has mites in her crest. I once again dusted her crest. I'm assuming I'll need to dust all the silkies again. I'm getting so frustrated because this is so much work and it's a lot when you have many chickens and other animals and I have two small kids. It's hard to even find the time. What can I do now before I lose my mind? I'm 90% sure I'm dealing with northern fowl mites because they're red and living on the birds not the coops and I also see eggs in the feather shafts. Please help me I've never had a pest problem in my chicken years and I'm feeling so down and defeated

 

[Folly's place]

Try permethrin spray concentrate (we get Gordon's from TSC). Spray everyone at night when they are roosting. Much easier, cheap, effective, and easy to spray the walls of the coop too. Yuck! Mary

 

[Chickenlover4ever!]

It sounds like northern red mites, though it is strange the poultry protector is not working. How many days have you been spraying their crests for? Poultry Protector normally needs about a week or so to start working. The mite sprays and treatments are mostly designed to kill the eggs, so the mites might live a few more days, but eventually will die and not be able to reproduce. The infected areas must be sprayed or treated every day for a week.

 

[apryl29]

I had the little black mites a couple weeks ago here's the link to my MANY questions about dealing with mites. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites.1197698/ I really feel your pain, but with the advice I got from these people I was able to deal with my mite problem.
I also used the permethrin, but I used Poultry dust on the birds and used the liquid spray in my coop (but it's the same stuff). I completely cleaned my coop out & burned the the bedding and any other stuff i didn't want to deal with cleaning, then sprayed everything w/ the permethrin concentrate spray (diluted as directed). I got a really nice 1 1/2 gallon sprayer from tractor supply for $10 that made it really fast and easy. I sprayed every crack and crevice in the place, the walls, roosts (front, back, top, bottom, ends), the nesting boxes, the door, the ramp to outside & the wall around it. I even took the nesting boxes out so I could spray all around & under them. Don't let the birds back in until it's all dry. I took the food bins out of the coop so I didn't have to worry about the mites hiding there, burned the rest of the straw bale I had in the coop & bought new clean wood shavings that I stored in my car to keep them from getting contaminated. Then I repeated everything again a week later. After the first treatment I didn't see them again, though I continued to do the full clean out for another 2 weeks to prevent re-infestation. The people who responded to my thread had lots of great ideas and provided me with links that gave me a lot of information to identify and treat my birds/ coop. Good luck! I know it's really overwhelming but the key is to treat then retreat to kill off any eggs that hatch later.

 

[HeatherTheMommy]

Try permethrin spray concentrate (we get Gordon's from TSC). Spray everyone at night when they are roosting. Much easier, cheap, effective, and easy to spray the walls of the coop too. Yuck! Mary

Can you post a link of the correct thing to buy? Does anyone know how long ivermectin stays in the blood stream ? Do I need to redose at 5 days or is it still in their system?

 

[Kiki]

Look for these products.
Be sure to treat every crack and crevice of the coop too.

 

[Kiki]

If the ivermectin didn't work the first time don't re-dose them with it...it's not going to work.
Get the permethrin spray and treat birds and coop with it asap.
Retreat again in a week.

 

[apryl29]

Look for these products.
Be sure to treat every crack and crevice of the coop too.

View attachment 1153728 View attachment 1153729

The photo to the left is the stuff I got. They may have different size bottles, but the 10% is the important part. The back label peels up and there are mixing ratios for different animals/ uses.
This is the garden/ poultry dust I got from Tractor Supply: I took a pair of panty hose and cut off the foot, filled it with the dust and tied a knot. Then I just dabbed it on their back, breast, and butt, then used my fingers to work it down to the skin a little. I wore a mask while using both this and the liquid spray. Be careful not to get it in the chicken's face so they don't breathe it in too much. Since it's on their crest you might just dip you fingers in a little then rub it near the base of the feathers. It took me roughly an hour to do 14 chickens, but that included catching them and walking to the back corner of the yard, away from the coop, to treat them. I also put bag balm on their legs in case they happened to have leg mites that I wasn't seeing.

 

[Folly's place]

Gordon's permethrin spray concentrate is available at TSC here; you could call your local stores about it. Only buy something that's labeled for poultry! I'm not sure about the Bronco; it's got other ingredients, and only mentions horses on the bottle. Citronella isn't the best for chickens to inhale.
Ivermectin is on the unapproved list, although it does kill mites and many, but not all, internal parasites. Don't reapply it, go to the permethrin spray instead. Permethrin dust will work, but is much more expensive, difficult to apply, and really won't get into the vertical coop areas. Wear at least a N95 dust mask (paint stores have them), gloves, long sleeves, etc. when you are using any product. Mary

 

[EggSighted4Life]

It sounds like northern red mites, though it is strange the poultry protector is not working. How many days have you been spraying their crests for? Poultry Protector normally needs about a week or so to start working. The mite sprays and treatments are mostly designed to kill the eggs, so the mites might live a few more days, but eventually will die and not be able to reproduce. The infected areas must be sprayed or treated every day for a week.

I see bugs start dying the INSTANT I spray them with Permethrin. And there is NO need to treat everyday.

Also note that mites have shown resistance to many treatments and so you might be dealing with some of that.