I recommend "poultry dust" (PERmethrin). Mites are devilish creatures and they must be knocked down quickly because they will take down birds quickly, causing anemia even to the point of reduced immune systems and eventually death.
The trick is that they don't often live on the bird - for every one you see on the bird, there's an army hiding in the cracks of your coop, the bedding, etc. That's why they're so tricky to find. They feed onthe bird, and then retreat to the environment where they can stay for a while without feeding, laying eggs in the coop all the while.
So you MUST treat the birds with something that will kill the mites, and DE doesn't. I love the product, but for its forte's - one of which is using when you don't have mites/lice etc to help reduce the chance that you will.
Poultry dust is a safe product, gentle enough for young birds. It's a chemical synthesized version of what used to be a natural insecticide made by grinding up flower petals. It's not harmful to bees like Sevin is. You will need to dust the birds thoroughly - paying careful attention to warm/moist places like under their wings, their vent, etc. You can even use ivermectin so that anything that drinks their blood dies. More on that later.
You also MUST treat the entire coop. Mites are difficult to eradicate but it can be done. Scrape the bedding aside - apply poultry dust to the ground. Replace the bedding, and then sprinkle poultry dust on it - stir in. Use water or mineral oil and make a thin paint of the poultry dust. Use that to paint the wood in the coop paying particular attention to the cracks in the wood. Some people recommend painting the coops with creosote; but we can't get that here in texas. You can paint the inside of the coops eventually with paint and let alot of paint fill the cracks in the joints - think of that as a spring project to make less crevices in which mites can hide. THEN use DE in the dust baths, etc, under the bedding, to help. But remember wild birds can bring mites in - and they lay eggs which can hatch very quickly.
But at least for now use the poultry dust to paint what you can. Treat the birds thoroughly, retreat in 7 days, and again in 7 days.
You can alternately use ivermectin for the bird-treatment-part. Ivermectin pour-on has activity for up to 28 days in cattle for sucking lice and mites. It also has long term activity on poultry and is systemic. Anything that drinks blood will be killed by the ivermectin, though it has a 2 week withdrawal for eggs, 28 days for meat, and has a wide safety margin. MOre on ivermectin in the article on worming from Glenda Heywood below) Ivermectin will also worm your birds.
Please feel free to email me with any questions you have. I've used DE products for over 10 years and believe in them. In fact, I used to get chided years ago for being silly by trying DE. (grin) But after all these years, I sure would hate to see a perfectly good and useable product get a bad rap for being recommended for something it can't do. Use it for what it CAN do (food grade only please - never garden grade), wisely and sparingly, and enjoy the naturalness of it.
The ivermectin article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=185989
The trick is that they don't often live on the bird - for every one you see on the bird, there's an army hiding in the cracks of your coop, the bedding, etc. That's why they're so tricky to find. They feed onthe bird, and then retreat to the environment where they can stay for a while without feeding, laying eggs in the coop all the while.
So you MUST treat the birds with something that will kill the mites, and DE doesn't. I love the product, but for its forte's - one of which is using when you don't have mites/lice etc to help reduce the chance that you will.
Poultry dust is a safe product, gentle enough for young birds. It's a chemical synthesized version of what used to be a natural insecticide made by grinding up flower petals. It's not harmful to bees like Sevin is. You will need to dust the birds thoroughly - paying careful attention to warm/moist places like under their wings, their vent, etc. You can even use ivermectin so that anything that drinks their blood dies. More on that later.
You also MUST treat the entire coop. Mites are difficult to eradicate but it can be done. Scrape the bedding aside - apply poultry dust to the ground. Replace the bedding, and then sprinkle poultry dust on it - stir in. Use water or mineral oil and make a thin paint of the poultry dust. Use that to paint the wood in the coop paying particular attention to the cracks in the wood. Some people recommend painting the coops with creosote; but we can't get that here in texas. You can paint the inside of the coops eventually with paint and let alot of paint fill the cracks in the joints - think of that as a spring project to make less crevices in which mites can hide. THEN use DE in the dust baths, etc, under the bedding, to help. But remember wild birds can bring mites in - and they lay eggs which can hatch very quickly.
But at least for now use the poultry dust to paint what you can. Treat the birds thoroughly, retreat in 7 days, and again in 7 days.
You can alternately use ivermectin for the bird-treatment-part. Ivermectin pour-on has activity for up to 28 days in cattle for sucking lice and mites. It also has long term activity on poultry and is systemic. Anything that drinks blood will be killed by the ivermectin, though it has a 2 week withdrawal for eggs, 28 days for meat, and has a wide safety margin. MOre on ivermectin in the article on worming from Glenda Heywood below) Ivermectin will also worm your birds.
Please feel free to email me with any questions you have. I've used DE products for over 10 years and believe in them. In fact, I used to get chided years ago for being silly by trying DE. (grin) But after all these years, I sure would hate to see a perfectly good and useable product get a bad rap for being recommended for something it can't do. Use it for what it CAN do (food grade only please - never garden grade), wisely and sparingly, and enjoy the naturalness of it.
The ivermectin article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=185989
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