Bad Case of Northern Fowl Mites

[Dean W]

The hen pictured in the front of this picture was walking with her tail feathers tucked under. So I picked her up and noticed she had a bad case of northern fowl mite infestation (per a book I bought) on her rear. It was actually quite disgusting the feathers were black and her skin looked irritated. So I dusted with some poultry dust on her alone. I have very little of the poultry dust left, but do have quite a bit of diatomaceous earth. My question is would the diatomaceous (long word) earth work for the northern fowl mites? Or is it in fact a mite problem as I presume?

Thanks!

 

[Dean W]

Forgot to include the pic. Opted to leave out a disgusting pic. She's the one in the front.

 

[casportpony]

I tried DE, but it didn't work for me, so I use poultry dust on my birds and Sevin spray in the coops.

 

[Dean W]

Okay, thank you. Never tried using the Sevin spray before I'll need to get some and a sprayer.

 

[casportpony]

BYC's Dawg53 uses a leaf blower and the dust in his coop.

 

[Dean W]

Let me look at some of his post then. Maybe search some older threads too.

 

[casportpony]

Send him a PM:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/19157/dawg53

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

DE won't work for an infestation.

I use Poultry dust (permethrin) on the birds (treat your whole flock)- put them on the ground on their backs, hold onto feet. Use tied off sock with dust in it to dust under wings and vent area. Turn chicken over. Dust back and neck. Everywhere except face. Repeat in 7 days or they'll be back.

For the coop: liquid permethrin diluted and sprayed - toss all shavings even in nest boxes or they will be back- repeat spray and tossing of shavings at 7 days.

If I so much as don't dump out the nestbox shavings they come right back.

Sevin works GREAT but isn't approved anymore for poultry on the label. In fact I think it worked better than permethrin.

If you have 200 chickens then you can set up a dusting box for them and put the poultry dust in it for them to dust themselves. Downside is, they EAT that stuff as they are dusting. I don't like it that they eat it and opt to manually dust them.

If you have a severe infestation you might even have to do a third treatment another 7 days later...dunno. For me, I gotta keep my flock clean of those nasty NFMs because they get on me and bite me unmercifully.

 

[casportpony]

DE won't work for an infestation.

I use Poultry dust (permethrin) on the birds (treat your whole flock)- put them on the ground on their backs, hold onto feet. Use tied off sock with dust in it to dust under wings and vent area. Turn chicken over. Dust back and neck. Everywhere except face. Repeat in 7 days or they'll be back.

For the coop: liquid permethrin diluted and sprayed - toss all shavings even in nest boxes or they will be back- repeat spray and tossing of shavings at 7 days.

If I so much as don't dump out the nestbox shavings they come right back.

Sevin works GREAT but isn't approved anymore for poultry on the label. In fact I think it worked better than permethrin.

If you have 200 chickens then you can set up a dusting box for them and put the poultry dust in it for them to dust themselves. Downside is, they EAT that stuff as they are dusting. I don't like it that they eat it and opt to manually dust them.

If you have a severe infestation you might even have to do a third treatment another 7 days later...dunno. For me, I gotta keep my flock clean of those nasty NFMs because they get on me and bite me unmercifully.

Very good advice!

 

[Dean W]

Send him a PM:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/19157/dawg53

Thanks!

DE won't work for an infestation.

I use Poultry dust (permethrin) on the birds (treat your whole flock)- put them on the ground on their backs, hold onto feet. Use tied off sock with dust in it to dust under wings and vent area. Turn chicken over. Dust back and neck. Everywhere except face. Repeat in 7 days or they'll be back.

For the coop: liquid permethrin diluted and sprayed - toss all shavings even in nest boxes or they will be back- repeat spray and tossing of shavings at 7 days.

If I so much as don't dump out the nestbox shavings they come right back.

Sevin works GREAT but isn't approved anymore for poultry on the label. In fact I think it worked better than permethrin.

If you have 200 chickens then you can set up a dusting box for them and put the poultry dust in it for them to dust themselves. Downside is, they EAT that stuff as they are dusting. I don't like it that they eat it and opt to manually dust them.

If you have a severe infestation you might even have to do a third treatment another 7 days later...dunno. For me, I gotta keep my flock clean of those nasty NFMs because they get on me and bite me unmercifully.

I just read about your ordeal in another thread. I believe it was in 2009. Thanks for all the information. They had them once before, but this time I think it's worse. Already lost one chicken maybe due to the mites. I need to check on the weather for tomorrow so I can get this done.

Very good advice!

Agreed! Thanks for yours too.