Bio security and mites.

[BDutch]

Hello fellow poultry keepers. I am currently battling my first Mite infestation.

One other thing that I thought worth mentioning, is how long mites can live away from chickens.
I had a coop with a bad infestation of red roost mites in in, so I just moved my chickens out to a different coop which was easer to clean.

Over a month later, there was still mites alive in the first coop.

Red mite know 3 stages.
Egg - larvea - mites.

The mite-egg can survive a long time before they turn into crawling larvea. Some say many months and once I read over a year.

The mites die in freezing cold. The eggs don’t. Every next spring you need to monitor weekly. And best twice every week when its warm and humid.

 

[Asking for my chickens]

I also believe I am dealing with multiple kind of mites. It's been a nightmare. What made me reply to your post is your last couple sentences. We have them in our house and on our dogs now too. It's a nightmare. My coop, birds and enclosure run are doing better then we are now. Take heed and do some homework on bird mites in homes. It is real and has us in the fight of our lives. Get ahead of it and fast. If you'd like details let me know. I believe you might have read some of what I've done with the birds on another thread. My world is totally upside down since then.

Hi, I think we have mites, as well, on our broody hen and four new chicks! This morning I felt all itchy on my face, came in and looked in the mirror to see a tiny black speck crawling across my face!! Last night, I felt like I had crawlies while in bed, also after showering and scrubbing down before going to bed. Yes, I need details on how to get rid of them, please and thank you! I have an 18 mo old grandson in my house 2 days/week, and don't want him affected! I see the Martin's spray, and will get some tonight when I take him home. What all do I need to do? Take everything out of the coop and burn it? Thank you for any and all suggestions~Debbie

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hi, I think we have mites, as well, on our broody hen and four new chicks! This morning I felt all itchy on my face, came in and looked in the mirror to see a tiny black speck crawling across my face!! Last night, I felt like I had crawlies while in bed, also after showering and scrubbing down before going to bed. Yes, I need details on how to get rid of them, please and thank you! I have an 18 mo old grandson in my house 2 days/week, and don't want him affected! I see the Martin's spray, and will get some tonight when I take him home. What all do I need to do? Take everything out of the coop and burn it? Thank you for any and all suggestions~Debbie

Dealing with NFM on birds, in coop and in house: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites-in-the-coop-and-house.1546417/#post-26109086

 

[Reggan]

Hi, I think we have mites, as well, on our broody hen and four new chicks! This morning I felt all itchy on my face, came in and looked in the mirror to see a tiny black speck crawling across my face!! Last night, I felt like I had crawlies while in bed, also after showering and scrubbing down before going to bed. Yes, I need details on how to get rid of them, please and thank you! I have an 18 mo old grandson in my house 2 days/week, and don't want him affected! I see the Martin's spray, and will get some tonight when I take him home. What all do I need to do? Take everything out of the coop and burn it? Thank you for any and all suggestions~Debbie

Hi Debbie,
Do some homework on bird mites in homes. It's actually pretty common in CA, TX the south and Hawaii. It's also very common in Australia. Exterminator sitesin those areas are extremely helpful if the specialize in bird mites. Basically we all could be dealing with either the red mite, the northern fowl mite or the tropical poultry mite. The tropical poultry mite is very similiar to the northern fowl mite. If what you saw is very small then it's probably tropical or northern. The nymphs are very tiny and clear beige. Damn near impossible to see, it's why they are so hard to beat. The telltale is the tropical and NFM can be seen on eggs a lot of the time and they don't leave the birds. They act more like a lice.
If left too long in the home they will choose a host, typically a middle aged female. Most agricultural papers I've read and I spoke with a parisitology dept state the same. I am unfortunately the host in my house. I was fighting mites on the chickens and had won (months), but everything went sideways when we had a wild birds nest in a rubber maid cabinet on our patio. I didn't realize it was filled with mites. I was an idiot and let her hatch. The door was propped open and by the time I found them, they were falling on the dogs, as they bumped into the door (their running path), for a week multiple times a day. When I found them, there were millions. I got in the cabinet and tackled it. It was out of a horror movie.
Anyway, I obviously immediately showered, but I didn't realize I didn't get them out of my hair. By the time I realized it was days later. They LOVE hair, clothes and carpet. They only bite me. The best sources for info (taken with a grain of salt are people who have been through this. Dig into google and you will find them. There are horror stories, but you can still get some good info.
Start soaking your hair 30 mins a day in the tub. submerse your head. The nits are hard to get out, just like regular head lice. I use the enzyme I mention below and dawn dish soap, then finish with a shower using a peppermint shampoo, then the Veterycin Parasite sulfur shampoo for dogs, that is good stuff and a lot cheaper then buying people brands, we use it as shampoo and soap. Then i comb conditioner through my hair. Blow dry your hair, then tea tree oil drops.
Here's our protocol, it is extensive as I am dealing with a situation that I was weeks behind on.
1. Ozone generators - pretty inexpensive compared to buying chemicals. You can look up ozone generators and bird mites.
2. Klean Grean enzymes (naturalginesis.com) - absolute miracle and non toxic. Go read the testimonials on their site. Good info there too.
3. All laundry - I add borax, ammonia, Kleen-Free (same company that makes Kleen Green enzymes) wash in HOT, dry on HOT. You have to kill eggs
4. Don't let any laundry sit
5. Wash your bedding everyday
6. Pay attention to your furniture - even if you think they're not in it, use the Kleen Green enzyme for a couple weeks, just in case. I currently have couch in a full bed bug cover until I know we have beaten them and then I will buy a new one. Our other couches and chairs seem to be fine, though I spray them daily. The couch with them is the couch the dogs and I sit on most, so it makes sense.
7. The vacuum is your best friend. Immediately empty it and take the trash out. I vacumm the whole house every day.
8. They got into my dogs ears so I am using Otic in their ears along with NuStock. I bath the dogs every 3 days and spray them with the enzymes every day. I put them on Simparica. Kleen Green actually comes with a pamphlet explaining what and how to use it for mites, fleas, etc. on dogs, people and your home. Very helpful.

It is exhausting, but at the end of the day it's just a very small bug and you can beat it. In our situation I have had to bag everything out of closets - clothes, shoes, bedding, etc. I have to beat the hatch cycle, which they could be hatching everyday. We basically just wear the same 5 sets of work and then 5 after-work clothes and keep washing them. I have to keep it simple. We use one of our deep freezes to conquer shoes and bedding that may have been contaminated, but is clean. This way I just bag it, freeze it at -10 degrees. Then keep it bagged until we get through this mess. I wipe down as many surface as I can everyday.

If you just brought them, then you are waaayyyy ahead of what we are dealing with. Read up, keep a close eye on your bedroom and areas where you tend to spend most you time. I wasted sooooo much money on chemicals that don't work and long term exposure would hurt us further.
The only fogger bombs that we have found to really help are the Knockout foggers (got them from petmeds.com on sale, and they do contain an IGR.

The chooks are doing pretty good, still a bit of a battle, but winning. I tear everything apart in the coop every weekend and spray everything.
Every other week I rotate between using Nature's shield mixed with a spinosad (Monterays) and then either 13% permethrin or Talak mixed with a spinosad. I have done a few rounds of injectable 1% ivermectin and it does help, but mostly just dusting them with Viper/Dust-On and Seven every 4 days and cleaning constantly is the best. I am mixing cedar chips in with their bedding and putting tobacco and cedar chips in the nesting boxes. I feed them a ton of garlic every day and have them on ACV with Chicken Elixer. I also sprinkle sulfur in their dusting boxes and allover the their enclosed run (36x15) and their coop (8x15). They do free range every day so that helps. We did end up sparying the entire enclosure with diesel fuel.
We bathed every chicken in Electrol PSP mixed with premo and permethrin. That was 3 weeks ago and that really helped. Bathing 30 chickens wasn't fun, but it helped a lot.
The coop and enclosure have been much easier then the damn house, that's for sure! We both work very full time so this is an undertaking, but we will win and I can't wait until winter!!!!
Go to birdmites.org some of it is very scary, but very good info. I could see if someone let this get out of control it would be almost impossible to win. They multiply so damn fast.
Hope this help Debbie. It should get you started.

 

[Reggan]

Hi, I think we have mites, as well, on our broody hen and four new chicks! This morning I felt all itchy on my face, came in and looked in the mirror to see a tiny black speck crawling across my face!! Last night, I felt like I had crawlies while in bed, also after showering and scrubbing down before going to bed. Yes, I need details on how to get rid of them, please and thank you! I have an 18 mo old grandson in my house 2 days/week, and don't want him affected! I see the Martin's spray, and will get some tonight when I take him home. What all do I need to do? Take everything out of the coop and burn it? Thank you for any and all suggestions~Debbie

Oh and I did initially take everything out of the coop and burnt, but I can't do that every weekend. My coop is basically a very large shed. Oh and depending on the age of your chicks I would only use a spinosad and maybe some garlic juice on them. Dusting mama might be a bit risky too, though I dusted 8 week old chicks and they fine months later.