Chicken mites

[buckyphifer]

I'm having a mite problem in my coup. But here is the kicker....my chickens have just been treated last week with ivomec as a preventitive before I realized there was a problem. I've not found any on my birds, I've dusted the coup with sevin dust yet there are still mites. But they seem to be coming from the ceiling, because we don't find them on our shoes or legs but our hair and upper body. How do I go about getting them out? My chickens are pets and I just can't have this. Also, we have a 3 week old baby....need I say more. Thanks for your help.

kristy

 

[jessica117]

It sounds like those cute little birds that like to land on the roof of your coop have brought some unwelcome guests. Little sparrows are what brought in the mites that I was fighting with last summer. I suppose you could try to sevin the roof, then (with mask and goggles) sort of "throw" it up into the rafters, trying to get as much into the cracks and crevices as possible. I don't know of one, but maybe there is a liquid pesticide that you could spray into the rafters. It would have to be easier that trying to get the dust to defy the laws of gravity.

Jess

 

[keljonma]

Some suggestions...

Remove everything from the hen house and scrub it down with white vinegar or a bleach/water solution. Let it dry in the sun. Scrub down the walls, nest boxes and roosts. Make sure you get into those dark corners where bugs love to hide.

Lightly paint the roosts and nest boxes with vegetable oil; or you can spray them with cedar oil or eucalyptus oil.

Completely remove all litter. Burn it or throw it away because mites can live up to 9 months off of the chickens.

Add wood ashes to the area where your chickens dust bathe.

Add DE to the area where your chickens dust bathe.

Sprinkle cayenne pepper in the litter.

Add garlic to your chickens' diet. It is said that many types of lice and mites won't feast on a bird with garlic in their skin. Mince up 1 or 2 garlic cloves per bird and add it to the mash each day. Do this over 7 days. Reduce the vegetable intake while doing this to get the full effect.

Garlic can be made into tea or dissolved (1 large head in 2 gallons of vinegar infused overnight) and given in the water.

Garlic is an intermittent use type herb. Do not give your flock crushed garlic plus garlic oil plus garlic in the waterers all at the same time. Do not continue to use garlic on a daily basis for an extended period of time.

 

[warren]

I got rid of an ants nest in my greenhouse by spraying ordinary household fly spray (permethrin based) onto the area where they were walking. It might work with any crawling mite or insect, but don't spray it on the hens.
The ants used to walk into my seed trays and sort out the compost. They would take away the fibrous bits and leave the sandy constituent behind.

 

[chickenzoo]

You can use Adams flea and tick mist, found at Wal/TSC, to spray the coop,the birds,the roof etc. It is very affective. You can also use any cheap horse fly spray(premethian base) to get rid of other buggies. I would be careful of using anything strong scented natural or not around birds because some can be very sensitive to the smell.Hope you gid rid of those little buggers quickly.....

 

[buckyphifer]

Thanks so much for all the info. I've only had mites one other time that was on a hen that was sitting. I'm going to try the Adams and if that doesn't work try the vinegar. But this time I'll be wearing my shower cap and trash bag before I go in! Those mites give me the hee-bee gee-bees!

 

[s6bee]

I think I just found out that this is my problem, not sure but going to treat as such anyway.
So are chicken mites going to be a problem on me when I clean? Or are they breed specific?
Also, I can't get DE around here so things like Sevin dust is my option, I'm just concerned about them breathing it in. When do I do the coop and how long should I keep them out?