getting rid of mites naturally?

[chella]

not at all true

 

[chella]

Pine deters pests ... use pine shavings instead of straw. It also breaks down easier and therefore is easier medium when cleaning out the coop and/or if using the deep litter method.

 

[casportpony]

I have seen some really nasty lice infestations on chicks that were raised indoors, on pavement covered in pine shavings.

-Kathy

 

[dawg53]

I have seen some really nasty lice infestations on chicks that were raised indoors, on pavement covered in pine shavings.

-Kathy

x2. Pine shavings wont deter lice/mites. The deep litter method holds in moisture from droppings causing all kinds of problems; mold and fungus, a breeding ground for parasites of all types, unwanted moisture loving insects. The key is keeping a coop adequately clean and bone DRY to prevent problems detrimental to the health of your chickens.

 

[Michael Apple]

Pine deters pests ... use pine shavings instead of straw. It also breaks down easier and therefore is easier medium when cleaning out the coop and/or if using the deep litter method.

Pine shavings are kiln dried. Very little oil to deter mites or lice. Still better than straw though.

 

[Michael Apple]

If you want to feel like a frolicking hippie at one with nature, a pyrethrin spray is close enough to natural since it is derived from Chrysanthemum plants, and is quite effective on mites and lice. Like most remedies that pests/parasites can get used to, it is a good practice to stagger the uses of substances. You can then use something like Rabon-Vapona aka Ravap E.C. to feel like a General commanding a chemical warfare operation of genocide against those evil mites. Both are labeled for use on poultry and their premises.

 

[jivaro]

I have found that SUSPEND sprayed lightly with a mist spray on the rear feathers takes care of all crawling bugs. It is boi-degradable and will not hurt the chickens if used once a month. This product is used for killing roaches and other crawling insects around the house and can be bought on line by googling SUSPEND. My hens are healthy and laying very well. This is what I use on the coops, nests and the parts of the chicken that they can't reach to preen their feathers.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Funnily enough I never use chemicals and have never had a problem with lice or mites, even when heavily overstocked for a long time. Neither do I vaccinate or give medicated crumble or feeds or use man made antibiotics. Don't believe chemicals are the only way, they're a way that must be phased out to move forwards into a future that leaves a functioning world for future generations. I don't have lice or worm problems in the first place because I always feed raw garlic and kelp. If I bring in a new bird from outside breeders with for instance scaly mites or heavy lice, I treat that bird through diet, and for messed up scales I use Stockholm Tar (multiply boiled pine sap) or other natural things like neem. I don't bother treating the perches or the other birds. They're fine because they're abhorrent to parasites due to their health and their garlic-rich diet. I never wash or dust for lice. It's all quite easy once you start with garlic and kelp, and just maintain that. I do give other herbs too, like sage, rosemary etc, which are also vermin-repelling.
Quote: Have you heard of the deep litter composting method? I highly recommend it. It was developed by some American scientist who studied it for decades and proved its worth. It shows that the cleaner you keep the environment, the more birds you lose. Good healthy deep litter only needs occasional liming and sometimes charcoal, and clean out excess once a year or so, for your garden, but never fully clean. It isn't bone dry, but it's full of healthy microbes, fungi etc which act in such a way as to immunize your poultry and kill diseases in the litter. It basically makes a cultivating layer of healthy organisms that keep it sweet, clean, and healthy, unlike a regularly cleaned coop floor which sours up quickly and tends to stink. Once you get a healthy litter going it takes care of itself, basically.

@the threadstarter saying their chickens have black spots in their crest and wattles... That sounds like something other than lice, to me. I've seen chickens get mold on their crests and wattles, when not kept on regular garlic. Once you raise a bird on medicated feeds and vaccinate it, though, it can be pretty impossible to get it up to the standard of health comparable to a bird raised naturally; it took me a couple of natural generations before the chicks started to show all the benefits that had been put into their parents. I'm quite a newbie but I have dealt with chemicalized and non-chemicalized birds in sickness and in health and I'll never bother with one of them again... Guess which. You just can't restore full health once it's been artificially destroyed. We aren't adapted to cope with the chemicals we're using, and we confuse surviving with thriving.

 

[dawg53]

Since you live in Australia Chooks4life, I imagine that's it's tough to purchase medicines for ailing birds due to government regulations I suppose, or a costly trip to the vet. So, you have to resort to the next best effective treatments, nothing wrong with that. But I can assure you that living in the southern U.S., the humidity is horrendous and using the deep litter method is asking for trouble. The american scientist who recommended the deep litter method probably never had chickens located in the southern part of this country. As you mentioned, keeping the environment clean includes inside the coop. Post #14 explains what happens with the deep litter method. Been there, done that...I speak from experience.
Here's a link for you, please read post #3 and also the link in the same post.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/785679/garlic-for-worms

 

[salt and pepper]

I honestly don't know of any natural ways to get rid of mites, I ended up using proynl, which is a cheaper version of frontline, and putting it on all twenty something of my birds. got rid of them within the day!