getting rid of mites naturally?

[TinaM13]

Wow..I get so overwhelmed with all the information, I sometimes don't know what to do!! lol I have been raising chickens for about 3 yrs now with no problems. I have always used straw as bedding and floor covering. I use/d the DL method, usually just taking out a bit every few weeks or months (depending on weather situations), and adding fresh straw. I did a full clean out after the snow finally disappeared and restarted the DL. I've been doing this since I've had chickens. This season though I have a bad mite problem and gleet in 2 hens..one heals and now another one is in the hospital pen.
We use a wood boiler/furnace as heat so I have ample ash supply and dusted my whole barn with ash and also dusted every chicken. My coop is in the barn with a dirt floor with 2 stalls converted for chickens.
We had a bad winter with several different stress factors which I know had effects on my flock..Raccoon kills, and personal situations where I had to have people look after my flock for awhile, while I was recovering, who didn't really cooperate with my instructions how to look after my flock.
I lost half my flock to raccoons and a couple who I just found had died during the night (I'm now suspecting the mites) over the winter. I acquired 2wk old chicks begin of March, all healthy little guys(girls) who lived in the house for the first month before going to the barn. Then one of my hens went broody and hatched 3 of her own babies (my first home grown chicks!) Last year I bought 3mth olds which turned out to be sick (probably Marek's, which I'm dealing with the best I can)
I am tempted to just cull them all except this thought just crushes me as these are my babies and pets. But lately it's been feeling like I just get over one thing when another thing happens.
Back to the mites...I have put ash in all their dusting areas and reapply to the coop regularly. I see people talking about oil sprays but no amounts of each. How is it portioned out. Garlic is new suggestion I haven't read before.
How do the mites start? I've been using a different hay suppler, could them have been carried in that? The lady I get it from has a healthy flock and herds. She also uses the DL method. My straw has been coming from the same place for the last 2 1/2yrs. Are the mites causing the gleet in my older girls? Or is that a whole other cause?
I'm feeling so bad and like a bad chicken momma for all of this happening. But when I look for solutions or answers, I just get over loaded with so much different opinions I don't know which way to turn. They are free range, access to 3 acres. I'm trying to get things back the way they were before all the winter problems I had. I haven't tried DE yet but going to look into it or something tomorrow when I go out. Culling is a whole other situation for me as I don't have the heart to do it or know how.

 

[chooks4life]

Wow..I get so overwhelmed with all the information, I sometimes don't know what to do!! lol I have been raising chickens for about 3 yrs now with no problems. I have always used straw as bedding and floor covering. I use/d the DL method, usually just taking out a bit every few weeks or months (depending on weather situations), and adding fresh straw. I did a full clean out after the snow finally disappeared and restarted the DL. I've been doing this since I've had chickens. This season though I have a bad mite problem and gleet in 2 hens..one heals and now another one is in the hospital pen.

Sorry to hear of all your troubles, it never rains but pours! I know whenever one chicken breaks a toe at least two others will also decide it's time for a leg injury. Never one-by-one.

About your DL, I suggest you adapt it to suit you. I use DL but I only basically adopted the idea of keeping deep litter in the coop, and discarded almost all the other 'rules'. I did a search the other day on DL methods and they vary widely. Many of them simply don't really work. Tweak the formula till it suits you and works, I recommend, if you have to remove any litter for reasons other than 'head bumping the ceiling' or 'garden needed some' then it's not really working. I just threw fresh straw/hay (really, used nest materials) onto the floor, not removed it.

I added lime as necessary too. I don't believe total dryness is the marker of success. Healthy soil is basically never totally dry, and healthy soil is what we're after. It should be dry on top but not bone-dry six inches down as well, I believe, otherwise the beneficial microorganisms etc we're depending on to treat the soil are nonfunctional. Chickens are jungle birds, they belong in humid and damp environments, they're not going to drop dead over a damp floor unless something else is seriously amiss.

We use a wood boiler/furnace as heat so I have ample ash supply and dusted my whole barn with ash and also dusted every chicken. My coop is in the barn with a dirt floor with 2 stalls converted for chickens.
We had a bad winter with several different stress factors which I know had effects on my flock..Raccoon kills, and personal situations where I had to have people look after my flock for awhile, while I was recovering, who didn't really cooperate with my instructions how to look after my flock.

I've been through a series of similar experiences, I've learned never to trust anyone to do what they agreed to do with your animals. Not friends, not family, nobody. They immediately just do whatever popped into their heads regardless of what they agreed to do. I've lost some of my best animals and one kind old lady almost starved my whole flock to death because she didn't know chickens need anything more than just wheat! Unexpected because she kept horses, cows, dogs, etc, and had done for decades, surely she should have known better. But no. Everything I specified not to do, she did, down to the letter. She made sure several animals died unnecessary and brutal deaths just by going directly against what she agreed not to do, which I specified the obvious reasons against. If I didn't know better I'd think she was malicious, but she's not, just chronically ignorant with that unfortunate 'I know what's best, I'm over 50' sort of mentality I encounter a lot... People who think age itself makes them wise, not learning and experience in the actual subject... Grrr.

I lost half my flock to raccoons and a couple who I just found had died during the night (I'm now suspecting the mites) over the winter. I acquired 2wk old chicks begin of March, all healthy little guys(girls) who lived in the house for the first month before going to the barn. Then one of my hens went broody and hatched 3 of her own babies (my first home grown chicks!) Last year I bought 3mth olds which turned out to be sick (probably Marek's, which I'm dealing with the best I can)
I am tempted to just cull them all except this thought just crushes me as these are my babies and pets. But lately it's been feeling like I just get over one thing when another thing happens.

It's up to you of course if you cull them but the Mareks', if that's what you've got, can live on for a year and a half, I've heard, in the soil. You end up having the choice of a closed flock or no flock. Vaccinations won't prevent it from happening, and they can hide symptoms so your problem is prolonged and spread further; I'd rather breed for resistance. Keep your survivors and you can keep a flock but you would of course want to be careful about bringing it to other people's places.

Back to the mites...I have put ash in all their dusting areas and reapply to the coop regularly. I see people talking about oil sprays but no amounts of each. How is it portioned out. Garlic is new suggestion I haven't read before.
How do the mites start?

Wild birds bring them in, but mites starting to be a problem is actually due to weak immune systems in the hosts. Lice, mites, parasites of all sorts are generally an unavoidable fact of life, and there are even health benefits due to intestinal parasites in particular, but becoming overrun by them means the animal is not in great health. Just with wild animals, you don't see them overrun unless something else was wrong. Birds bred from environments where they were protected for generations from all parasite exposure are very, very weak against them, as well as disease in general. The longer you keep and free range your flock, and use natural medicines rather than artificial ones, the stronger they will get and the stronger their offspring will be.

I've been using a different hay suppler, could them have been carried in that?

Not too likely but not impossible. More likely the wild birds shared it.

The lady I get it from has a healthy flock and herds. She also uses the DL method. My straw has been coming from the same place for the last 2 1/2yrs. Are the mites causing the gleet in my older girls? Or is that a whole other cause?

Gleet is not caused by mites, it's an infectious disease. Garlic also helps treat that as well as boost their immune systems.

I'm feeling so bad and like a bad chicken momma for all of this happening. But when I look for solutions or answers, I just get over loaded with so much different opinions I don't know which way to turn.

Yeah, there sure is a lot of info out there... But even following the conventional 'wisdom' to the letter doesn't help most people. It's not your fault unless you've been deliberately neglectful, and even if you have accidentally contributed to their current state, it's no use beating yourself up about it... We all make mistakes. For the animals' sakes we just have to learn more and do better. Nobody hasn't made any mistakes.

I've always used garlic with my animals and highly recommend it, I've never had most of the health problems that are so common on this forum, so of course I would suggest you use it, but whatever you do decide to use, best wishes with it.

Since all treatments ultimately rely on the immune system doing its job, it makes sense to support it, not try to bypass it and do its job for it, or use medicines that also harm it. Their health starts with their diet so if they are sub-par on their current diet it's not good enough. Sometimes it's as easily fixed as adding one or several things. Raw garlic should be one of them in my opinion. I'd add Apple Cider Vinegar (unpasteurized, with the mother) to their water as well.

They are free range, access to 3 acres. I'm trying to get things back the way they were before all the winter problems I had. I haven't tried DE yet but going to look into it or something tomorrow when I go out. Culling is a whole other situation for me as I don't have the heart to do it or know how.

Sooner or later you're going to need to know how to cull humanely, it's unavoidable. I'd suggest you learn how before it becomes an ethical issue, where you leave an animal that can't be saved suffering for hours or days, unnecessarily, just because you didn't prepare ahead of time.

On the bright side, your birds are going to be stronger than they were when they come out of this. I've always practiced exposure rather than quarantine from the world in general and haven't had any real issues from it even though I know they've been exposed to many serious diseases from many places. Supporting their immune system rather than trying to protect it from exposures will give you strong animals. Protecting their immune systems makes them weak so when the inevitable disease does get in, it's a massacre rather than a temporary illness.

Best wishes.

 

[TinaM13]

Thanks so much Chooks..the last 6 mths have been struggle for me that's for sure! Gotta say I agree with you on a lot of what you said and I feel because of the changes, no matter how small they may have seemed to others, have been my biggest problems. Because my hubby is on the road 4-6 wks at a time, I'm pretty much left alone to figure this all out and deal with it. I read a lot! but practice what I believe works for me and my flock ( and 2 pygmy goats). And what I was doing was working but getting it back to that has been exhausting. I know I'm slowly getting there and my chickens have been fairly healthy all these years, in my opinion anyway...they always gave me eggs daily and follow me everywhere and even venture in the house on occasion. I know I have to learn to cull, that's my next reading info to get into.
I do use the AVC in their water (another thing that got stopped by others). They do have a good diet of layer pellets, scratch and lots of scratching and digging around the yard with vege scraps etc. I'm going to try the garlic. I used to mix garlic in my dogs feed for flea problems, so makes sense. I like to go natural as much as possible. To me chemicals, etc just add to the problem and will only use if absolutely necessary. My garden is organic and I want my animals organic.
All my younger birds seem to be doing fine. Although I don't consider 3yrs old for a chicken, those are the ones that I seem to be having a problem with..I just buried an EE an hour ago. The ones that are left in that group are doing good (the one that just recovered from her gleet is putting on weight and holding her own now) so I think the weaker ones have all been weaned out now. My 4+mth old ones should start laying soon and my 2 mth old ones are venturing out away from mom and dad trying to mingle with the teens (as I call them lol) I'll get this under control one way or another, I'm determined!

 

[crazyfeathers]

An old hippie here got lots of chickens all different ages and breeds dont use the deep litter method just clean the coop once a month. I have had mites a few times but not an infestation treated with sevin and it is very effective. It took me awhile to figure things out and I will learn until I die I have had ups and downs just like everyone else.

 

[chooks4life]

Best wishes with your flock, it can be extra hard when others undo the good work you did, totally familiar with that frustration, lol. Hope it gets better for you in future.

 

[Sophia5]

Today I find mites

Boy do I hate it when I find them.

 

[chrisnjenny]

So I found little rice looking bugs on my rooster today... and quite a few I might add, I only keep four birds in this pen him and my three pullets one of which just finally started laying... I found a few on my other three birds and panicked.... so I bathed them all with dish soap and then dipped them in vinegar water before rinsing them and I have to say... they didnt hate it! They were all very sleepy after (I did this just before dark) anyway as my roo had the little critters the worst and recovered a little slower than the girls from their first bath I brought him in the house for observation.over night... hes sleeping on my daughters chest at the moment lol! Anyways I just wanted to say thanks for all the great responses in here and I mixed some garlic powder with their scratch and gave them an extra bowl tonight as well as my teenagers in the tractor just to get a lil garlic in their systems. Ill go tomorrow and shop around for something I was wondering about suggestions on the garlic as I just spent $50 at the co-op this weekend on chicken food and a bail of hay and alphalpha hay for our new bunny and now im pretty strapped on my chicken budget... what is the most effective/cheapest alternative when it comes to adding garlic... obviously i will make it a poit to grow some next year...we sprayed the inside of the coop with cooking oil(we had no other oil) some and the roost (although they all seem to prefer to sleep in the dog house) we sprayed in the dog house also.... it was getting dark so we had to do a quick fix... also gonna burn some wood tomorrow and try the ash... anyway thanks again and any pointers for future baths such as vinegar water ratio and what made them all so lethargic after their bath? Hopefully fred will feel a little better tomorrow and I will get on treating the coop a little better asap... we do have a lot of bird visitors guess I should get smaller chickenwire to keep them out? Am I doing all this right? Im so nervous... just yesterday my friendly chicken neighbor from down the street was complimenting me on how well my chickens are doing and how great they all look... I only have 9 total I'd be devistated if I lost just one right now

 

[chooks4life]

So I found little rice looking bugs on my rooster today... and quite a few I might add, I only keep four birds in this pen him and my three pullets one of which just finally started laying... I found a few on my other three birds and panicked.... so I bathed them all with dish soap and then dipped them in vinegar water before rinsing them and I have to say... they didnt hate it! They were all very sleepy after (I did this just before dark) anyway as my roo had the little critters the worst and recovered a little slower than the girls from their first bath I brought him in the house for observation.over night...

hes sleeping on my daughters chest at the moment lol! Anyways I just wanted to say thanks for all the great responses in here and I mixed some garlic powder with their scratch and gave them an extra bowl tonight as well as my teenagers in the tractor just to get a lil garlic in their systems. Ill go tomorrow and shop around for something I was wondering about suggestions on the garlic as I just spent $50 at the co-op this weekend on chicken food and a bail of hay and alphalpha hay for our new bunny and now im pretty strapped on my chicken budget... what is the most effective/cheapest alternative when it comes to adding garlic... obviously i will make it a poit to grow some next year...

As for non-garlic alternatives, well, in terms of a potent multi-spectrum natural antibiotic source, hard to replace it. Its sulfur compounds are easier to replace; many plants are naturally high in sulfur. Rue is supposed to be able to do all the same jobs, overall, as garlic can for poultry, but I haven't been able to grow it. There's other herbs known to also contain antibiotic properties among others; many common plants have antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasite, antipathogen (etc) properties; cayenne, basil, oregano, cloves, cilantro, thyme, lavender, sage, rosemary, various members of the allium family (leek, garlic, onions, shallots, some lilies etc) --- the list goes on and on and it's all basically common herbs you can buy and grow cheaply and easily.

we sprayed the inside of the coop with cooking oil(we had no other oil) some and the roost (although they all seem to prefer to sleep in the dog house) we sprayed in the dog house also.... it was getting dark so we had to do a quick fix... also gonna burn some wood tomorrow and try the ash... anyway thanks again and any pointers for future baths such as vinegar water ratio and what made them all so lethargic after their bath?

Hopefully fred will feel a little better tomorrow and I will get on treating the coop a little better asap... we do have a lot of bird visitors guess I should get smaller chickenwire to keep them out? Am I doing all this right? Im so nervous... just yesterday my friendly chicken neighbor from down the street was complimenting me on how well my chickens are doing and how great they all look... I only have 9 total I'd be devistated if I lost just one right now

Overall it always seems to be a good investment to keep as much in the way of pests out of your coop as possible, so worth getting finer wire or mesh. Chances are though that lice, mites etc will always be a recurrent situation as long as your chooks are susceptible. Some family lines, and some individuals within family lines, are always going to be more susceptible than others. Robust health does much to control and repel parasites.
Best wishes.

 

[chrisnjenny]

Thanks tons.... im more worried now though... he is still pretty lethargic and now im tginking he may have been less active the last day or so.... we kept him in all night and even though his feathers look better he isnt feeling any better... and since hes beenin the house all night I can now see I think he has pretty bad diarrhea... hes not up and about this morning and when I took him outside and sat him down he just stayed there... I threw some scratch down for him even tho he has had access to it all night along with his acv water and he didnt even try to eat... he actually took two steps and laid on the food and that was it... he didnt perk up at all! The girls all looked okay and active upon inspection but he looks like he feels like crap..n now im thinking it may be worms geeze this is all I need.... I dont even get paid for two more days... im not sure hes gonna make it

 

[casportpony]

Thanks tons.... im more worried now though... he is still pretty lethargic and now im tginking he may have been less active the last day or so.... we kept him in all night and even though his feathers look better he isnt feeling any better... and since hes beenin the house all night I can now see I think he has pretty bad diarrhea... hes not up and about this morning and when I took him outside and sat him down he just stayed there... I threw some scratch down for him even tho he has had access to it all night along with his acv water and he didnt even try to eat... he actually took two steps and laid on the food and that was it... he didnt perk up at all! The girls all looked okay and active upon inspection but he looks like he feels like crap..n now im thinking it may be worms geeze this is all I need.... I dont even get paid for two more days... im not sure hes gonna make it

He needs to be kept in a room that's 80-85 degrees and he probably will need to be tube fed sugar water, then water and baby bird food. Read the links and watch the videos here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/805728/go-team-tube-feeding. If you can get a tube and syringe I can teach you how to do it, and I *guarantee* it's safer and less stressful than just dripping or syringing water into their mouths.

-Kathy