Can you give your chickens a preventative mite dust bath?

[oldhenlikesdogs]

DE and deep litter don't go together as the DE will kill off beneficial bugs that work the deep litter for you, and could cause what I call dead soil. I'm in the camp of DE is nasty stuff.

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: I am in gardening zone 4B, around the 45th parallel. That puts me North of just about everybody on BYC. I can tell you what I have for ventilation in my coop: 10 x 12 floor space, steeply pitched roof. 16 l.f. of under eave ventilation. approx 12 x 18" vent on south wall about 12" off floor. 8 x 12" vents in each gable on E and W walls, ( 2 ) 20 x 24" windows on S wall, 20 x 24" window on E wall. 15 x 24" pop door. I blocked off the lower S vent during the winter. But the E and one of the S windows stayed open at least some all winter long. I did close them during blizzards. The pop door was open every day unless the weather was below 0*F, or we were getting a lot of snow. The girls came out into their sun room on all but the coldest and stormiest days. Their sun room is a portion of their run which has a green house tarp over a truss roof supported by an old cast off swing set, and construction poly over the 3 walls in that bay of the run. It doesn't get any more red neck than this! But, the girls love it, and happily spend every day shuffling through the leaves, and making compost instead of staying in their coop and bickering all winter.

Deep litter works to fight mites because there are organisms growing in it that keep them in check. A clean environment is not necessarily a healthy environment because you disturb a natural balance which often gives the "bad guys " the upper hand. You want a well balanced ecosystem in your run.
If you want a preventative I wouldn't go with DE because it is bad for their lungs (and yours!), but wood ash in their dustbath bin and a little bit of elemental sulfur.
There is also an enzyme spray called Poultry Protect that you can spray on your birds if you want to work each one over. My hens aren't too keen on being handled so I spare them that exercise.
But you can also spray it on the roost and in the nest boxes and all the nooks and crannies in the coop.

Good points made, Stephine. I'm not familiar with the PP spray, nor have I used the sulfur. But, my Dad is an old time Agriculture major, and used sulfur as an insecticide around the farm.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am in zone 4a here in central Wisconsin, just for the record.

I keep an open east facing door all year round.

 

[lazy gardener]

I am in zone 4a here in central Wisconsin, just for the record.

Glad to know someone else who lives in Ice Land!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Glad to know someone else who lives in Ice Land!  

I came back to add about my wide open ventilation. Winters are always an adventure aren't they.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, they are. I spent most of the winter with ice creepers firmly attached to my boots, and some ski poles parked by the front and back door. Shoveling the back deck was my aerobic work out. Snow blower got such a work out, that it would pitch a hissy fit after the first half hour of use during every storm. It may need to be replaced. If not that... it certainly will need a mechanical overhaul. Winter is hard on us economically because of the snow plow bill on top of work hours being cut back. But, I love Maine, and wouldn't trade it for any other place in the world. Unless you live in a snowy world, you will never realize how very many shades of white there can be. Nor can you appreciate the beauty of the many shades of blue, grey, purple, white, and sometimes even green in a winter sky. Then there's the white snowy lace of the snow on tree branches after a storm, or the world turned to ice diamonds, with the only interruption being the beauty of a red cardinal, or some chirpy chickadees. And the sound of snow falling? Truly miraculous!

But, I'm even more thankful for spring! The buds are starting to break out, and the frogs are peeping in the ponds.

 

[Stephine]

I am in gardening zone 4B, around the 45th parallel.  That puts me North of just about everybody on BYC.  I can tell you what I have for ventilation in my coop:  10 x 12 floor space, steeply pitched roof.  16 l.f. of under eave ventilation.  approx 12 x 18" vent on south wall about 12" off floor.  8 x 12" vents in each gable on E and W walls, ( 2 ) 20 x 24" windows on S wall, 20 x 24" window on E wall.  15 x 24" pop door.  I blocked off the lower S vent during the winter.  But the E and one of the S windows stayed open at least some all winter long.  I did close them during blizzards.  The pop door was open every day unless the weather was below 0*F, or we were getting a lot of snow.  The girls came out into their sun room on all but the coldest and stormiest days.  Their sun room is a portion of their run which has a green house tarp over a truss roof supported by an old cast off swing set, and construction poly over the 3 walls in that bay of the run.  It doesn't get any more red neck than this!  But, the girls love it, and happily spend every day shuffling through the leaves, and making compost instead of staying in their coop and bickering all winter.

Good points made, Stephine.  I'm not familiar with the PP spray, nor have I used the sulfur.  But, my Dad is an old time Agriculture major, and used sulfur as an insecticide around the farm.  

Gail Damerow recommends elemental sulfur in her Chicken Health handbook. I took her suggestion since it's compatible with organic farming, effective, very easy to use (in feed or in dustbath, no need to work over all your chickens) and cheap.
What else would one want?

 

[Stephine]

A pro pos ventilation - I would put it higher if possible, because you want the coop fresh but not drafty. We have a clerestory along the whole length of the coop with hardware cloth on both sides, one small triangle at the top of the gable above the main door, a large triangle in the gable above the pop door and smallish windows. All ventilation except for the windows is above the chickens heads when they are on the roost. I close the windows at night and when it's raining unless it is warm outside - we have a large difference between daytime and night time temperatures here most of the time...
Besides it being drafty I would worry about rain coming in with the ventilation as it is there. All ours, besides the windows which have shutters, Is under the roof overhang so it is protected.

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: TY.

 

[Stephine]

Ah, P.S.: is that just chicken wire over the cut outs? Here that would never do, a racoon can be in there in no time. You know which kind of predators you have but hardware cloth is much safer.