Northern Red Mite Issue. Nothing works

[McChooky]

industrial vinegar that has 20% or more concentration of acids

 

[Samsg1971]

OUT OF COMPLETE DESPERATION and with a very similar problem I used some expired Advantage Cat Flea drops on my small flock. The poor hens were a mess, nothing worked, some had bald spots from pulling their feathers and they were laying soft eggs or no eggs and were lethargic.

Within a week, the hens were much more energetic. Within a month, my 3 year old chickens were acting like pullets. Three months later, I still have the awful mites on the coop even the day after spraying strong Permethrin solution. Got two soft eggs last week, so three months after the initial application, I just put a few drops on each chicken again last night.

I know it is off label. I know it is not a recommended treatment. I just want my chickens to be healthy and happy. Their coop might never be free of pests, but they are!

I have used per our vet the off label Bravecto Plus while treating the coop every few days with either elector psp or permethrin. They are impossible to kill. We also torched the run and coop a few times. We are now looking into a more serious heat treatment.

 

[BDutch]

I have used per our vet the off label Bravecto Plus while treating the coop every few days with either elector psp or permethrin. They are impossible to kill. We also torched the run and coop a few times. We are now looking into a more serious heat treatment.

What kind of coop do you have? Do you have thermal insulation in the walls?, Meaning it is impossible to kill all mite eggs.

In that case there are still a few ways to deal with mite, reducing without killing them all. But chickens that roost can have a good sleep without being bothered by red mite. And it’s poison free so you can eat the eggs non stop.

• Make oil baths at every joint of the roost.
• Make sure the chickens don’t touch any wall if they roost
• Clean the roosts thoroughly or make new easy to clean roosts
• Use ribbed paper (cookie packages) or corrugated cardboard to catch the mite (There is a video somewhere on YouTube were someone makes fresh ribbed cardboard around the roosts daily. He says he catched them all doing this for several weekes/months).
• Paint the inside of the coop with diatomaceous earth
• Add ashes or DE to the place where they take a sandbath.
• Clean the nestboxes every week completely and add a little sand with DE under the bedding or paint the inside with DE after cleaning. Maybe use pads instead of bedding you can wash.
• Buy special herbal powder and liquid that is not toxic which makes the blood of the chickens disgusting for the mites. In my country it’s sold by the name Finecto+.

Last option is to make a new coop without insulation. And start with prevention before you get the chickens in. Install oil baths etc. You can dust the chickens carefully with DE or use Permethrin when moving, repeat a week later and don’t forget to check the roosts with corrugated cardboard.
Make sure the chickens have no red mites on them when you move them. Close the old coop (no visitors). And leave the old coop empty for over a year.

 

[Samsg1971]

What kind of coop do you have? Do you have thermal insulation in the walls?, Meaning it is impossible to kill all mite eggs.

In that case there are still a few ways to deal with mite, reducing without killing them all. But chickens that roost can have a good sleep without being bothered by red mite. And it’s poison free so you can eat the eggs non stop.

• Make oil baths at every joint of the roost.
• Make sure the chickens don’t touch any wall if they roost
• Clean the roosts thoroughly or make new easy to clean roosts
• Use ribbed paper (cookie packages) or corrugated cardboard to catch the mite (There is a video somewhere on YouTube were someone makes fresh ribbed cardboard around the roosts daily. He says he catched them all doing this for several weekes/months).
• Paint the inside of the coop with diatomaceous earth
• Add ashes or DE to the place where they take a sandbath.
• Clean the nestboxes every week completely and add a little sand with DE under the bedding or paint the inside with DE after cleaning. Maybe use pads instead of bedding you can wash.
• Buy special herbal powder and liquid that is not toxic which makes the blood of the chickens disgusting for the mites. In my country it’s sold by the name Finecto+.

Last option is to make a new coop without insulation. And start with prevention before you get the chickens in. Install oil baths etc. You can dust the chickens carefully with DE or use Permethrin when moving, repeat a week later and don’t forget to check the roosts with corrugated cardboard.
Make sure the chickens have no red mites on them when you move them. Close the old coop (no visitors). And leave the old coop empty for over a year.

Our coop is wood just studs no insulation. We moved the chickens out for 2 weeks while we caulked every nook and painted it white, it has comp singles with paper underlayment roof , not felt. Just the bare minimum inside, metal nesting boxes. Our run has metal corrugated panels. I have silkies who don’t use perches or roost. They pile in a puddle. I do use double sided sticky tape around the chicken door entrance and check every night for mites. I have used every product on the market several times over and spent thousands at the vet on their medications. I have dipped, sprayed, bathed and dusted a thousand times. My next step is to heat the coop to 120 degrees with a diesel bullet heater and wrap with welding blankets. The run we keep torching as we dig and rake. I have minimized the mite population with my efforts but they’re not gone and my birds still scratch/restless. I have mite bites all over my arms and my husband is convinced they’re in our bed. We are at the end of this 6 month battle.

 

[McChooky]

Our coop is wood just studs no insulation. We moved the chickens out for 2 weeks while we caulked every nook and painted it white, it has comp singles with paper underlayment roof , not felt. Just the bare minimum inside, metal nesting boxes. Our run has metal corrugated panels. I have silkies who don’t use perches or roost. They pile in a puddle. I do use double sided sticky tape around the chicken door entrance and check every night for mites. I have used every product on the market several times over and spent thousands at the vet on their medications. I have dipped, sprayed, bathed and dusted a thousand times. My next step is to heat the coop to 120 degrees with a diesel bullet heater and wrap with welding blankets. The run we keep torching as we dig and rake. I have minimized the mite population with my efforts but they’re not gone and my birds still scratch/restless. I have mite bites all over my arms and my husband is convinced they’re in our bed. We are at the end of this 6 month battle.

I don't introduce birds from other peoples backyard flocks anymore after battling a bad case of mites 2 years ago.Lessons learned the hard way are the lessons we don't forget

 

[AGeese]

Had a sick girl with mites it probably started with an injury or molt I really can't say, but in the end she had something that I'm pretty sure were mites. She had been sick over the course of late summer, fall, winter. I gave her Ivermectin orally initially and she started to really recover after two treatments. Though she never fully restored her color.

Then later next spring she started to regress. This is when I saw what I believe were mites so I topically applied Ivermectin to her lower back (2-3 weeks apart) and they were gone. She's since fully recovered her comb looks much better, and her feathers have color again.

Also I treated all of her sisters the same way the 1st orally (except for one I couldn't catch and thankfully never had a problem. The 2nd time I applied it to them all topically twice.

 

[BDutch]

Our coop is wood just studs no insulation. We moved the chickens out for 2 weeks while we caulked every nook and painted it white, it has comp singles with paper underlayment roof , not felt. Just the bare minimum inside, metal nesting boxes. Our run has metal corrugated panels. I have silkies who don’t use perches or roost. They pile in a puddle. I do use double sided sticky tape around the chicken door entrance and check every night for mites. I have used every product on the market several times over and spent thousands at the vet on their medications. I have dipped, sprayed, bathed and dusted a thousand times. My next step is to heat the coop to 120 degrees with a diesel bullet heater and wrap with welding blankets. The run we keep torching as we dig and rake. I have minimized the mite population with my efforts but they’re not gone and my birds still scratch/restless. I have mite bites all over my arms and my husband is convinced they’re in our bed. We are at the end of this 6 month battle.

It must have been a hard time for you and your husband. I understand the silkies make it hard to eliminate all mites.

I never used any poisons on my chickens except permethrin once, on one broody who kept coming back to the laying nest and didn’t lay eggs. I did manage to eliminate all mite by doing several things at the same time without the advice of a vet or using much poison.

For the nestboxes where the silkies sleep you could try the diatomaceous earth tips and lay corrugated cardboard rolls in the best to catch the red mites. DE for chickens is not expensive and corrugated paper from biscuits is for free. I reused the corrugated paper rolls after I heated them in the microwave. I checked /deletet the mite daily as long as I found any.

The oil baths in combination with DE paint on the roost and corrugated paper rolls to check/catch are a good solution for the chickens that roost.

For all chickens I recommend a special herbal supplements against red mite in their water and feed. I hope they sell it in the agri-shop where you buy you chicken stuff, but . They sell the Finecto+ in the UK too under a different trademark. https://www.aviform.co.uk/mitey-stuff-red-mite-liquid-for-poultry-birds/
It costed me 45 € for 6 chickens and 9 chicks as long as needed.

Regarding your situation and the struggle you have gone through I recommend to continue monitoring and doing multiple things at the same time to keep improving the situation without too much effort.

 

[Loving my girls]

What kind of coop do you have? Do you have thermal insulation in the walls?, Meaning it is impossible to kill all mite eggs.

In that case there are still a few ways to deal with mite, reducing without killing them all. But chickens that roost can have a good sleep without being bothered by red mite. And it’s poison free so you can eat the eggs non stop.

• Make oil baths at every joint of the roost.
• Make sure the chickens don’t touch any wall if they roost
• Clean the roosts thoroughly or make new easy to clean roosts
• Use ribbed paper (cookie packages) or corrugated cardboard to catch the mite (There is a video somewhere on YouTube were someone makes fresh ribbed cardboard around the roosts daily. He says he catched them all doing this for several weekes/months).
• Paint the inside of the coop with diatomaceous earth
• Add ashes or DE to the place where they take a sandbath.
• Clean the nestboxes every week completely and add a little sand with DE under the bedding or paint the inside with DE after cleaning. Maybe use pads instead of bedding you can wash.
• Buy special herbal powder and liquid that is not toxic which makes the blood of the chickens disgusting for the mites. In my country it’s sold by the name Finecto+.

Last option is to make a new coop without insulation. And start with prevention before you get the chickens in. Install oil baths etc. You can dust the chickens carefully with DE or use Permethrin when moving, repeat a week later and don’t forget to check the roosts with corrugated cardboard.
Make sure the chickens have no red mites on them when you move them. Close the old coop (no visitors). And leave the old coop empty for over a year.

… I read somewhere that northern fowl mite can only live for four weeks ish without hens, I’d give it longer though.
Red mites aren’t the same as northern fowl mites, for red mites I think you need a flame thrower.
Hugz

 

[Lillith37]

… I read somewhere that northern fowl mite can only live for four weeks ish without hens, I’d give it longer though.
Red mites aren’t the same as northern fowl mites, for red mites I think you need a flame thrower.
Hugz

Yes there are key differences.

Northern Fowl Mite is Ornithonyssus sylviarum, they spend their entire life cycle on the bird and congregate around the vent feathers. You would still need to clean out and treat the coop but on the whole a lot more manageable.

Red mite, red chicken mite, red roost mite and chicken mite are all names for Dermanyssus gallinae. Red mites are incredibly adaptable and resilient and are very difficult to totally eradicate once established. They live in the environment, in soft wood in joins and crevices and under clods of manure. They can survive extreme temperatures and go a long time without a blood meal.

 

[Loving my girls]

Yes there are key differences.

Northern Fowl Mite is Ornithonyssus sylviarum, they spend their entire life cycle on the bird and congregate around the vent feathers. You would still need to clean out and treat the coop but on the whole a lot more manageable.

Red mite, red chicken mite, red roost mite and chicken mite are all names for Dermanyssus gallinae. Red mites are incredibly adaptable and resilient and are very difficult to totally eradicate once established. They live in the environment, in soft wood in joins and crevices and under clods of manure. They can survive extreme temperatures and go a long time without a blood meal.

Aka NASTY