broken feathers, mites *if you are experiencing this, PLEASE READ*

[esme13]

I just discovered mites in my coop and some on the hens. Any ideas what kind of mite? it resembles the springtail mites, but doesn't jump. They are gray longated with black stripes upon real close inspections and are crawling on the woodshavings. I saw two tiny looking brown mites on my hen. Might be fighting two kinds or its a younger stage. Whats the best method in treating them and where do I get the product to treat them? I have stuff for the coop and a mite spray for the hens, but I want something dependable so that I can resolve this issue before it gets cooler. thank you

 

[Sunflowergirl]

Sevin dust will immediately take care of lice. Birds will shake themselves off after you dust them. Redust again in 10 days. Dust the inside of the coop, nests roosts as well.

Dawg, I wanted to tag you to see if you could help the last poster with their mite questions. I know you know a lot about worms, mites, and lice in chickens. I hope this is ok!!

Edited to add esme's question:

I just discovered mites in my coop and some on the hens. Any ideas what kind of mite? it resembles the springtail mites, but doesn't jump. They are gray longated with black stripes upon real close inspections and are crawling on the woodshavings. I saw two tiny looking brown mites on my hen. Might be fighting two kinds or its a younger stage. Whats the best method in treating them and where do I get the product to treat them? I have stuff for the coop and a mite spray for the hens, but I want something dependable so that I can resolve this issue before it gets cooler. thank you

 

[canyoncito]

Well, I have bad news re: the effectiveness of the sulfur dip. I hope it works with your chicken feather problems but it did not work with mine. As of Aug 12, my chickens look worse than ever. Whatever ding dang mite they have it's resistant to sulfur. We've decided to stop using the coop we worked so hard on. It's insulated and walk-in, but I think it's the mice that are carrying the mites. And the mice think that coop is wonderful. We have mice traps hidden under boards so the chickens won't get snapped but still find it hard to control the pests. We have another coop that is all fencing with little place to let mice hide and nest.The chickens in that coop never get mites, so that's our theory. Only time will tell. Good luck to all of you!!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Well, I have bad news re: the effectiveness of the sulfur dip. I hope it works with your chicken feather problems but it did not work with mine. As of Aug 12, my chickens look worse than ever. Whatever ding dang mite they have it's resistant to sulfur. We've decided to stop using the coop we worked so hard on. It's insulated and walk-in, but I think it's the mice that are carrying the mites. And the mice think that coop is wonderful. We have mice traps hidden under boards so the chickens won't get snapped but still find it hard to control the pests. We have another coop that is all fencing with little place to let mice hide and nest.The chickens in that coop never get mites, so that's our theory. Only time will tell. Good luck to all of you!!

Try the Elector. It's spray on, which is MUCH easier to apply. No egg or meat withdrawal. Seems to work for lice as well. Used on humans (for head lice), dogs (for fleas). A little bottle is rather spendy, but will last a while and it will save you TONS of labor and save your birds the stress of dips or dusts, IMO.

http://www.elanco.us/products-services/poultry/controlling-houseflies-darkling-beetles.aspx

If that doesn't work, I've read plenty of advice to use Frontline +, which is recommended for some particularly dangerous and aggressive types of mites. I haven't tried that, and there are things about it that worry me, but people I trust do recommend it for serious infestations. https://www.facebook.com/groups/pacificnwpoultryassociation/941813972510680/

 

[Ballerina Bird]

This is an informational post, with the hopes of offering helpful suggestions to others who may be experiencing this problem. For many months, my chickens had been losing their feathers, and some became close to being without any feathers. I read everything I could regarding what could be the problem. The literature indicated there were two types of mites that could be causing this problem - northern fowl mite and the roost mite (and less common, scaly leg mite, and there's also the possibility of lice). But try as I might, I could never find any evidence of any of these mites/lice. So I treated the birds and their coop and run with all the suggested remedies, sevin, permethrin, (powder and liquid), ash, DE, etc. When that didn't work, I even bathed them in a lice shampoo (permethrin based), and I contacted a veterinarian who advised I could try ivomec injection (which I did as directed). These things all still did not work. So I kept researching and found that there is a THIRD type of mite that is not reported on much - the knemidokoptes laevis var. gallinae. This is a very tiny mite (not seen by the naked eye), that is similar to the scaly leg mite. This mite lives in the base of the feather shaft and they eat the feathers. Small wild birds are a likely culprit in spreading this mite. The only effective treatment I found was sulfur treatments. On Amazon I purchased sulfur dip, which you mix with warm water pursuant to bottle directions and have the chickens sit in the bath for a few minutes, making sure to work in the sulfur in all the feathers and skin. I did this twice (seven day intervals), and then suddenly, after 9 months of not seeing any progress, my birds started growing new feathers. Now that it is cold, I rub NuStock (also purchased on Amazon), which is a sulfur, pine oil and mineral oil mix, on their skin and I am still seeing progress and now most of my chickens are getting back to normal. And inside their coop I'm spraying Bonide, which includes sulfur. So if you are experiencing broken feathers/feather loss, please consider this as a possibility, that your chickens may have this tiny mite, and the only affective treatment I have found is sulfur.

@jmscheshire , could you tell me exactly what you purchased from Amazon (the sulfur dip you refer to) so I know what product I am looking for? I am wondering if I might have this problem as well. Thanks.

 

[jmscheshire]

Hello, on Amazon, I purchased Vet Basics lime sulfur dip by Revival Animal Health. It's concentrated, so you add warm water for the bath (directions are on the bottle). Since I wrote the last post, I have noticed there are a couple more things that are helpful in knocking the mites down. I put Vaseline on the chicken's feet and on areas of their bodies where the mites are eating their feathers, and I repeat this every 3 days or so. Also, I obtained a bunch of very fine sand and I put that down for the chickens to bathe in. Both of these methods help, are not as odoriferous as sulfur, and are still natural treatments to combat mites. Hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Hello, on Amazon, I purchased Vet Basics lime sulfur dip by Revival Animal Health. It's concentrated, so you add warm water for the bath (directions are on the bottle). Since I wrote the last post, I have noticed there are a couple more things that are helpful in knocking the mites down. I put Vaseline on the chicken's feet and on areas of their bodies where the mites are eating their feathers, and I repeat this every 3 days or so. Also, I obtained a bunch of very fine sand and I put that down for the chickens to bathe in. Both of these methods help, are not as odoriferous as sulfur, and are still natural treatments to combat mites. Hope this helps, and good luck!

Thank you! Much appreciated!

 

[canyoncito]

I did the sulfur dip on 17 chickens every week for 4 weeks and they are worse than ever; it's like I never did anything to treat them. But I like the idea of the vaseline to help smother the mites. Thanks for your post.

 

[mhawley]

Do these look like the work of feather mites, feather lice, or just picking? The white feathers on my rooster's neck and tail seem to be the only effected. These pics are from several weeks ago. Now his neck is raw and red and his tail is eaten down to the shafts. I have two black hens as well and only one of them is showing minimal feather loss on her neck, otherwise, neither show any indication of infestation. I haven't noticed any of them scratching a lot either. Earlier this summer there was a hatch of something like red spider or clover mites in a tree out there, but I understand they don't attack animals and I haven't seen them on the birds. So far I've tried Seven dust, DE & oils. Just need some confirmation that it looks like I'm actually dealing with mites before I continue with the other suggestions from this post. Thank you!

 

[the poppster]

Do these look like the work of feather mites, feather lice, or just picking? The white feathers on my rooster's neck and tail seem to be the only effected. These pics are from several weeks ago. Now his neck is raw and red and his tail is eaten down to the shafts. I have two black hens as well and only one of them is showing minimal feather loss on her neck, otherwise, neither show any indication of infestation. I haven't noticed any of them scratching a lot either. Earlier this summer there was a hatch of something like red spider or clover mites in a tree out there, but I understand they don't attack animals and I haven't seen them on the birds. So far I've tried Seven dust, DE & oils. Just need some confirmation that it looks like I'm actually dealing with mites before I continue with the other suggestions from this post. Thank you!

Wonder if a bath in some kids nd of mite shampoo would work...check with someone who shows their birds...at least you can clean off anything left from the other things you have tried...kind of starting from scratch...get a clear idea of what you are dealing with...it's an idea....so far I've been lucky not to have any mite problems...I mix white cedar saw chips...dry mint...oregano...and a few other things into the bedding in the coop and nest boxes...my roosts are white cedar slabs...bark side up...and dust the place with Dam. Earth...and don't feed wild birds any more...so far, so good....