Devw
Chirping
Hi everybody! I'm not sure if anyone else has posted something similar, but I figured I post it anyways for the good of all poultry owners.
For the last two or three years, I have been fighting mites. I have tried Everything. I have tried garlic in the water, essential oils, weekly baths, poultry dust, DE, pesticides, you name it. I've probably tried it. Every time the mites seemed to come back worse. I even had to get rid of my silkie stock- I swear silkies attract mites like magnets.So turns out, after having a friend investigate, I have northern fowl mites - a much more difficult strain to get rid of. Thanks wild birds - you're the best.
Anyways, as you've probably guessed, the mites have come back for the nth time. So, I decided to try something different.
When I lived in Hawaii, I was introduced to lice. Yay. After a few recommendations, it turns out that a mixture of mayo and rubbing alcohol smothered and dried out the lice (works the best). So I tried a similar concoction on my show stock- including a silkie I couldn't sell until it didn't have mites (which had the worst of it.)
Here's the mixture I came up with (enough for 2 bantam chickens, or 1 standard sized chicken):
- 1 cup of mayo/miracle whip
-2 tsp of rubbing alcohol
-1-2 tbs of cooking oil (I used sesame oil, because thats what I had on hand)
-2 tbs of your shampoo of choice (I used an organic oatmeal based shampoo)
-Few drops of your essential oil of choice (optional)
I smothered this mixture on my chickens. SMOTHERED. You want to cover every single nook and cranny you can find (especially in the head/cape area and the vent/tail area, and if it's a problem under the wings.) Then let it sit on the chickens for 15-30 minutes. The longer, the better.
Then, wash of your chicken with luke warm water. Get the gunk all out. Those mites will slide right off. I did a few experiments on how long to do it. At 15 minutes, most of the mites were dead, but had a few live
stubborn ones. At 30 minutes, I didn't see any living mites. If you have a minor mite problem (unlike me), 15 minutes should be fine.
Since this is the first time I've tried this on chickens, I'll post again with how my chickens look a week from today (I'm doing the treatment again anyways to make sure the mites can't come back.)
Some preliminary pros and cons about the mixture:
Pros
-Kills most of the mites immediately, smothers and dries out the rest.
-Is low risk on the chickens- really only has stuff that chickens are normally exposed to (except the alcohol)
-Kills the mites
-Moisturizes their skin, and adds a bit of shine to those beautiful feathers
-Removes any dead skin/dirt fairly well
-KILLS THE MITES
Cons
-Bad for the mites?
-If your chicken has some sores or open wounds, the rubbing alcohol can cause them some pain. If your chicken has these, I'd probably skip on the alcohol and use the rest of the ingredients. Maybe leave the mixture on a little longer.
Hopefully this is helpful to other poultry owners who have struggled with mites as long, or longer, than I have!
For the last two or three years, I have been fighting mites. I have tried Everything. I have tried garlic in the water, essential oils, weekly baths, poultry dust, DE, pesticides, you name it. I've probably tried it. Every time the mites seemed to come back worse. I even had to get rid of my silkie stock- I swear silkies attract mites like magnets.So turns out, after having a friend investigate, I have northern fowl mites - a much more difficult strain to get rid of. Thanks wild birds - you're the best.
Anyways, as you've probably guessed, the mites have come back for the nth time. So, I decided to try something different.
When I lived in Hawaii, I was introduced to lice. Yay. After a few recommendations, it turns out that a mixture of mayo and rubbing alcohol smothered and dried out the lice (works the best). So I tried a similar concoction on my show stock- including a silkie I couldn't sell until it didn't have mites (which had the worst of it.)
Here's the mixture I came up with (enough for 2 bantam chickens, or 1 standard sized chicken):
- 1 cup of mayo/miracle whip
-2 tsp of rubbing alcohol
-1-2 tbs of cooking oil (I used sesame oil, because thats what I had on hand)
-2 tbs of your shampoo of choice (I used an organic oatmeal based shampoo)
-Few drops of your essential oil of choice (optional)
I smothered this mixture on my chickens. SMOTHERED. You want to cover every single nook and cranny you can find (especially in the head/cape area and the vent/tail area, and if it's a problem under the wings.) Then let it sit on the chickens for 15-30 minutes. The longer, the better.
Then, wash of your chicken with luke warm water. Get the gunk all out. Those mites will slide right off. I did a few experiments on how long to do it. At 15 minutes, most of the mites were dead, but had a few live
stubborn ones. At 30 minutes, I didn't see any living mites. If you have a minor mite problem (unlike me), 15 minutes should be fine.
Since this is the first time I've tried this on chickens, I'll post again with how my chickens look a week from today (I'm doing the treatment again anyways to make sure the mites can't come back.)
Some preliminary pros and cons about the mixture:
Pros
-Kills most of the mites immediately, smothers and dries out the rest.
-Is low risk on the chickens- really only has stuff that chickens are normally exposed to (except the alcohol)
-Kills the mites
-Moisturizes their skin, and adds a bit of shine to those beautiful feathers
-Removes any dead skin/dirt fairly well
-KILLS THE MITES
Cons
-Bad for the mites?
-If your chicken has some sores or open wounds, the rubbing alcohol can cause them some pain. If your chicken has these, I'd probably skip on the alcohol and use the rest of the ingredients. Maybe leave the mixture on a little longer.
Hopefully this is helpful to other poultry owners who have struggled with mites as long, or longer, than I have!
