HELP !!!!Northern Fowl Mites..... Can 1 chicken have Mites and the others don't?

[GhostRider65]

My rooster got in a small fight today, so I brought him in too patch him up and while inside all of a sudden there appears about GoZillion mites crawling all over his tail..... talk about freak out , I haven;t seen any on my hens but they are dark colored, and are handled daily. is it possible for the roo to have them and not the girls?
Fred immediately got a bath in my sink with dog flea n tick shampoo....... then blow dried and dusted with Python dust, I also did the roosts and 2 hens that were handy in the coop with the dust and sprinkled it all over the coop floor saw dust... heading out to fleet now to buy more dust to do everyone..........argggggggg, never had this before am so upset with myself for not seeing them before. I thought his ratty dirty looking feathers were from winter and not being able to dust bath as much with frozen ground......funny I didn't see them on him until he was inside where its warm.
Where the He double toothpicks did these darn things come from...... never had poultry on this property before, haven't added any new chicks or chickens.. neighbor says from the hay.....how can hay have mites.......???? I think maybe my wild birds dropped some and Fred just so happened to be sitting on the roost were they try to get into the pen.. its screened in, but I have had a couple get through and had to chase them little sparrows out the coop door........ what should I do about this I know to treat everyone and the coop. but do I need to dump all the bedding.... or can I just sprinkle with the dust? retreat in 10 days? yes...... I will clean out the nest boxes tonight and re-add fresh shavings..........after I sprinkle the dust in them, OMG I feel so over whelmed just now....... I'm just sick. 20 chickens, and if it was summer everyone of them would be getting a bath but after Fred that seems an impossible task... took forever to get him dry...and its below freezing every night still sometimes even during the day high of 27 tomorrow, today was 40. But I'd be bathing chickens until tomorrow morning if I have to do all 20 then blow dry..... now another question can my horses, dogs cats get these buggers too? what about people? I just wanna cryyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.........Kim

 

[snowflake]

Don't know were they come from but I guess if you have chickens eventually you'll have mites. At least that is what I have read. haven't used this myself but a friend said she uses Adams, flee spray for dogs. I saw some at Walmart, if you one near you. spray once under each wing and by the vent. She said it works very well. Figured I would try it if I have a problem with mites. easier then trying to dust them all

 

[GhostRider65]

Well I did alittle research and found that these little buggers are Northern Fowl mites..... and that they can affect all your chickens or a few, not sure why, I plan to treat with poultry dust in the am, coop run, and birds... so any one with info or who has dealt with these devils before please help.......

 

[CMV]

Kim-
Relax. Mites are a pain and they take a good bit of extra work to deal with, but they are really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. This may be your first time of dealing with them, but it won't be your last if you have poultry for any length of time.

You are going to need to treat all the birds and their environment. Sevin dust works very well to deal with the birds. You can use the leg of a pair of panty hose, cut off and filled with dust like a powder puff. Make sure to dust under the wings and really well around the vent. Or you can fill the bottom of a garbage bag with dust, cinch it tight around the bird's neck and shake the bag around on the bird making sure to cover the bird with the dust without getting it in the face. That should take care of the birds, so then you need to move on to their environment. You will need to strip out every last bit of bedding. I like to vacuum the house with a ShopVac after to make sure I get everything. Once everything is gone you will need to treat the house with an insecticide. I like to use Adam's Flea and Tick spray on all surfaces including roosts and nesting boxes. (I have also used straight bleach and Oxine in the past. Both were also effective.) Then you can put bedding back in the house, but put it in lightly because you are going to need to do the whole clean out again in 10 days. You can sprinkle some Sevin/poultry dust in with the bedding if you want to be very thorough. You will need to wait 10 days and do this whole procedure again. After that you should be clear.

You will need to do this soon because mites can be dangerous to birds in heavy loads.

I usually get to deal with mites each year brought in by wild birds. They are a nuisance, but not usually a huge problem. Of course, mine usually get mites in the dead of winter when it is the most inconvenient time to deal with them, but...Such is life.

Good luck.

 

[aoxa]

Kim-
Relax.  Mites are a pain and they take a good bit of extra work to deal with, but they are really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  This may be your first time of dealing with them, but it won't be your last if you have poultry for any length of time.

You are going to need to treat all the birds and their environment.  Sevin dust works very well to deal with the birds.  You can use the leg of a pair of panty hose, cut off and filled with dust like a powder puff.  Make sure to dust under the wings and really well around the vent.  Or you can fill the bottom of a garbage bag with dust, cinch it tight around the bird's neck and shake the bag around on the bird making sure to cover the bird with the dust without getting it in the face.  That should take care of the birds, so then you need to move on to their environment.  You will need to strip out every last bit of bedding.  I like to vacuum the house with a ShopVac after to make sure I get everything.  Once everything is gone you will need to treat the house with an insecticide.  I like to use Adam's Flea and Tick spray on all surfaces including roosts and nesting boxes.  (I have also used straight bleach and Oxine in the past.  Both were also effective.)  Then you can put bedding back in the house, but put it in lightly because you are going to need to do the whole clean out again in 10 days.  You can sprinkle some Sevin/poultry dust in with the bedding if you want to be very thorough.  You will need to wait 10 days and do this whole procedure again.  After that you should be clear.

You will need to do this soon because mites can be dangerous to birds in heavy loads. 

I usually get to deal with mites each year brought in by wild birds.  They are a nuisance, but not usually a huge problem.  Of course, mine usually get mites in the dead of winter when it is the most inconvenient time to deal with them, but...Such is life.

Good luck.

Can't put it any better than that!

 

[GhostRider65]

Ty for the info, I just helpless is all I have never had critters get lice, mites my dogs don't even get fleas, I borrowed shampoo from the neighbor yesterday, just to bath Fred....
I bought a giant 20 lb bucket of poultry dust last night at fleet, its same as seven I was told. I will do birds and house I was hoping just to treat the bedding in this treatment, then in 7 to 10 days remove it all vacuum everything, dust everything and add new bedding with a dusting on top... I take it that will not work?............ this is going to be a huge pain, its a 10x12 coop, with a layer of 1/2 inch stall matts, 1 1/2 inches of sand and 6 inches or so of sawdust............ plus the 2 sides of stall is walled in plywood, 1 is pallets and the other is half plywood over a gate with chicken wire. you can see most it here. It was converted horse stall, we just left the matts because the concrete is so cold in the winter. Plus they are under the stall walls and would be very difficult to get out of there.

Well getting some coffee in me so I can get tpo work, of course its cold as H--- ll this morning too wind chill is in the single digits and the chickens won't want to go out after a dusting because it's also blowing crazy windy out there too.....argggg why do I get the feeling it's going to be a very long day..............Wish me luck.....................TY Kim

 

[CMV]

You are going to need to do exactly as I told you. Everything has to go...twice.

It is going to be a very long day for you. And as I mentioned, this always happens at the most inconvenient times. Seriously. It never fails to happen when everything is frozen solid, so you get to chip the bedding out of the house. One year, I had to spend Christmas eve treating my birds in the bitter cold at night. Everyone I knew was at Christmas parties and I was freezing my butt off in the coop, treating bug-riddled birds who were frankly very irritable about my disturbing them. ARGH!

I hope the day passes quickly for you.