California - Northern

[Stephine]

Sorry about your loss.
I havent seen anyone talk about using Diatomaceous Earth to prevent mites , lice and any other little creatures we dont want attacking our feathered friends.It is perfectly healthy for chickens to eat it or bath in it and it kills mites,lice,fleas,ticks and most other bugs.My chickens love to roll around and bath in it.I dug about 2 ft x 2 ft 4 inch deep pit inside chicken run area and about once every 2 weeks I pour some Diatomaceous Earth(it is a fine powder)into pit and chickens just go nuts rolling around and bathing in it.Ive never had problem with mites.The Diatomaceous Earth I purchase comes with added calcium and can be added to chicken feed to strengthen egg shells and prevent and kill any internal parasites.Its cheap to buy and can be added to feed of any farm animals.Its all natural safe and no side effects that I have ever heard of.

Thank you, Hyroller! I hate to be a grouch, but probably nobody recommended DE because it doesn’t really work to treat mites and is quite possibly damaging to a chicken‘s lungs (and yours, too, if you are exposed to the dust). I have never heard of anyone being successful fighting an infestation with DE and suspect that those who use it and never had problems, just never had problems for other reasons. This forum is littered with posts from people that had infestations despite using DE and of others trying to beat down an infestation with DE unsuccessfully...

 

[Hyroler]

I have to disagree with you about DE.Especially when it comes to dust being bad for lungs.That is ridiculous chicken take dust bath in dirt all the time and dust from dirt doesn't hurt them.DE is healthier to breath than dirt.
Too each his own.I will stick with DE over toxic pesticide any day.

 

[Nikkijo]

I was redirected to this thread. Does anyone live near Yuba City / marysville area? I was looking to buy some hatching eggs. Preferably silkie eggs. Thank you

 

[ronott1]

Welcome from Woodland!

Someone had silkie hatching eggs in the Sacramento area

 

[joydix]

a couple years ago i had a new coop/pen build and incorporated the old coop inside this larger structure. this year i covered up the super high up areas so hens could NOT roost up there and build one of those ladder type roost structures for them. i have 30 hens. about 16 roost in that section (would help prob. 40 tho) and about 15 roost in the old coop. i have worried about this one friz. silkie hens i have as she sits a lot not moving about much. i cut her bangs, i cut her nails as they were VERY long...but she is/was not very active ....today up on close inspection i found A LOT of lice or mites..they were reddish. crawling all over her vent area. i dusted her and they fell off by 100's! it was awful i felt awful! so dusted her whole body. will check her again and maybe dose her with ivermectin ...but i was wondering and want feedback what if i dismantled the old coop (6 yrs old) and did the ladder type roosts in that section...would put board and batton around two more sides so not totally closed in but eliminate most drafts and any weather....this is sonoma coast so not overly freezing OR hot here. very temperate. but would make it more airy and open..would that be a good plan??? i did dust all the roosts and in summer at first and end of season i hose down all, dry out and dust with DE....i also spray with a vinegar and citrus mix i make.....the other hens are NOT infested....everyone else is fine. i had wormed them all this winter with invermectin which also gets parasites..thanks for any comments. j

 

[ronott1]

a couple years ago i had a new coop/pen build and incorporated the old coop inside this larger structure. this year i covered up the super high up areas so hens could NOT roost up there and build one of those ladder type roost structures for them. i have 30 hens. about 16 roost in that section (would help prob. 40 tho) and about 15 roost in the old coop. i have worried about this one friz. silkie hens i have as she sits a lot not moving about much. i cut her bangs, i cut her nails as they were VERY long...but she is/was not very active ....today up on close inspection i found A LOT of lice or mites..they were reddish. crawling all over her vent area. i dusted her and they fell off by 100's! it was awful i felt awful! so dusted her whole body. will check her again and maybe dose her with ivermectin ...but i was wondering and want feedback what if i dismantled the old coop (6 yrs old) and did the ladder type roosts in that section...would put board and batton around two more sides so not totally closed in but eliminate most drafts and any weather....this is sonoma coast so not overly freezing OR hot here. very temperate. but would make it more airy and open..would that be a good plan??? i did dust all the roosts and in summer at first and end of season i hose down all, dry out and dust with DE....i also spray with a vinegar and citrus mix i make.....the other hens are NOT infested....everyone else is fine. i had wormed them all this winter with invermectin which also gets parasites..thanks for any comments. j

I am sorry about the mites and lice!

DE will not get rid of them and is not much of a preventative. I posted on here a couple of weeks ago about this. The mites live in the wood work and come out at night. DE will not kill them because they are too hard shelled.

Use a garden bug spray in the coop and soak the wood and the roost. You can use bonide which is spinosad. For the chickens, use a permectrin dust.

There are some good guides on doing this.

If you try to take care of it with DE and other methods, you will not get rid of them. Mites kill chickens.

If your Dog, cat or child had mites, lice or fleas would to trust DE to get rid of it?

 

[Stephine]

Not all mites live in the woodwork... the most common ones, Northern Fowl mites , live on the chicken, so do feather eating mites. Anyway, I have just had to battle mites here in Sonoma, too - ‘tis the season...
If only this one hen has them, then it is likely that there is something else wrong with her that makes her more susceptible. I give elemental sulfur in the feed and in their dustbath - but this one hen was ill and not eating enough or dustbathing to get the protection, in addition to whatever it is that makes weak animals more vulnerable to parasites. DE will not take care of an established mite issue, you’ll have to get something different. Poultry protector spray (containing enzymes) seemed to make a dent in our case but works more slowly, so I also got a pyrethrin spray (Scalex). You can also use elector psp (spinosad), but that one is very expensive. You spray the chicken, focus on the tush and under the wings, repeat in 7 days. Empty the coop and spray every surface there. Put fresh straw in the neat boxes after that and replace every day. Keep spraying poultry protector in the nest boxes and the bedding every day or two.
That regime should help a lot!
My main host hen died, but not before transferring the mites to the rest of the flock via the nest boxes where she hung out the last week or so. I went from finding eggs covered in mites and crawling all over my hands after chores to finding just a few here and there. Retreating tomorrow and feeling pretty confident that we will be good after that.
Good luck to you!

 

[ronott1]

Not all mites live in the woodwork... the most common ones, Northern Fowl mites , live on the chicken, so do feather eating mites. Anyway, I have just had to battle mites here in Sonoma, too - ‘tis the season...
If only this one hen has them, then it is likely that there is something else wrong with her that makes her more susceptible. I give elemental sulfur in the feed and in their dustbath - but this one hen was ill and not eating enough or dustbathing to get the protection, in addition to whatever it is that makes weak animals more vulnerable to parasites. DE will not take care of an established mite issue, you’ll have to get something different. Poultry protector spray (containing enzymes) seemed to make a dent in our case but works more slowly, so I also got a pyrethrin spray (Scalex). You can also use elector psp (spinosad), but that one is very expensive. You spray the chicken, focus on the tush and under the wings, repeat in 7 days. Empty the coop and spray every surface there. Put fresh straw in the neat boxes after that and replace every day. Keep spraying poultry protector in the nest boxes and the bedding every day or two.
That regime should help a lot!
My main host hen died, but not before transferring the mites to the rest of the flock via the nest boxes where she hung out the last week or so. I went from finding eggs covered in mites and crawling all over my hands after chores to finding just a few here and there. Retreating tomorrow and feeling pretty confident that we will be good after that.
Good luck to you!

Thanks for sharing you experience With the mite fight!

Usually around here we have common poultry mites

I am uploading a pdf with information from UCD. It came out before spinosad was available for home use

 

[Honora]

Hi all! I have been downsizing my flock in preparation for moving this August, and I'm now down to 3 hens. One is an old hen who stopped laying & started crowing, She now seems to be growing spurs too! One is a 6 month-old EE pullet who somehow managed to break off the top half of her beak and has a bad attitude. The last one is a 6 month old blue orpington mix who just started laying a couple weeks ago and has now decided to go broody. So....I should get her some hatching eggs right?

BTW it's my 4 year anniversary on BYC!

 

[Stephine]

Hi all! I have been downsizing my flock in preparation for moving this August, and I'm now down to 3 hens. One is an old hen who stopped laying & started crowing, She now seems to be growing spurs too! One is a 6 month-old EE pullet who somehow managed to break off the top half of her beak and has a bad attitude. The last one is a 6 month old blue orpington mix who just started laying a couple weeks ago and has now decided to go broody. So....I should get her some hatching eggs right?

BTW it's my 4 year anniversary on BYC!

Oh, they sound like a delightful bunch!
Happy Anniversary!