Do you get chicken mites on you often?

[Love my Critters!]

They won't live on you but will get on you and may even bite to have a taste before realizing they are not on the correct species. I had a bad outbreak one time and used Seven on everyone 1 time. Then I put DE in the bedding and dust bathing areas. Haven't had a problem yet with bugs. The DE works great and it is not poisenous, but I used Seven to get a quick control of the situation.

 

[2txmedics]

Ok, read...can someone tell us how to use Sevin dust on our chickens how do you adminsiter it on them, next boxes, coop and do I put it on there run also...

We found tiny...what appeared to be black mites? we thought they were fleas at first but there smaller, then another chicken...had tiny white things...tiny tiny...and I could see it moving.

and where do I get DE??? and how do I adminsiter that?

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

The black bugs are mites, the white almost too tiny to see are lice.

Sevin is being taken off the market as it's been proven to be carcinogenic. Rotenone is being taken off the market since it's been linked to Parkinson's Disease. Both are still available only till the supply contract run out, use them if you wish. Both are dusted on and both will kill both bugs. You need to spray your coop as well since the black mites are generally the ones that only spend a short time on the bird, they live in the coop the rest of the lifespan. Red mites, if you ever get those are the ones that never leave the bird. For lice it's often a good idea to do anything that the birds spend time in contact with like perch and nest box. Livestock sprays with pyrethrin in them are still approved as are the dips.

Depeneding on how many chickens you have and the temps where you are you might want to take care of this with a pyrethrin shampoo, like dog or cat flea and tick shampoo, or a livestock lice/tick dip. Ask at your feed store what is available, what the cost is and how much you have to buy. If you have to buy a jug of dip that will treat 100 sheep your probably better off to get a bottle of shampoo that will bath one dog 4 or 5 times. However some of the dips have instructions on them for mixing to spray the barns as well, something a shampoo can't do for you.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Diatomaceous Earth or DE is not a man made chemical. Diatoms are tiny sea algea that have silica skeletons and when they die the skeletons drift down and can make huge deposits. The skeletons are also very spiny and sharp and these spicules are what scores and abraids the insects and causes them to dehydrate and die.

These spicules are also what can make DE so hard on the lungs if you breath in too much. However, unless the company adds something to the DE it should be a natural dirt, essentially. I think food grate DE may be ground finer so it is not as irritating, but could be wrong.

 

[cmom]

I use DE and have never had any problems with my birds. I sprinkle it in their nest boxes and dusting places, in their run, the poop pit under the roosts and on the coop floor.

 

[mdbokc]

TKO is an excellent citris oil product and is water soluble. Great results in the coop. A few ounces lasts a year but it also has so many uses around the house and garage.

 

[mdbokc]

And you can spray the birds too with good results.

 

[grandmaof5]

TKO? What is this? Where is it purchased?

 

[codybird]

I do not agree that Sevin is being taken off the market. I have only seen one blogger that mentioned this and all the rumors seem to have started with his comment. If you have any good information that Sevin is being removed from the market please post links here so I can stop saying that it is not.

Edit:

I think I have found the facts: If I can decipher the government BS, this seems to authorize certain Sevin uses to be terminated and Sevin dust existing supplies cannot be sold after February 2011.

http://www.epa.gov/EPA-PEST/2009/March/Day-18/p5695.htm

Products being sold as poultry dust contain permethrin which has been rumored to be safer than Sevin. Again I have no facts to make a decision, only my experience. I have been using Permethrin on my work clothes for 20 years and have only grown two extra heads out of my tail.

 

[chick4chix]

what do mites look like? I have been using food grade DE since the chicks were first put outside: I use it in their nest boxes - in their food -on the roosts- and in the litter but today... I had reached into the bottom of the ark to get a bowl I had left in their with some veggie scrapsand it was crawling (the bowl) with little tiny brown bugs- so small I could hardly see and easily squished with my fingers. Are these mites or is it something that is helping break down the pine shaving litter? Does this mean I need something stronger than the DE? Thanks in advance