ARRRGGGhhh... darn mites are back again!!!

[DawnSuiter]

The mice population has started to boom again and they have a favorite coop. Unfortunately, one male & female in that coop were in REALLY bad shape when I figured this out. Oddly they did not show the same "dirt" that everyone showed on the rear. Then hen was suprising all together as it took for her to sit in the nest having muscle spasms in her neck for me to see that something was wrong. And the rooster.. well.. he didn't have a sign of one on his rear... but under his right wing was the worst I've ever seen. Both were nearly lost when I found them.

THIS is a good reason NOT to have too many chickens! I've tried to cheat here and there... only using Ivermectin or Selamectin on those affected, dusting Sevin on everyone else & their coops. I use DE sparingly and for a year never had a single mite, but I've been battling off and on for a couple months now.

So... I have a new erradication plan, which of course includes treating EVERY SINGLE BIRD - we're talking around 50 right now, but better NOW than before I start hatching this season.

I know that Selamectin works almost instantly but it's PRICEY, and not suitable pricewise for every single bird!
I have used Ivermectin for cattle but not the Eprinex... the lot expired in the summer... perhaps it's lost its effectiveness.

So my new plan is as follows... support & suggestions welcome.
Yes it may be overboard, but I'm SO TIRED of this on and on stuff.


Day 1 - Eprinex Pour On AND Flea/Tick baths for anyone who we can see mites on. (permethrin based) also Ag lime all sand in coops.
Day 3 - Sevin Dust & DE chickens & coops & bedding
Day 4 - HEAVY Cayenne Pepper & garlic in the food (both make undesirable host)
Day 5 - Flea & Tick Spray on the birds & the coops (permethrin based)
Day 7 - Eprinex Pour On
Day 10 - Sevin Dust & DE all birds & coops
Day 13 - Repeat Cayenne Pepper & garlic
Day 14 - Flea & Tick Spray if they are finally controlled OR Eprinex again if I still see a problem.

ALL NESTS will switch to pine shavings, DE & tobacco leaves (shred cheap cigars if nothing else).

This BETTER DO IT!!! Or I might just give up on this chicken path and stick to only a few laying hens. All these treatments are PRICEY!!!!


added: both of the afore mentioned chickens are now residents in my living room. The hen has very few feathers are apparently she was not allowed to finish her molt (I had an apron on her and didn't notice) due to the mites. The roo is doing better now that they both have had a LONG flea bath. He'll go back out to his coop once I begin the process above. SHE is staying inside until she grows her feathers on her back or until the weather warms up to a consistent 50*F or so.

 

[purpletree23]

Is this mite infestation in only 1 coop right now? If it is I'd like to add my 2 cents if I may. Empty the coop of anything that is removable. Put everything in the sun outside. If the weather is cold there this will work even better.

Open all windows and doors. Sweep down all walls and roosts and floors. I believe the product I've used is Raid. It's a fogger. A 'smoke' fogger. Not a liquid fogger. They come in a box of 3. Close all windows and doors and try to plug up all cracks etc. The foggers are activated by water and looks just like smoke. It will get into all of the tiny spaces you can't. I would set all 3 foggers off at the same time and leave it for 24 hours so the residue will kill EVERYTHING.

After fogging sprinkle poultry lice and mite dust or Sevin dust on all cracks, roosts, nesting boxes, the floor where it meets the walls etc. Let the dust settle and replace with new bedding, waterers, feeders, etc. Make sure you clean them really well. If you have wood laying boxes switch to old milk crates. The mites love the wood but can't burrow into the plastic.

This will take 2 or 3 days but it will be worth it.

The flea and tick baths and the Eperinex pour on and the flea and tick spray might be too much for the chickens. It is all topical and can absorb through the skin in poisonous amounts.

I could be wrong but cayanne pepper and garlic is usually used for internal parasites.

If you use Ivermectin pour on you can't eat the eggs. If you dust with Sevin dust you can eat the eggs but you HAVE to dust again in 10 days to kill any eggs that have hatched.

Good luck.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Thank you for the tips, I will try to use as many as I can of course.
Its the very last coop and apparently started in on the 2nd to last coop.
These are the coops

and this is the one that is the bad one (minus the little separated area in the right corner which we've removed already)

as you can see.. no way to bomb or fog, in fact there is very little in there all together!
This spring we are going to use rocks & concrete to put in real floors to keep the mice from burrowing under into them.

I am considering replacing roosts with that plasticy new wood substitue they use for decking.... other than that... as you can see there are only posts and a couple of dividers.

I think I'm going to polyurethane every other piece of existing wood, and the perches too if I can't replace them.

The cayenne & garlic make for yucky tasting blood, which helps deter them I've read, neither should harm or affect the chickens so I figured it was a good thing to roll into the mix.

I've learned that the momma mite lays an egg and within 2 days the egg start to hatch, during those 2 days they aren't easy to kill. on day 3 or 4 all the babies are up & eating their first meals.. by day 5 they are laying more eggs by day 7 or 10 they are dead.


perhaps I could switch my treatment days - switching Day 10 with Day 7... to give more space between absorb able treatments... that would be a few days between those types .... still giving the variety but a few days between toxic stuff given on days 1, 5, 10 & 14

Day 1 - Eprinex Pour On AND Flea/Tick baths for anyone who we can see mites on. (permethrin based) also Ag lime all sand in coops.
Day 3 - Sevin Dust & DE chickens & coops & bedding
Day 4 - HEAVY Cayenne Pepper & garlic in the food (both make undesirable host)
Day 5 - Flea & Tick Spray on the birds & the coops (permethrin based)
Day 7 - Sevin Dust & DE all birds & coops
Day 10 - Eprinex Pour On
Day 13 - Repeat Cayenne Pepper & garlic
Day 14 - Flea & Tick Spray if they are finally controlled OR Eprinex again if I still see a problem.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I have used a (dog) kennel & yard spray very effectively in my henhouses & yards. You attach it to a garden hose and it sprays a dilution of a insect killer. That would work in open yards like you have.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Quote:
oooh.. that's a GREAT idea.. thank you. I can treat the ground, even the sand and the entire yard & perimeter of the coops.
I will work on defrosting the hose & spigot

I have about 5 days of above freezing temps to get this done and a few other things...

 

[DawnSuiter]

I should add that we DO have several plans to get rid of the mice. We knocked their numbers back significantly in the summer but again they are growing in numbers.

We plan to locate a "bucket of death" in EACH and every coop.
I have a new kitty who is getting ready to move outside with our existing cat
Putting down the floors as mentioned
The dogs get them as often as they can but most activity is at night now since we knocked down the numbers.

and anything else frankly I can find that has ANY Remote chance of working including glue traps.

 

[purpletree23]

Be careful with the bucket of death in the coops. Chickens can drown in them also.

Wish I had known your coop was so open. I would go with the spray also. Sevin does come in a liquid form and you can mix with water and apply with a pump sprayer.

 

[DawnSuiter]

I suppose they could drown if they were bobbing for seeds...
ok.. maybe I'll have to keep them outside the coops

thanks.

I bought
5% Sevin
Poultry & Swine Dust
a Yard & Coop/barn spray
Eprinex
flea shampoo
and a generic adam's flea & tick spray type

 

[gsim]

Quote:
I have kept Scours tablets (Terramyacin) in my freezer for over 10 years and they are still potent. (I use them in case I get a bad bronchial condition. I have used them successfully for that twice and my youngest son has too. Got mine at farmer's co-op.)