Captain Jack for mites. Yay, or nay?

[Alaskan]

I've looked at the pics & I really believe its mites. I don't see them on the other birds but I did see them in the nesting boxes yesterday & on the two broodies. They are tiny black specks & Frankie has seen some slightly bigger red specks.

Eeeek.

Mites mean you need to OCD clean the coop, and soak all cracks and crevices with a toxin. I would use the high concentration of permethrin in the horse egg fly spray... but it will be a bear.

 

[ronott1]

I've looked at the pics & I really believe its mites. I don't see them on the other birds but I did see them in the nesting boxes yesterday & on the two broodies. They are tiny black specks & Frankie has seen some slightly bigger red specks.

Do you see streaks on the eggs?

 

[Alaskan]

I would:

So... super quality clean. Scrape it out, scrub it out, use bleach, etc.

The soak cracks with high strength permethrin.

Air it out.

When dry sprinkle/ pour the poultry dust with permethrin in all cracks. Add perfectly clean bedding.

That night, with birds on perches... treat with toxin of your choice. Permethrin spray at vent and under wings and or ivermec pour on drops at base of neck (no, the paste will not work)

In 1 week do the above all again.

 

[room onthebroom]

Do you see streaks on the eggs?

I don't see anything streaky or unusual on the eggs.

I would:

So... super quality clean. Scrape it out, scrub it out, use bleach, etc.

The soak cracks with high strength permethrin.

Air it out.

When dry sprinkle/ pour the poultry dust with permethrin in all cracks. Add perfectly clean bedding.

That night, with birds on perches... treat with toxin of your choice. Permethrin spray at vent and under wings and or ivermec pour on drops at base of neck (no, the paste will not work)

In 1 week do the above all again.

I think we caught it really early. DD2 Frankie has an amazing eye for this stuff & is out there with the birds most of the day. Shes been able to catch the few things we've had almost immediately. Also in my favor (I think) is that I spent a couple months & literally dozens of tubes of caulk filling in all the cracks of this coop, windows, nesting boxes, etc... before I painted it. I'm sure theres still a lot of places to hide, but less cracks than you'd think.

I'll continue to powder them with the permethrin poultry dust & spray the Captain Jack in the coop to keep things under control until my company leaves & then we can roll up our sleeves & really get down to business.

 

[casportpony]

Try the severe infestation 0.5% permethrin spray.
6.4 ounces (190 ml) per gallon.

 

[Molpet]

https://entomologytoday.org/2016/07/18/battling-chicken-mites-with-bags-of-brimstone/
"...
parasites appear to be developing resistance to many of the common insecticides.

Sulfur dust has been used for decades to control mites on chickens. The sulfur is usually provided to chickens in a “dust bath,” essentially a box of dust, which may contain fine dirt, sand, diatomaceous earth, insecticides and other powdery substances. The chicken sits in the dust and fluffs it into its feathers to remove parasites — this is a natural chicken behavior. Sulfur dust baths are very effective at controlling northern fowl mites, even for chickens in the same coop that do not use the dust bath. ..."

 

[aart]

Those have worked well for me... except for my old rooster... he has been getting leg baths over the past month followed by vaseline or similar afterwards.. not sure his scale lice are totally gone yet.

Can take weeks to months for new scales to be generated.
If scale mites infestation is really, bad scales may never return to 'normal'.

Re topic of cost and dosage of spinosad,
the concentration must be taken into consideration.

Both permetrhin and spinosad are lethal to other insects - including pollinators,
I've read that spinosad lingers longer than permethrin.

 

[casportpony]

Re topic of cost and dosage of spinosad,
the concentration must be taken into consideration.

I'm starting a new thread that will hopefully explain this.

Edited to add:
Elector PSP = 442 mg spinosad per 1 ml
CJ's 0.5% = 5 mg spinosad per 1 ml
CJ's ready to use 0.001% = 0.01 mg spinosad per 1 ml

 

[casportpony]

Elector PSP made gallon
1 ml = 442 mg
~9 ml per gallon
9 ml Elector + 3776 ml water = 3785 ml (one gallon)
9 ml per gallon x 442 mg per ml = 3978 mg spinosad per gallon
I think that works out to a dilution of ~0.1% spinosad per gallon.

The above should be the reference when trying to make other spinosad sprays. Target amount of spinosad per one gallon is 3978 mg or 0.1%

Captain Jack's 0.5%
1 ml = 5 mg
795.6 ml per gallon
795.6 ml per gallon + 2989.4 ml water = 3785 ml one gallon
795.6 ml per gallon x 5 mg per ml = 3978 mg spinosad per one gallon

 

[shannon440]

Captain Jack's 0.5%
1 ml = 5 mg
795.6 ml per gallon
795.6 ml per gallon + 2989.4 ml water = 3785 ml one gallon
795.6 ml per gallon x 5 mg per ml = 3978 mg spinosad per one gallon

Following this chart and converting to oz. I would use 29.6 oz Capt. Jack Conc. to 1 gallon of water or 1.85 oz to 8 oz of water (yield about 10 oz of spray) right?

ps... sorry for bringing up an old post but I recently bought a bunch of Serama from a few sellers and I was shocked that Most are suffering with mites. Not only is the Capt. Jack's more affordable in the short term but the lower concentration makes it easier to measure in my opinion.