Best mites/lice prevention habits for new coop/run

[Magnolia76]

I read a lot about how to get rid of the mites and lice but how can one prevent them altogether?! Any good habits or techniques? New coop and new run. I plan on changing bedding every week or two. Pine shavings, DE (yes I know it’s controversial but I’ve used it before many times and like what I read about it) and PDZ sprinkled make up the bedding. The run is dirt and in a pine tree forrest. I try to pick up food scraps but I’m sure I miss the tiny pieces. A dust bath that they don’t use yet (they are 7 wks old) with wood ash, DE, sand, and dirt. (I’ll only have wood ash in winter so no more until this winter ). I put raw apple cider vinegar in their water because I’m one who uses ACV for everything. What can I do additionally in the coop or run to prevent them altogether??? Any good things to do routinely to prevent ? Any advice or wisdom would be much appreciated. I think my biggest fear with chickens is finding out I’ve got an infestation!

 

[DobieLover]

DE (yes I know it’s controversial but I’ve used it before many times and like what I read about it)

Then you never read what I had to write about it!

I put raw apple cider vinegar in their water because I’m one who uses ACV for everything.

The birds should have just fresh clean plain water available at all times. You can put out a second waterer with ACV in it but it isn't going to do anything wonderous for them. It is useful for treating sour crop but, as you are requesting in this thread, preventing sour crop is better. For that I like to feed fermented feed for as close to half their daily ration as possible. It's very easy to do and keeps their guts in good health.

For external parasite prevention, they need to dust bathe. Just plain old ordinary dirt works great. They like to dig out their own dust bath sites. In the 4 years I've kept chickens only once did they have a very mild case of lice. It was easily treated with a single dusting with permethrin based poultry dust. I do sprinkle this into the broody nest before setting a broody as a preventive measure though.

I would add some pine needles and wood chips to the floor of your run so they have something to dig through.

 

[3KillerBs]

Too many birds in too small a space without lots and lots of fresh air and sunshine. Sunshine (UV light) is natures true miracle cure. It will kill lots of nasties including killing parasite eggs. Also keeping the environment as dry as possible helps.

Following these forums for over a decade and listening to the experts, I have learned that the majority of problems people ask advice about can be traced back to over-crowding as, if not a direct cause, at least a contributing factor.

 

[DobieLover]

So would adding material for them to dig through not increase the chances of bad types of bugs?

Not in my opinion. This is my run:

If you don’t use DE what do you use to make up your coop bedding?

My coop is bedded down with either large flake pine shavings and/or hemp bedding. I clean the coop once a year but this year, I think I'll clean it again before winter settles in to try to control the dust build up.

you don’t do anything except keep it natural really and you haven’t had an issue?

I keep things as natural as possible, yes, but I do inspect the birds regularly for any issues. They get wormed as needed, nails and spurs trimmed and butt baths as required.

What would be the cause of people getting the infestations then?

Too many birds in too small a space without lots and lots of fresh air and sunshine. Sunshine (UV light) is natures true miracle cure. It will kill lots of nasties including killing parasite eggs. Also keeping the environment as dry as possible helps.

How do you clean up your run or do you just let it be?

I don't clean my run. I just add more wood chips as needed. Usually once a year in the fall. I will occasionally rake the wood chips in the run to mix the poop in and get it in contact with the microbes in the soil that break it down. They take most of their dust baths in the run:

I do release my birds into a very large penned in area.

 

[aldarita]

Clean coops and clean runs is the best way to prevent external parasites. In my 10 years of keeping chickens, I've had lice twice and the infestation wasn't bad in both cases. The lice were brought in by wild birds. If you let your flock out, it's important to keep an eye on them all the time and catch the problem at the beginning to treat right away.
I clean coops and runs everyday. I'm using PDZ in the roosting boxes and always check for sings of parasites. My runs have dirt and sand. The poop gets sifted everyday too.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks for the reply! So would adding material for them to dig through not increase the chances of bad types of bugs? If you don’t use DE what do you use to make up your coop bedding? Just pine shavings or something else? So if I’m understanding your reply you don’t do anything except keep it natural really and you haven’t had an issue? What would be the cause of people getting the infestations then? I’m trying to figure this out. They keep dumping pine shavings out of the coop when they exit so that is in the run but I keep raking it out so that it’s not nasty I figured bare ground would keep mice and parasites away. No? Maybe I should add some bark mulch or fresh dirt So that when I’m raking the run it can mix up with the poo. How do you clean up your run or do you just let it be?

Here's my article on Deep Bedding: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Deep Litter in the run doesn't present any increased risk of parasites and the ordinary bugs that enter a composting system are actively GOOD for the chickens -- both as extra protein snacks and for enabling them to engage in natural scratching and foraging behaviors.

In the wild, chickens are creatures of the forest floor. A bare dirt rectangle is an unnatural environment.

I've had chickens about 5-6 years in two separate batches and never yet had any kind of parasite infestation. Give your chickens a healthy environment to live in with plenty of space, good nutrition, lots of pure water, and the opportunity to engage in natural behaviors then keep and eye on them and treat problems when you find them.

 

[Magnolia76]

Then you never read what I had to write about it!

The birds should have just fresh clean plain water available at all times. You can put out a second waterer with ACV in it but it isn't going to do anything wonderous for them. It is useful for treating sour crop but, as you are requesting in this thread, preventing sour crop is better. For that I like to feed fermented feed for as close to half their daily ration as possible. It's very easy to do and keeps their guts in good health.

For external parasite prevention, they need to dust bathe. Just plain old ordinary dirt works great. They like to dig out their own dust bath sites. In the 4 years I've kept chickens only once did they have a very mild case of lice. It was easily treated with a single dusting with permethrin based poultry dust. I do sprinkle this into the broody nest before setting a broody as a preventive measure though.

I would add some pine needles and wood chips to the floor of your run so they have something to dig through.

Thanks for the reply! So would adding material for them to dig through not increase the chances of bad types of bugs? If you don’t use DE what do you use to make up your coop bedding? Just pine shavings or something else? So if I’m understanding your reply you don’t do anything except keep it natural really and you haven’t had an issue? What would be the cause of people getting the infestations then? I’m trying to figure this out. They keep dumping pine shavings out of the coop when they exit so that is in the run but I keep raking it out so that it’s not nasty I figured bare ground would keep mice and parasites away. No? Maybe I should add some bark mulch or fresh dirt So that when I’m raking the run it can mix up with the poo. How do you clean up your run or do you just let it be?

 

[Magnolia76]

Here's my article on Deep Bedding: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Deep Litter in the run doesn't present any increased risk of parasites and the ordinary bugs that enter a composting system are actively GOOD for the chickens -- both as extra protein snacks and for enabling them to engage in natural scratching and foraging behaviors.

In the wild, chickens are creatures of the forest floor. A bare dirt rectangle is an unnatural environment.

I've had chickens about 5-6 years in two separate batches and never yet had any kind of parasite infestation. Give your chickens a healthy environment to live in with plenty of space, good nutrition, lots of pure water, and the opportunity to engage in natural behaviors then keep and eye on them and treat problems when you find them.

If I put a bunch of material in there how am I to clean it out? Just keep adding material and then raking it out every week? How do you “clean “your run and how often?

 

[3KillerBs]

If I put a bunch of material in there how am I to clean it out? Just keep adding material and then raking it out every week?

Did you read the article?

Depending on chicken density and weather my Deep Bedding in that coop can last anywhere from 6-12 weeks before it needs to be cleaned.

 

[3KillerBs]

In my big, open air coop with the actively-composting Deep Litter system I haven't cleaned in 9 months and, while it's due for more wood chips right now, I don't anticipate having to clean it until late next winter when I want compost for the garden.