Urgent questiom

[Beamedik]

in the midwest we have been having torrential rains, so, there has not been any dusting areas for our chicknes and i have not put our ash out to be ruined or washed away. Saturday i put DE in my nesting boxes and fluffed them. Last night when i wentto check the flock, i believe i have a mite infestation in the nesting boxes. They were everywhere. I am on my 24 hr shift today and the out of town for 4 days. Tomarrow when i get home i plan on doing the following to help give them relief......
DE and new pine shavings in all the boxes, DE in the run, and some contractor grade? Sand mixed with our ashes out for dusting. It is supposed to be incredibly hot and no rain for a little while. When we get home, i can get in and spray the whole coop down with ??? And do another round of DE and fresh shavings.

My questions are, 1-will my initial immediate treatment give them some relief, 2 is there anything else i can do on a limited time schedule that would be helpful, 3 is it contractor grade sand?, and 4- what do i spray to do a deep clean?
TIA

 

[peopleRanimals2]

in the midwest we have been having torrential rains, so, there has not been any dusting areas for our chicknes and i have not put our ash out to be ruined or washed away. Saturday i put DE in my nesting boxes and fluffed them. Last night when i wentto check the flock, i believe i have a mite infestation in the nesting boxes. They were everywhere. I am on my 24 hr shift today and the out of town for 4 days. Tomarrow when i get home i plan on doing the following to help give them relief......
DE and new pine shavings in all the boxes, DE in the run, and some contractor grade? Sand mixed with our ashes out for dusting. It is supposed to be incredibly hot and no rain for a little while. When we get home, i can get in and spray the whole coop down with ??? And do another round of DE and fresh shavings.

My questions are, 1-will my initial immediate treatment give them some relief, 2 is there anything else i can do on a limited time schedule that would be helpful, 3 is it contractor grade sand?, and 4- what do i spray to do a deep clean?
TIA

There was an add in the way of some of your post on my kindle so I couldnt see it all, but I have read that you can buy anti-mite dusting stuff and put it in your nesting boxes. Make sure that you treat the mites on the chickens as well as the whole coop. clean everything out, and if you can/want you can put the dust stuff in the nesting boxes and other areas that might have mites. If you can find out what kind of mites you have, then you can treat them better. look up online or in books different mites, so you can find that out how to get rid of those specific ones, because different mites live in different areas on the chickens. If you can, pleade post what kind of mites they are and someone or myself might be able to help you further. For your dusting problem, put up a tarp somewhere in your yard space for the chickens, and if you don't have any, you can try to somehow make my idea work, maybe by setting this up and taking them to dust: Under the tarp, you can pour some sand or dusty dirt, or just make sure that there is dry, realetively loose dirt under it. (The tarp is to make sure it stays dry and cool.) Then, if you want, you can sprinkle some mite dust stuff in it, but make sure that when one chicken dusts, there is still more for other chickens. You could just put a good amount in there to make sure it works. In generel, your chickens might go under it to get out of the rain, but still make sure thay are dusting. I advise you to get some other advice, or approval on this ecause I dont actually own chickens yet, this is purely on what I have read and some thought, but I know for sure that you need to find out what mites and make sure the chickens and the coop are mite free when you finish. From what I have read, most mitescan be found around the vent, but there is one that burrows under the leg scales and is very uncomfordable for the chickens. They make the scales stick out. If you can post the kind of mite, someone can probably help you. If you do reasearch in books, from my experience most have a chapter or two on diseases, and they can give you a good description of the different mites and what to do about them. You might have a type of mite that does not stay on the chicken in the daytime, but lays eggs and sucks blood at night if thay are in your nesting box. I hope this helps. Good luck, an keep this post updated, because it will be sure to help someone else. (also, chickens can get lice but i dont think this is what you have, but i might be wrong. )

 

[peopleRanimals2]

PS i don't know what DE is so it might be the mite dust stuff. If it is, it should help but you should still probably do more research, and it will help if people who know what thy are talking about more will post also.

 

[Beamedik]

I dont think they are the scaly leg one from what i have been reading on here, their legs look fine. I can say they are very tiny and appear to be a lite brown or tan color. This was the first i had ever noticed and thought it was kinda strange because i had just redone their nesting boxes snd fluffed with DE....ditomaceous earth(probably similar to mite powder) and two days later, massive outbreak.
Forgot to mention i was going to powder the girls under wings and vent areas also. I am sure some eill love and some eill scream bloody murder....

 

[galefrances]

I would not use the DE on your chickens as it can be toxic if it gets in their eyes, nose, or lungs. I know some people have used it, but I never felt comfortable using it, not even in the coop. I use the deep litter method and it would kill the good bacteria needed to break down the bad. Anyway, I use the natural method and put wood ash in their dust bath area. So I recommend dusting them with wood ash, especially under their wings and really work it in. You'll probably have to repeat this every few days until you completely rid them. The wood ash will kill the mites. Get rid of all the bedding in your coop and nest boxes and replace with fresh. As far as what to spray? I don't use sprays. I've always painted all the wood in and around the roosts with used motor oil about once a month or so. In the nest boxes I use orange peels as Citris will keep mites away. I also feed my chickens fresh minced garlic once a month and sprinkle cayenne in their feed. This repels the mites as well. i would treat their legs just as a precaution with oil or Vaseline. It will smother any mites or eggs. Hope this helps. If not, I highly recommend the natural chicken keeping thread OTs welcome that is on this site. There are a very knowledgable group of people who can give you excellent advice on pretty much anything.

 

[kategvt]

We've used DE with chickens and on coops for years...breathing in wood ash also isn't recommended...I use it in their litter, boxes, and in a box mixed with wood ash for dust baths. Mites seem to be everywhere this year here in the northeast. May have to use pemetherin. Keeping migratory and song birds outta coop areas seems to be the best preventative.

 

[galefrances]

Well, best of luck to you. I only know what works for me, but then I've only been raising chickens for four years and I've never had mites, so no experience with them. The advice I gave is what has been given to me. As I said...best of luck to you.

 

[Beamedik]

Thankyou allfor yourhelp....my biggest problem is the crunch i amunder when i get off workin the am as far as timegoes. Of course it happens when i am leaving for a few days.....