Chicken mites… what do I do next

[DogIsMyShepherd]

A few years ago I had a bunch of chickens and ducks, I was spending more time away from home and had to rehome them. I also had 2 goats. The first summer after getting rid of my ducks and chickens I noticed a bunch of wasps in my baby barns and goat pasture, even got swarmed by wasps after disrupting a nest. It only took one chickenless summer to know I needed to have some to keep the bug population down. So last year I got some more. They’ve been great and I’ve had very few issues with them. However now with the increased temperatures, I noticed when I cleaned their baby barn last week a few little mites. I didn’t think too much of it, not having dealt with mites before and thought, I’ll treat the coop next time I clean it.

There are 16 chickens and 2 goats living in the baby barn, they’re usually only in there at night, sometimes the goats even sleep outside. I clean it every 1-2 weeks. I use shavings as the bedding. So each time I clean it I scoop out the shavings right to the bare wooden floor then add all new shavings. I am very limited with my supplies I have access to and unfortunately my feed store had only diatomaceous earth and nothing else for mites. Now by the time I went to clean my baby barn out yesterday the mites had increased exponentially. They are clear to see in the nest boxes and even on the eggs. Even crawling up my boots. I mixed up a new dust bath for the chickens with peat moss and diatomaceous earth. I cleaned out the baby barn and coated it with diatomaceous earth. I shut the barn up for a little while then put some fresh shavings on the floor, but none in the nest boxes. A lot of the chickens weren’t dust bathing and so I figured if they had any on them they would die in the nesting areas last night. Now this morning there are a whole lot of dead mites in the nesting areas. Or at least they look dead to me. I read somewhere it could take 48hrs for them to die. So I’m wanting to wait the 48hrs to add shavings back to the nesting areas. Im wondering if I need to remove those dead mites before adding in new shavings?

I also realize unfortunately this is only round 1, and I might have to do this for weeks, which is terrifying. My chickens are very tame and like my pets so I’m feeling pretty badly for them.

 

[Debbie292d]

I've not experience mites, albeit scaley leg mites, once with our silkies. I dust the coop twice monthly with diatomaceous earth (DE), which for years has kept our free-ranging chickens from bringing bugs back into the coop, or if they do, they die.

If I had an outbreak I could not seem to get rid of, I read a lot of people use Ivermectin pour on (for cattle I think but there are dosages for chickens), Elector PSP (you can get smaller bottles of it on eBay) or Permethrin. There are several others. I would use something stronger and then return to religiously using DE everywhere in the coop at least once a month or after cleaning.

If you cannot get anything else, I would thoroughly clean your coop with soap and water or vinegar, let it dry, dust your chickens good with the food grade DE (keeping it out of their eyes and nose), and the coop again. Sprinkle it around the outside of your coop and in your run if they have one. If they aren't using your dust bath, try just regular garden dirt and sprinkle some ashes and/or DE in there.

We use horse bedding pellets which help too, as they dry out the poop and keep the coop drier, so bugs have a hard time living in that environment. We put down a couple of inches of those once a year. We do nothing and only clean it in the spring when most are turned to sawdust.

Good luck! I hope soon you're mite free.