De-Miting

[Oddyse]

Hey guys, any advice on de-miting baby ducks and 5 week old ducks? Should I do it regularly and keep spraying the duck house? Or only do it if I notice them? Also, what do use? Im in the UK so a UK retailer would be great. Any advice on de-lousing/miting and de-worming would be great! All help and comments are welcomed! Thank you guys!

 

[littlenell1]

I use diatomaceous earth in the duck house and their food. I have thought of using vermx a herbal wormer but TBH have not seen any in my lot. I have not noticed mites in the adult birds as they seem to take care of that being in their pond so much. Have some runner ducklings at moment and they appear to be clear but then they are in my conservatory!

 

[Oddyse]

WOW! I just read up on diatomaceous earth! It sounds AMAZING! I ordered some straight away! WOW WOW WOW! What a great find! Thank you ever so much!! Is it just a case of sprinkling it around now and again? Its amazing how they can eat it to! Might have some on my corn flakes it sounds so good!

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Ducks don't need deworming and de-miting, they do not get it like chickens. Just give them water to bath in and they take care of the rest. Their constant preening prevents the mite issue. Their higher body temperature prevents the worm issue.
Be careful with DE. They can get bad lungs from it if they inhale the dust. Same for humans. Don't think it is save, because it is natural. It does contain silica crystals after all. Do your research!

 

[littlenell1]

I researched DE before I used it on my dogs, me and now the poultry. I follow all the precautions but I don't use tons of it. A proper powder sprayer and then just put it where I know they tend to rest. It gets powdered just a thin layer and then their bedding of sawdust/straw goes on top. The ducks are pretty resilient and I use it in their hut because they share the pen with the rescue hens and one or two prefer to lay in the duckhouse!

 

[ducksinarow]

Sevin dust works great on mites. If you are not opposed to chemicals. I cannot find DE in my area. My duck house was crawling with mites.

 

[Quacking]

Ducks can get mites and worms but they are less likely to get them than chickens. They do need tratment when getting worms and in bad cases will need tretment for lice. One or two lice on the body may be eradicated when swimming or preening but to stop the life cycle and prevent a larger infestation treament is needed. As a precautuon I treat my birds regularly, especially before breeding season. A duck who starts sitting with mites or lice has 28 days for them to build up and they can quickly move to the ducklings when they hatch.

 

[Oddyse]

This question mainly came about after I transported my ducks from an inside brooder to the outside run, I picked up the brooder in such a was I broke one of the side panels off and noticed mites in the cracks!!! As of yet, I have not noticed any bites on the ducks themselves though!