Chickens and Family infested with Red and Black mites

[JumpinOmega]

Hello Everyone,
My coop has veggi oil all over the inside now. I decided not to put the oil on the chickens because I do not want the mite dust clinging to their legs and feet. I have been a crazy cleaning woman for the past 2 days. I am vacuuming 3 times a day. All my laundry is washed in hot water. the bedding has been washed both days. And I have been mopping with bleach every morning and evening. Everytime the kids even touch the chickens they go straight to the shower. ***Today the chickens have not been loved. My Son took 5 showers yesterday.** He was not to happy. Last night I did not wake from one creepy crawly on me. However, my husband said that he could not sleep because he thought he kept feeling things crawl on him. He said that he never found anything on his skin. He thinks he was just being supper freaked out by the thought of the bugs in our house.
I will go to walmart to check out the 7 dust and spray. I live in Anaheim so there is no burning. I live on a 7900 sq ft lot. And city ordinates has these crazy rules about how far the coop can be from neighboring property and city land. So the coop has to remain in the place that it is. I like them there though. When I open my blinds in the morning they all greet me with their balking to let them out.
Well when I look on the bright side....All that spring cleaning that I did not do....Well it's getting done now! Oh one other question. Does anyone recommend a good spray for the yard that will not harm my animals or kids.

I would like to thank everyone for all of your support and valuable imput to my buggy situation here. It has been great to know that there is a community out there that is trying to assist my family with this issue. It means a tremendous amount to me.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Sevin (this IS spelled correctly) spray is totally safe. You can use it in your garden... that is one of the labelled uses for the dust.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Jumpin Omega,

Please keep us updated on the whole progress of this crisis. Have just been on a trip and could not get your issue out of my mind....every tiny itch is a reminder it seem. I did pray for you several times. I love my chickens like you love yours

 

[JumpinOmega]

Just a quick update and a question. So we have been watching our chickens to see if they are itching any less. ....When is a chicken not preening themselves? They do seem to be less flinchy I guess. There is still a lot of the eggs in the feathers. But I am not seeing any active bugs in the feathers. My family has not had any bugs on us either.
The veggie oil, I will never use that again! I spent all morning scrubbing the coop out. The oil became very sticky and the coop looked really dirty from the dust. I still have areas where the coop has oil on it and I cannot get it off. Ehhh Say la vie....Maybe it really did work. It is just super messy and dirty and hard to clean up with soap and water. For the most part I think we have been able to dust out and suck up most of the buggers. I will continue to do the dust which brings me to my questions.
The dust that I am using does not say how often to use on the coop & run. It just says to use 1lb per 100 chickens. I keep reading the instructions thinking that I am missing something. Should I continue to use the dust every time I clean the coop and run? I am also putting the dust in their favorite dusting holes. I have about a quarter of a container left of the dust. I figured I would continue to dust the coop, run and dust bath areas till I run out. I will probably use the last of it tomorrow. I will then use the Sevin dust as a maintenance only. So to use it as a maintenance only, should I use it every time I clean the areas? (every other day the areas get cleaned)
Thank you for thinking of my family and chickens and for all the support.

 

[jombolo]

when you say you are using the dust do you mean Sevin or Diatomaceous earth? I sprinkle a thin layer of DE on the bottom of the coup, then lay the wood shavings over it and kinda move it all around with my hands so its somewhat evenly distributed. I've also added the DE to their food which many people on here have said to do, believe it also works as a de-wormer if they ingest it and kills flies that land on the poo. Honestly i think you worked to hard on your house, you should have used the foggers you buy from home depot like someone else on here suggested. They work like a charm and are pet and child safe as long as you take the proper precautions.

 

[JumpinOmega]

The dust that I am using is called Permethrin or ProAp Garden and Poultry Dust. The Feed store swore by this product. And it was all that they had in terms of a Dust.
I would have much preferred to fog my house but I have a Miniature Macaw and fish in the house. And I don't like the film that the foggers leave on everything. My toddler son still mouths everything so I would be more of a fanatic about trying to get the film off of everything that has a surface. :0)
I think when I go to purchase the Sevin...if it's at Walmart I will read it before forkin out the $ to make sure that there are clear directions on how to use it. I do like the fact that with the DE you can have the chickens ingest it and it kills the worms and flies. wow that is a plus. :0) I just have to find it. You would think that living in a big city I could find most anything....Just not farm related. Hmmm
Thank you for the suggestions on the coop and bedding.
Question, Do your birds sleep on the floor of their coop or do they perch? My coop is about 2 ft off the ground. The floor is made of wood with linoleum over it. There are perches for them but they sleep all together in a corner on the floor of the coop. My other chickens always slept on the perches.

 

[MuckyPuppy]

Sorry but I found this funny. It reminded me of when the sibs and I had to stay for a few nights at a neighbor's house and brought home fleas (neighbor's house and dog were overrun with the popping little monsters). It was so bad I could hear them hitting the underside of the sheets when they jumped off my skin and bed at night, almost like a soft popping corn sound. Mom freaked and poured sevin dust all over the house. It got rid of the fleas but whenever we walked across the carpet puffs of dust would fly up. We inhaled that dust 24 hours a day until mom was sure that every flea was gone. I would NOT recommend this. I'm sure that it wasn't the best thing for our health to constantly breath in bug killer.

I'm glad the worst seems to be over for you!

 

[JumpinOmega]

Yea know, there is no place in the precausions that says not to eat the eggs. I have been throwing them away. Can we eat them if we rinse the outside of the egg off?

 

[welasharon]

You should be fine eating the eggs. I have always continued eating them.

 

[JumpinOmega]

Do u still eat the eggs when u feed them the DE? If the chicken is eating the DE won't it come out in the eggs?