- May 21, 2011
- 7
- 0
- 7
Well, we've had our chickens for 4 years now, never had any problem whatsoever with mites, but recently I started using woodshavings on their pull out tray instead of the neighbour's old newspapers, and I don't know if it's coincidence, but we have an outbreak of red mite 
I have always cleaned and dusted the perches nooks and crannies with D earth.
I can't find any on the chickens, but I know they are being bitten at night, so after the 3 girls had laid their eggs for the day I dismantled as much the coop as I as I could, manually killed all the mites I found, then thoroughly drenched it in a reasonably strong solution of jeyes fluid - the can is about 15 years old. I shut the chickens out of the way, dusted the whole coop with permethrin powder, and also diatomaceous earth. I changed clothing and had a shower.
The next day, we still had mites, not just the chickens, but us in the house too - I had over 30 bites on stomach and legs, my husband had a few too. I keep finding the odd one on me, so I sprayed the sofa and very carefully stripped the bed, washed the bed linen on boil wash and my clothes on hot, myself on hot, dried my hair on hot. It's summer and it;s already hot, so having to use hot for showers etc. it pretty uncomfortable.
I also sprayed the bedroom with the same house spray, shut the door and left it for the rest of the day.
Then I went out and bought a sprayer and some anti everything chicken house pest spray - permethrin based, which I thoroughly drenched the coop with, also the chicken **** shovel, which proved to be full of them ( I got them all over my hands when I picked it up ).
Today, there are still some in the coop, despite two days chemical warfare.. not many, but one is enough for me !
I think we may still have the odd one on us, but it may just be yesterday's bites itching, and or mosquitos .. I am going to do the house next, room by room, steam clean where I can and spray each room. Thankfully we have tiled floors, so it should be easier than with carpets.
I found some spot on Frontline, which I bought for the dog but have never used ( he is the only person not itching at the moment ..
) so after reading this thread, I decided to put a drop on each chicken's neck this morning. Our trouble is that the chickens have a semi free range, but because our soil isn't soil but almost pure sand, they have killed every scrap of vegetation within their quite large enclosed space, and the mites would seem to be just about anywhere... hopefully the Frontline will solve their problem even if it doesn't solve mine.
Is there anything I can use to kill any mites in the soil / sand, or am I being paranoid ? Can I use Jeyes fluid solution on the ground ? Or will that damage the chickens ?
BTW, I will NEVER again use ADVANTIX on any animal as just one application ( applied by the vet and then required for taking the dog back to UK from France ) nearly killed my Dobermann. He had a five minute fit a few hours after application, we thought he was going to die, but he recovered. After this he had balance problems and was never the same. Nasty dangerous stuff, and it seems this was not an isolated incident. He had Frontline the next time, and this did not appear to affect him, but since this experience I don't use any products like that on my new dog, a Manchester Terrier. Thankfully this is no longer required for the pet passport scheme.
I have always cleaned and dusted the perches nooks and crannies with D earth.I can't find any on the chickens, but I know they are being bitten at night, so after the 3 girls had laid their eggs for the day I dismantled as much the coop as I as I could, manually killed all the mites I found, then thoroughly drenched it in a reasonably strong solution of jeyes fluid - the can is about 15 years old. I shut the chickens out of the way, dusted the whole coop with permethrin powder, and also diatomaceous earth. I changed clothing and had a shower.
The next day, we still had mites, not just the chickens, but us in the house too - I had over 30 bites on stomach and legs, my husband had a few too. I keep finding the odd one on me, so I sprayed the sofa and very carefully stripped the bed, washed the bed linen on boil wash and my clothes on hot, myself on hot, dried my hair on hot. It's summer and it;s already hot, so having to use hot for showers etc. it pretty uncomfortable.
Then I went out and bought a sprayer and some anti everything chicken house pest spray - permethrin based, which I thoroughly drenched the coop with, also the chicken **** shovel, which proved to be full of them ( I got them all over my hands when I picked it up ).
Today, there are still some in the coop, despite two days chemical warfare.. not many, but one is enough for me !
I think we may still have the odd one on us, but it may just be yesterday's bites itching, and or mosquitos .. I am going to do the house next, room by room, steam clean where I can and spray each room. Thankfully we have tiled floors, so it should be easier than with carpets.
I found some spot on Frontline, which I bought for the dog but have never used ( he is the only person not itching at the moment ..
Is there anything I can use to kill any mites in the soil / sand, or am I being paranoid ? Can I use Jeyes fluid solution on the ground ? Or will that damage the chickens ?
BTW, I will NEVER again use ADVANTIX on any animal as just one application ( applied by the vet and then required for taking the dog back to UK from France ) nearly killed my Dobermann. He had a five minute fit a few hours after application, we thought he was going to die, but he recovered. After this he had balance problems and was never the same. Nasty dangerous stuff, and it seems this was not an isolated incident. He had Frontline the next time, and this did not appear to affect him, but since this experience I don't use any products like that on my new dog, a Manchester Terrier. Thankfully this is no longer required for the pet passport scheme.
