Lice or Mites - Tried DE and they're still there... What to do?

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ZaneyMama

ZaneyMama

Songster
9 Years
Feb 2, 2010
236
1
109
Boulder, Colorado
The hen that I've been keeping inside our house in a dog crate for her inability to walk now has lice or mites around her vent! YUCK!

I tried dusting her all over with DE and they are still there a couple days later. I really don't want to use something toxic since she is near my 3 year old son. What can I do to get rid of them?

Thanks in advance.
 
You have just demonstrated what some of us keep saying, DE doesn't work except to help with odors and moisture, and kill caterpillar type garden bugs. It's also not the best thing to use around your 3 year old as it's rough on lungs.

I'd go with a permithrin and/or pyrethrin spray. You can get a generic version at TSC (it will say it's for fleas) or Adams' flea and tick spray at the vet or WalMart, or maybe the feed store. Poultry dust is usually sold at feed stores and is usually these chemicals. You will have to retreat in 10 days or so to get the eggs that have then hatched.

Personally, I would also use Sevin if I had it. Just do the dusting outdoors and let her shake and preen it off before bringing her back in. But permethrin/pyrethrins are supposedly less toxic.
 
Has anyone ever tried Neem oil for mites? I am not going to use synthetic pesticides on her, so I have to find something organic and natural that works.

Neem works great for killing bugs in the garden.

We don't have that store near us in Boulder, CO.
 
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I just use seven or ivomec pour on. Organic is fine but mites can kill chickens if not gotten rid of. I used the seven on my grandkid's silkies and just had them wait a couple days before holding them again. The poor chickens were itching to death and as soon as I put the seven on the bugs started falling off dead. Good luck with them.
sharon
 
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

I have used Sevin dust (and retreat every week until gone) and Eprinex pour on successfully together for the northern fowl mite. The second time I treated my flock (about 4 months later), I just used Sevin dust and repeated it in 10 days- worked like a charm!

My chickens start shaking their heads every 5-15 seconds when their mite load gets bad.
 
Actually, pyrethrins are natural. The pyrethrins are contained in the seed cases of the perennial plant pyrethrum which is grown commercially to supply the insecticide.
 
According to several sources neem oil does work kill mites. Several sources also state that DE will kill mites, too. I am skeptical of both claims. Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide as elite8 says, but it degrades very quickly as soon as sunlight hits it, so I seriously question it's efficacy, as well.

ZaneyMama, we understand your reluctance to use chemicals on your birds around your family, but you need to understand that this is a problem that will kill your bird if you let it go on long enough. I assume you have more birds outside, so all of them also have bugs. You need to treat the lot of them with a pesticide and then clean out their entire coop. You will need to do this at least one more time in 7-10 days.

If you care to try out the neem oil, I'd love to hear that it works. Please let us know.

Good luck.
 
Quote:
Where is the pour on type of ivermectin located at TSC is it for cattle? how is it measured for a chicken, can I over dose the bird? Im treating my rooster for scaley leg mites now with vaseline. Would ivermectin help cure this type of mite?
 

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