4 weeks of Permethrin treatment and still have mites! Help me please

[rosemarythyme]

I'd try other options at this point, your mites might be resistant to permethrin. Sevin is supposedly good, though no longer marked for poultry use. Elemental sulfur is another option that's more natural but works slower, but does not have risk of building up resistance in mites.

 

[casportpony]

Soooo I checked the nesting boxes again today and there were mites...which means my chickens still have mites. I’m feeling annoyed with these pesky bugs. I had tried the other day getting the dust but they didn’t have it. Should I just give up on permethrin and switch to spinosad at this point?
@casportpony @pozees2

I would switch to spinosad.

Would the other topical thing work better than spinosad?

The powder? unlikely, it's 0.25% permethrin.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I'd keep using the stronger dilution of permethrin since it seemed to have killed mites. You will keep seeing more as they hatch, and I think the Northern Fowl Mite has a faster lifecycle than red mites, that's why I had to treat the birds days 1, 4, and 7, and why I was spraying the coops every day, so I didn't miss a hatch and let the bleepers get old enough to lay more eggs.

Yeah that makes total sense. I did spray days 1 and 4 so I’ll spray again on 7 and I’ll just keep spraying the coop daily for a while. There was a lot less today. Maybe only 5 I found crawling on me versus the 40 or so the other day...ew

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I'd try other options at this point, your mites might be resistant to permethrin. Sevin is supposedly good, though no longer marked for poultry use. Elemental sulfur is another option that's more natural but works slower, but does not have risk of building up resistance in mites.

What does elemental sulfur do?

 

[pozees2]

Yeah that makes total sense. I did spray days 1 and 4 so I’ll spray again on 7 and I’ll just keep spraying the coop daily for a while. There was a lot less today. Maybe only 5 I found crawling on me versus the 40 or so the other day...ew

Yeah, you wind up with that creepy crawly feeling for days after ... ugh.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What does elemental sulfur do?

I don't know how exactly it works. I read it here: https://entomologytoday.org/2016/07/18/battling-chicken-mites-with-bags-of-brimstone/ and it sounds like a promising option if mites are a regular issue or if permethrin resistance is an issue.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

Yeah, you wind up with that creepy crawly feeling for days after ... ugh.

yeah I’ve had that feeling for over a month

 

[HippieAtHeart]

It's hard to know if the new mites you're seeing just hatched,
since I don't think anything kills mite or lice eggs,
or the chemical you're using is ineffective due to resistance.

Yeah I had read permethrin stays around for a while, does that residue not actively kill the newly hatched mites? It was definitely less mites today.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I don't know how exactly it works. I read it here: https://entomologytoday.org/2016/07/18/battling-chicken-mites-with-bags-of-brimstone/ and it sounds like a promising option if mites are a regular issue or if permethrin resistance is an issue.

That was a very fascinating read. I may just have to try it. It would be nice to know what kills the mites from it because if the mites can’t become resistant then I would just always use it even when the mites are gone in their dust bath.

 

[aart]

Yeah I had read permethrin stays around for a while, does that residue not actively kill the newly hatched mites?

Not sure about that.
I know it doesn't for lice on the bird.