Help Required....'Flock has been infected with mite attack'

[kzims]

Hi there, my flock of chickens include black polish, white polish, silkies and an orpington. For the past 2 to 3 days I have been facing Mite/Lice Attack on a few polish chicken which has spread with in two days to all birds.

I find them scratching and pecking with their beaks inside their feathers. If I search in their feathers I can see small white/yellowish mites (minute insects) crawling. The birds are uncomfortable and the egg production has dropped significantly.

I have provided them with lot of sand so that they can take dust bath and have applied a mite/lice killing powder (that does not harm the chicken) in their feathers for past two days.

This doesn't seem working much and I now see almost all of them scratching themselves with their beaks. Most of the lice i can find are around their vent areas.

Please Help & Advise...

 

[Eggcessive]

Get some 5% Sevin dust or permethrin dust or spray at WalMart or your local garden store. It will kill lice and mites instantly. Clean out litter in your coop and nest boxes, and haul away. Spray your coop walls and nests with Liquid Sevin, or permethrin. Reapply in 7 days for mites, and 10 day intervals for lice eggs. Check in 7-10 more days, and reapply if necessary. Here are some links with pictures:
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[kingfrodo]

in case I need this information in the future.

OP can you post back if/when it works?

thanks!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

in case I need this information in the future.

OP can you post back if/when it works?

thanks!

It will work very well!!!

Been there done that!!!!

 

[kzims]

Thanks for your help

I have bough permethrin spray from my local garden/poultry store. They have asked me to mix it with 2 litres of water and spray underneath chicken's feathers and in the coup.

I will be applying that on them in the afternoon. However I have heard that this treatment is likely to cause a feather loss... is that true??

Secondly can i apply this spray on 3-5 month old pullets/cockerels?

 

[CarolinaSkies]

Thanks for your help

I have bough permethrin spray from my local garden/poultry store. They have asked me to mix it with 2 litres of water and spray underneath chicken's feathers and in the coup.

I will be applying that on them in the afternoon. However I have heard that this treatment is likely to cause a feather loss... is that true??

Secondly can i apply this spray on 3-5 month old pullets/cockerels?

I use permethrin powder with good success. I put the powder into a knee-hi or cut-off panty hose leg, tie off the end and pat this all over them...don't forget under wings. Wear a mask, long sleeves, long pants, hat, glasses, and shower immediately after. If they have lice, which look like Qtips at the base of the feathers under the vent, then you need to get the eggs off either by cutting feathers at base of using coconut oil to dissolve...the coconut oil really does work well. You also need to re-powder in 7-10 days and then again in 7-10 days for good measure. I hold eggs until 14 days after last treatment. Also clean and treat housing and nest area and burn litter if possible. I use neem oil spray to spray inside house and I have used DE sprinkled on floor, but I don't like to breath it sooo...not so much now. Good luck.

Oops, I missed that you purchased the spray not powder. If it's cold where you are I'd not take the chance of having wet birds and trade it for powder otherwise I don't see a problem....wear rubber gloves. I don't think it would hurt 3-5 month olds and not sure about feather loss, (the powder doesn't). Good luck.

 

[kzims]

Thanks for ur advise... I could only find permethrin spray at the local garden store. I have used it twice in 5 days on my larger chickens and inside the coup. Yesterday I removed all the bedding/straws and washed their cages.

Some of the elder ones are better not scratching much but some continue to scratch and feel the itching. I am not too sure if the spray has been very effective.

I wonder what to do now...

 

[CarolinaSkies]

Thanks for ur advise... I could only find permethrin spray at the local garden store. I have used it twice in 5 days on my larger chickens and inside the coup. Yesterday I removed all the bedding/straws and washed their cages.

Some of the elder ones are better not scratching much but some continue to scratch and feel the itching. I am not too sure if the spray has been very effective.

I wonder what to do now...

If you left the bedding/straw in until after you sprayed them twice, then they may have been getting re-infected from the straw. Dusting the chickens with wood ashes works on some types of mites and the Sevin is supposed to work, I'm just not a Sevin fan. If you have a farm store nearby, they probably carry a poultry powder. Good luck!

 

[cafarmgirl]

The key in treating a lice or mite infestation is to keep re-treating both the birds and the coop every 7 to 10 days, as Eggcessive mentioned, until you stop seeing bugs. That is their hatch cycle, miss a few and don't retreat and you are right back to square one. It can be very hard to get control of but if you keep up the treatments you'll get rid of them. Strip all the bedding out of the coop and spray it well.