HELP!!! MAJOR mite infestation!

[SweetJoy7]

Hello! We have a flock of chickens(30 -32 hens) that are all different ages. They have had mites every since two winters ago. We gave them garlic, turmeric, brewers yeast, DE.... and that seemed to help. Recently we put astroturf in the nesting boxes to help with the egg eaters and there are SO many mites crawling on the eggs, on the chickens....
Its strange though, some of the younger chickens have hardy a mite on them and some of the older 4+ years hens have thousands probably. I read and article about moving them in a different coop for three weeks and any mites in the coop should die. Is this true? I read another article about mites being able to live for 6 months!!! We have dusted them with DE and wood ash and some of them dust bathe a lot!!! Thank you so so so much! Any advice is appreciated!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Clean out every bit of bedding to the bare walls. You can put DE on the floor and in corners before putting in fresh bedding . Sprinkle 5% Sevin in all areas the chickens tread. Take each bird and treat with the 5% Sevin turned upside down and sprinkled under wings and around vent. Repeat weekly till they're gone.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

garlic, turmeric, brewers yeast, DE are preventative measures. Once infested, bring out the big guns.
When you have an infestation that has persisted so long, apparently homeopathic controls don't work.

 

[SweetJoy7]

Ok! Thank you! What do you think about predator mites?

 

[SweetJoy7]

Do they work for the northern fowl mite too?

 

[bigoledude]

I wish I could advise you based on personal experience but, I can't However, there was post here recently on the use of wood ash. I know you tried it. But, have you tried adding wood ashes to their dust bathing area on a regular basis? And, from what the poster said was to keep adding it until the problem disappears.

Wood ashes are used to make lye. Obviously, it is very alkaline. It just seemed like a great idea when I heard it?

 

[Folly's place]

Carbaryl is no longer approved for chickens, so use permethrin dust instead. Clean out the coop, dust all surfaces, and then add new bedding. Either dust each individual bird (wearing a N95 face mask!!!) or apply Ivermectin to each bird (also an unapproved treatment). Heave mite infestations will kill some birds. Mary

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Carbaryl is no longer approved for chickens, so use permethrin dust instead. Clean out the coop, dust all surfaces, and then add new bedding. Either dust each individual bird (wearing a N95 face mask!!!) or apply Ivermectin to each bird (also an unapproved treatment). Heave mite infestations will kill some birds. Mary

Thanks for that.

 

[bluenosechicken]

Are you using straw in your coop. If you stay away from straw and use wood chips and hay the hens eat a lot of the hay but mites aren't brought in in my experience.

 

[WVChickenGirl]

I used Sevin on my baby chicks and in the coop and "poof", no more mites! No harm to the chicks either.