Help with mites! I’m not sure if they’re red mites or NF mites?

[MaggieMay'sMom]

1. I am using garden sulfur >>https://www.amazon.com/Bonide-PRODUCTS-142-Sulphur-Fungicide/dp/B0035H7V34/ref=sr_1_5_pp?crid=1II7HUTR2BVEZ&keywords=sulfur&qid=1696277214&sprefix=sukfur,aps,170&sr=8-5&th=1
I started with organic sulfur, but I had to find ways to cut back on the money.
2. I sprinkle it everywhere, other than nesting boxes.
I am using both Borax 20 Mule Brand and boric acid from Amazon. I sprinkle it in all bedding and in my enclosure. I don't use these in nesting boxes either.
3. Armed and Hammer laundry Booster and/or baking soda has seemed to really help too. I use it the same as both Borax/boric acid & the sulfur.
4. I am mixing my pine bedding half and half with cedar chips and using cedar chips in my enclosure spaces.
5. I have been alternating between Viper and Seven dusts in nesting boxes and I rub down the roosts every evening with it. I've also used petroleum jelly mixed with liquid permethrin and coated the underside of all my roosts. I actually need to clean them and do them again.
Yes the mites got into our dogs ears. My vet has been amazing thru this. She's an equine vet, so is not the typical dog/cat vet. She said she has seen bird mites infest many different animals, at least temporarily. Mostly their ears. My dogs are on Bravecto (Flurlaner product) which has made a huge difference, though they must be bathed weekly with IGR dog flea shampoo. Originally we had to Sulfur/Lime dip them weekly too. I had to get mite eggs off animals and off/out of EVERYTHING in my house

My birds have been on and off Exzolt (Fluralaner product) for 2.5 months now. I am now treating with the S76 protocol since my birds are in molt. I've bathed them in all things, I've dusted them, I've sprayed them, but in the end using a systemic treatment was the only thing that helped beat these f***ers back.

I found Exzolt at this web-site
https://pestiless.com/product/exzolt-50-ml-fluralaner-origianl/
It's pricey, but with eighty birds and six coops, I need something that will work in water.
I hope this will help others with mite problems.

 

[Debbie292d]

That is either a NFM or tropical fowl mite. I have been dealing with them for awhile. It's been awful. Watch the bites on you and be VERY careful of them getting into the house/car. They will absolutely try to find another host in your house. I am living proof. After months of extensive research, speaking to people all over the US (exterminators/entomology depts, etc) and overseas, they absolutely will attack other mammals if given a stronghold. My dogs can attest to this too.
My findings are Europe (Italy/UK) and Australia are light years ahead of us regarding these mites and their abilities to jump species. Though I have found some very knowledgible exterminators out west, down south and the upper NE.
I wish someone would have told me to be more careful. All I ever read was they have no interest in people (wrong) and if they get your house, they'll be dead in 2 or 3 weeks. ALSO VERY WRONG.
Though by the time I knew they were in the house I was a few weeks into an infestation (dogs). We all got them from a birds nest on my patio that was in a cabinet (long story).
Because the damn things like me so much now, I may have to cull my flock. I am heart broken in so many ways. Still trying to just get to winter and possibly be able to keep my birds.
It's hard to find exterminators in the midwest (other than IA) who have experience with shit. So we are pretty much on our own. It's a 100x's worse then having bed bugs. So I've been told by the many I've spoke to over the last 2 months.

This won't work in the majority of coops, but for your house, if you can get and keep the humidity down below 40% for three days, it should kill both the living and shrivel up the eggs. The vast majority of bugs nor their eggs can live below 50% humidity.

Case in point: 20 years or so ago (yes, I'm old) we had a flea infestation and God knows what else from a foster dog. I tried every product known to man for weeks and could not get rid of the bugs. Someone suggested this so we tried it and it worked! Beg, borrow, or steal a couple of dehumidifiers. Take pets and their water dishes out of the house and plug every drain or cover with a tupperware bowl lid. Remove anything in your home that has moisture, including houseplants if you can. We then put on a mask and sprinkled human-grade diatomaceous earth on every floor including drapes. When done, the pets could come back in but not their water. We ate out for three days and kept the house as sealed as we could while the humidity slowly dropped and kept dropping. We got ours down to 35% and we're in WI with an average humidity of 70%.

After 3 days, we vacuumed and washed everything that could be washed in hot water. Funny, but in the basement, we found dead spiders and beetles on the floor and on the washing machine we didn't even know were in there. But that did the trick!

 

[Reggan]

This won't work in the majority of coops, but for your house, if you can get and keep the humidity down below 40% for three days, it should kill both the living and shrivel up the eggs. The vast majority of bugs nor their eggs can live below 50% humidity.

Case in point: 20 years or so ago (yes, I'm old) we had a flea infestation and God knows what else from a foster dog. I tried every product known to man for weeks and could not get rid of the bugs. Someone suggested this so we tried it and it worked! Beg, borrow, or steal a couple of dehumidifiers. Take pets and their water dishes out of the house and plug every drain or cover with a tupperware bowl lid. Remove anything in your home that has moisture, including houseplants if you can. We then put on a mask and sprinkled human-grade diatomaceous earth on every floor including drapes. When done, the pets could come back in but not their water. We ate out for three days and kept the house as sealed as we could while the humidity slowly dropped and kept dropping. We got ours down to 35% and we're in WI with an average humidity of 70%.

After 3 days, we vacuumed and washed everything that could be washed in hot water. Funny, but in the basement, we found dead spiders and beetles on the floor and on the washing machine we didn't even know were in there. But that did the trick!

Thanks Debbie. We have been running dehumidifiers for months we have the house down to and keep it at 35%. It does help tremendously so do air purifiers w/ ionization, but not a cure. I wish it was. We are doing much better, though we had to get rid of two couches (very nice leather) and I think one more recliner is going to have to go. I think I am still battling them in carpet upstairs, but I am winning. I've rotated the dogs between Nexgard and Bravecto with Frontline Plus which seems to be a winning combination. Though I think they may still have them in their ears. We are headed back to the vet on Friday to check.
My birds are twenty times better, but I again I haven't won. Its awful. I am rotating between exzolt (2 weeks/doses) out of 6 week periods. In between I am using S76, dusting birds weekly and had to reluctantly dose my big guy with frontline. I still totally clean all bedding and the runs, spray the coop/roosts and boxes weekly. I rotate my treatments to avoid resistance. They free range daily, so I may be pissing in the wind. I also have them on Chicken Elixer (covers the oregano) and garlic/brewers yeast supplements.

Saturday Lime seems to be helping. I am still using boric acid, borax, baking soda, sulfur and poultry dust and/or Seven, selectively on bedding, boxes, the runs and the birds..
They have an awesome very large area for dust bathing, which I also add sulfur and poultry dust to.
My vet (she breeds horses and poultry) thinks I may have to cull and let the property rest. I've been told by a few people who have seen this type of infestation, they've had to cull. I'm fighting like hell not to.
I'm just not so sure how much more their little bodies can take

 

[chickentender_]

Can anyone tell me what this little critter is? It was flat, light grey/ black..found it crawling on me in the yard near the coop and now I am freaking out hoping I don’t have a mite infestation on my hands. I keep pine shavings in the nesting boxes and sprinkle DE and Saturday night lime in them to help prevent such outbreak. Any thoughts/ideas are appreciated!