getting rid of mites naturally?

[chooks4life]

Should also mention... Periodic migrations of sorts, of parasites, can occur, where you can have such bizarre yet not uncommon situations as having a tidal wave of sand fleas many miles from the coast, or leaf mulch fleas from forests, or whatever, that just march across your property and maul everything in their path. Sometimes it's a natural but erratic population explosion, sometimes it means something in the environment has been altered for the worst. Sometimes it just means temperatures rose or dropped at a different timing than usual, so, for example, midges hatched sooner than usual while the bird populations that normally eat them had not yet arrived or weren't yet at sufficient population densities to control the amounts hatching.

Some population check or control could have temporarily failed, and you could be dealing with an overpopulation of some resident species that bites or drinks blood, which your hens could be showing the effects of; it's also possible that your rooster overpopulation, possibly combined with the hens going into moult, has caused or contributed to this problem. Some males are extremely nasty to hens if they feel desperate, i.e. when being regularly hounded by other males. No excuses in my mind, I cull them too.

Best wishes.

 

[mgk1998]

I here your problem. I have had the same thing with my chickens and it can be annoying I have tried everything and 1 thing seems to be working for me a little. First thing your going to wont to do is clean your chicken pen out then with a spray bottle spray your entire pen down with bleach then go to the farmers market and get a bottle of some sort of sab I forget the name but its for all animals that have missing fir, scratches, or wounds the bottle has a picture of a horse anyways grab your chickens and apply to the spots the mites are at you will see a latter change in the mites they will start decreasing then there mite be a few left so apply again tell there is no more mites latter on and shake bottle good I will respond later when I figure out the bottles name

 

[MelissaZeno]

Has anyone used VetRx to help with mites?

 

[casportpony]

Has anyone used VetRx to help with mites?

I use poultry dust or 5% Sevin Powder on the birds and Sevin Spray on their perches.

-Kathy

 

[Trumanda]

My chickens nesting boxes are pine and that did not help--removed it. I'm thinking about drying lavender and putting it in the nesting boxes. I have been battling mites for almost 2 weeks! Very frustrating. Tried DE on the hens several times--it got better, but did not eliminate the mites. Now I am using a garlic juice spray. The joke is I'm marinating the chickens while they are alive. We don't eat our chickens, but its a funny thought. Anyway, I've been spraying the coop with a water/vinegar/Tea Tree oil spray--when they are out free rangeing. I can tell things are improving, but not sure that I will be able to lick this the natural way. Tired, frustrated and concerned about chemicals as I eat the eggs, give them to my children and share them with environmentally conscious people. Appreciate all your blogs and insights. Thanks!

 

[chooks4life]

Might be worth trying chrysanthemum blooms... You can buy both natural and artificial pyrethrin, permethrin etc family drugs, but there's a dangerous synergist they include in such premixed formulas which has recently been documented as causing such severe health effects as retardation in the offspring of pregnant women who use those anti-flea shampoos, anti-lice powders, etc. Far more dangerous via inhalation than anything else (barring consumption I'd guess) but even absorption through skin can do it. (This was documented by doctors, not conspiracy theory sites, lol, for those who would automatically assume such a thing.)

Some info on why chrysanthemum blooms, of the right type, will do the job, and how, for those who don't know:
Quote:
Many people scoff at Wikipedia, myself included sometimes, but if you check the sources they cite, you'll know the veracity or otherwise of what they claim in their articles.

I'm thinking, for ongoing control, I'm just going to get flowering, potted ones and put them under small cages to prevent the chooks destroying them, and sit them in the main cages. Each single bloom has a radius of about a square meter within which it will effectively purge all insects. The more blooms the bigger the radius, they shed the chemical almost like radiation-leaking power plants, lol. Insects can't stand the presence of those blooms, the natural insecticidal properties of them means even before they reach fatal levels of toxicity the insects are abandoning en mass, in under 24 hours.

Best wishes.

 

[ladyearth]

what can I find growing outside in the same family as chrysanthemums ??
In old house I had feverfew growing... supp to be all in the ragweed family
.. that is why I don't mess with mums anymore....
dang I hate spending money on something I don't wanna grow AGAIN.
I just know my older set of chickens prob has mites and maybe lice.. they just don't wanna be handled.....
I plan on never buying nothing but chicks now on out...
anyone try that spray "Poultry protector"???
Just chiming in

 

[chooks4life]

what can I find growing outside in the same family as chrysanthemums ??
In old house I had feverfew growing... supp to be all in the ragweed family
.. that is why I don't mess with mums anymore....

I think maybe there's a sentence missing in there...

For other natural insect repellant plants, you can use mugwort/southern wormwood, artimissia family plants, lavender, rue, any decent herbal book will tell you a whole bunch more as well as the active chemicals in them that do the job, and how.

Mugwort is a potent neurological toxin, personally I would only use it to evict rodents, not long-term on poultry, though short-term for adult poultry as a nesting material addition it's ok. Not if they eat it, though...

Best wishes.

 

[funwchics]

I found this very
Helpful. Will use as preventative.
http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2012/12/natural-way-to-rid-chickens-of-lice.html?m=1

 

[Back2Roots]

Can anyone tell me the amount of Neem oil I should be adding to a 500 ml spray bottle of rubbing alcohol? I am planning on using it in the coop on roosts and in crevices to get rid of any mites that may be skulking about. I don't think that I have any (mites), but I'm told it's a good preventative as well.
I want to use a rubbing alcohol solution because it's the only thing that won't freeze when it's -15° C (5° F) and we are not expecting anything much warmer than -11° C for the next while. I want to try rubbing alcohol rather than vodka, which was also suggested, because of the price. ;-)