HELP. Treating mites.. and chicken emergencies

[kmern]

Hi there,

I recently purchased food-grade DE for mite infestation of my silkies after doing research online. I sprinkled it under their wings a few weeks ago and put it around the coop after deep-cleaning and noticed good results around those feathers. However, it seems the mites travelled up their backs and were still going strong... I dusted them one by one individually and put them back into the coop (this was 2 days ago). No issues were noticed the past two days.

However, I went into the coop this morning and noticed that one of my hens had passed. Would this be related to the dusting? There are mixed reviewed that DE is safe and all the videos online show that they dust their hens with food-grade version.

I love my chickens like children, so this is obviously very traumatic for me. Please be kind... I am just learning.

Thanks.

 

[Tookie]

Your hen may have passed because of the mite infestation.
Stop the DE, it doesn't kill mites and it is bad to breath in. Get some permethrin poultry dust and dust all your silkies, repeat in about a week to kill any eggs that hatched.

 

[nuthatched]

I'm sorry you lost a hen, that's rough not knowing what killed her. how old and what's her diet and breed? Unfortunately, unless a necropsy is performed, we might never know unless it's obvious from the outside like heavy mite load, heart failure or egg binding.
de is likely not to blame in that short period. De is pretty ineffective for mites since it gets damp (useless) quickly and the next generation of mites hatch. You want to get permrethrine based poultry dust or spray, completely clean out the coop, use the product, and bring in fresh bedding. I've studied enough research from vets and agricultural to come to the conclussion that de is only slightly effective for exterior pests, useless for internal ones and horrible for you and your birds to breathe. (All natural asbestos) The 'DE is great for poultry pests' gets passed around like gospel through videos and blogs and most people just believe it, they don't do the research and keep spreading it, which is sad because a lot of people want a non chemical solution but it's not the answer.

 

[kmern]

Your hen may have passed because of the mite infestation.
Stop the DE, it doesn't kill mites and it is bad to breath in. Get some permethrin poultry dust and dust all your silkies, repeat in about a week to kill any eggs that hatched.

Okay thank you. I haven't stopped crying. I know that this stuff happens with raising chickens. But it still hurts.

 

[Tookie]

Okay thank you. I haven't stopped crying. I know that this stuff happens with raising chickens. But it still hurts.

I'm so sorry you're going through this.

 

[kmern]

I'm sorry you lost a hen, that's rough not knowing what killed her. how old and what's her diet and breed? Unfortunately, unless a necropsy is performed, we might never know unless it's obvious from the outside like heavy mite load, heart failure or egg binding.
de is likely not to blame in that short period. De is pretty ineffective for mites since it gets damp (useless) quickly and the next generation of mites hatch. You want to get permrethrine based poultry dust or spray, completely clean out the coop, use the product, and bring in fresh bedding. I've studied enough research from vets and agricultural to come to the conclussion that de is only slightly effective for exterior pests, useless for internal ones and horrible for you and your birds to breathe. (All natural asbestos) The 'DE is great for poultry pests' gets passed around like gospel through videos and blogs and most people just believe it, they don't do the research and keep spreading it, which is sad because a lot of people want a non chemical solution but it's not the answer.

That's reassuring that it likely is not DE that killed my hen.. The mites situation is definitely something I have been trying to manage. I read online about Elector PSP, but I cannot get it in Canada. I will try permrethrine though if I can find it online and if it can be delivered to my location. Thank you for the information, I really appreciate it.

 

[kmern]

I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Thank you. I truly treat my chickens as my pets, so losing one is devastating. And other people just don't seem to understand because it is "just a chicken" in their eyes.

 

[kmern]

Your hen may have passed because of the mite infestation.
Stop the DE, it doesn't kill mites and it is bad to breath in. Get some permethrin poultry dust and dust all your silkies, repeat in about a week to kill any eggs that hatched.

I'm sorry you lost a hen, that's rough not knowing what killed her. how old and what's her diet and breed? Unfortunately, unless a necropsy is performed, we might never know unless it's obvious from the outside like heavy mite load, heart failure or egg binding.
de is likely not to blame in that short period. De is pretty ineffective for mites since it gets damp (useless) quickly and the next generation of mites hatch. You want to get permrethrine based poultry dust or spray, completely clean out the coop, use the product, and bring in fresh bedding. I've studied enough research from vets and agricultural to come to the conclussion that de is only slightly effective for exterior pests, useless for internal ones and horrible for you and your birds to breathe. (All natural asbestos) The 'DE is great for poultry pests' gets passed around like gospel through videos and blogs and most people just believe it, they don't do the research and keep spreading it, which is sad because a lot of people want a non chemical solution but it's not the answer.

Hi there,

So, now that I have done research and reviewed many images. I believe that they are actually infected with LICE not mites. What product do you use for this?
Thank you!

 

[Tookie]

Hi there,

So, now that I have done research and reviewed many images. I believe that they are actually infected with LICE not mites. What product do you use for this?
Thank you!

You would use the same thing, permethrin poultry dust.

 

[kmern]

You would use the same thing, permethrin poultry dust.

thank you!