Hanging a bagful of Seven Dust?

[hd_darcy]

Our chickens have mites, not terribly bad, but they are certainly there. I was thinking about hanging a stocking (or something similar) of Seven Dust in their coop door. So, each time they go in and out they bump into it and get some dust on their back. We have treated them doing one at a time, but the mites are still there...grr... So, I was going to try this for a few days. Any words of wisdom. Would this be wise, or no?

Thank you for sharing any thoughts or info you might have!

 

[Sunkhaze Farm]

That sounds like a good idea but I wonder how much of the dust they may breathe in? Not sure if that is bad for them or not. I am redoing my inside coop to get rid of wood roosts and boxes and going to plastic - I think the plastic will be easier to sanitize and keep mites down. I think the wild birds that fly in to my out side run keep bringing the darn mites back grrrrr

 

[zookeeper15133]

Here's what I would do.
Pick a very warm day to do this.

On the day you do this first clean out all the shavings from your coop.

Get some permethin 10. Mix it according directions for poultry spray (I think it is 1.5 oz per gal.). Mix it in a 5 gallon bucket, I use warm water from the hose sitting in the sun. Hold you chicken by the feet and plunge it into the bucket, feet first. Ruffle its feathers so it gets wet to the skin. Dribble it over it's head and wipe on it's face.

When you are done with the chickens, strain the rest of the solution into your garden sprayer, a coffee filter works well. Spray the inside of the coop. Make sure you get all the cracks and crevices and the under side of the roost.

This is really much easier than it sounds. When I do it, I also give them a bath. I line up 4 buckets. 1 is wash water, I use Dawn dish soap, the plain one. 2 and 3 are rinse water. I empty 2 as needed and 3 becomes 2 and I refill 3. 4 is the dip. It takes me less than 2 hours to do about 30 chickens, by myself.

Make sure they have a dust bath available. I use sand and DE. You can use sand and wood ash. You can even add Sevin dust to it. I use a litter box, I've seen people who use an old dresser drawer. Just keep it where it won't get rained on. They use the dust bath to get rid of mites themselves.

 

[hd_darcy]

Ooh, I like the idea of a bath for them. I think I would be too nervous to use deep water though. Would it work the same if i used a baby bath tub, and bathed them that way pouring the water / mixture over them? Also, how much permetherin do you use? My husband picked me some up today, and I imagine that is what I will be doing later...ugh.. Also, is it safe to do this to baby chicks as well?

I think I am going to just do the bath and not the coop as we just cleaned out the coop like 3 days ago. Is that dumb? I don't see any signs of mites in the coop, but pretty sure they are still on the chickens (which says the mites are still in the coop, I suppose..grr)

Thank you for the help! I can't wait to get rid of these terrible things!

 

[zookeeper15133]

Read the directions and mix for Poultry spray.

For the chicks I would use a little sevin dust on them.

At least spray the coop, getting the cracks and underside of the roost. That's where they like to hide.