Horrendous Mite Infestation

[Debbi H]

I know that people used to paint used motor oil onto all kinds of things, but it's actually illegal to do that anymore. The used motor oil contains carcinogens and heavy metals. I'm not going to expose myself or my flock to that. People used to paint their barns with it, but it's been shown that, when it rains, the oil still washes off the wood, leaches into the soil, and can contaminate ground water. I'm on a well here and don't want to be contaminating my own water (or anyone else's). The oils that I'm using (cottonwood, garlic, clove) will penetrate the wood just as well and are not toxic. And now the henhouse smells good, too.

Just wanted to add something to this. I teach adults part-time. One of the classes is a Hazardous Waste program. Yesterday, we happened to be covering different types of hazards and health effects. A couple of quotes from the book: "There are no safe levels for exposure to carcinogens." "Heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, as well as solvents are suspected of causing chronic kidney disease."
Used motor oil contains heavy metals as well as other contaminants. Used motor oil is also classified as a carcinogen. Resulting illness may not be immediate, but can show up 10-40 years later.

 

[Debbi H]

UPDATE: Well, here it is Jan 2018, and for months now I've had NO MITES in the henhouse after using my mixture! I had used the spray somewhere around 5-6 times, approximately one week apart when I cleaned the henhouse of used shavings. This has been great. The chickens are much happier....and so am I !!!

 

[JaeG]

I battled a nasty mite outbreak in my coop a year ago. There is very little in New Zealand to battle this problem so I had to find my own solution. DE was utterly useless. I found thousands of mites happily living in the thick layer of DE I had in the bottom of my nestboxes under the straw. All were very much alive.

I had separated a broody from the rest and found her little box to be full of them too. Sprinkling DE made the mites move away from where I sprinkled it but it sure didn't kill them.

After many ineffectual products I did some research and painted the inside of the coop with neem oil diluted to 50% with warm water. I only had to do it once. I also used Vetafarms Insect Liquidator on my hens legs to give them some protection. What a nightmare that battle was!

I now repaint inside the coop a couple of times a year to ensure it doesn't happen again. I also use a bit of neem oil in my bucket when mopping our hard floors. It's great for killing fleas.

 

[linhawk]

Just want to give you all an update. And the news is GOOD! I've been mixing up my own magic elixir that I found after months of research a few years back when I had spider mites. It is doing the job. There are no mites crawling on the walls at all anymore. I still have a few in the shavings that I had just put in the henhouse a few days ago right after spraying with enzymes.
Today, I'm going to remove the shavings, totally spray the henhouse again with my mixture, and replace with new shavings. Besides getting rid of the mites, the henhouse now has a very pleasant smell of cloves!
Then hens are already looking better and happier.
As for Archie, I wasn't able to even find the Tylan suggested by the vet from UCDavis, but I happened to find that I still had a bag of over-the-counter oxytetracycline to mix in the chickens' water, so am doing that and changing it daily. Archie's eyes have already cleared up, and no more of that weird "yawning" from him or the couple other hens that were starting to get respiratory infections. Will continue the meds for a week as per directions. Am not throwing the eggs away, but rather scrambling them up and feeding them back to the chickens! No wasted eggs, no wasted meds!
So my mixture is: Monterey Garden Insect Spray (concentrate) and SaferGro Pest Out (a cottonseed, clove, and garlic oil mix). The Monterey contains spinosad. I was able to get the Monterey at a local organic farm/garden supply store, and the SaferGro I found at a Hydroponics store. But I see that you can get both online at Amazon, too.
I use a garden sprayer -- the kind that you fill the jug and then insert the pump unit that builds up the pressure. I mix 1.5 oz (3 Tablespoons) Pest Out and 2 oz (4 Tablespoons) Monterey to a gallon of water. I spray all the walls, ceiling, nest boxes, roosts, floor, etc of the henhouse, until everything is covered and wet. I even sprayed the outside of the henhouse, and beneath it where there is an open area that the hens use in the summer to dust and stay cool when they aren't running around on the property.
Now I can actually grab the door jamb and not find my hand covered with mites! YAY! My henhouse is built of wood (2x12 lumber...I was lucky and got it free from a construction school that had previously used it and was throwing it away) and its dimensions are 6' x 8' x about 7' tall. I have one "window" on one side with shutters that are the same wood and covered with chicken wire to let in the breeze during the day, with the shutters closed at night. It took less than two gallons to do the entire thing.
I sprayed a bit on the chickens feet, too, to keep any mites from crawling up on them at night.
The hens themselves have just had DE, and a light spritzing of my mixture. I'm still going to get wood ashes from my son to add to their dusting holes.
But at this point, I'm ECSTATIC that the mite population has almost been completely eliminated!

 

[linhawk]

Spinosad is very highly toxic to bees.

 

[Folly's place]

Everything is toxic to bees! If it kills mites or lice, it will kill most other insects, at least. the plan is to treat the birds in the coop, and the inside of the coop and run, and not outside.
Also the fewer treatments the better. Permethrin spray is my go-to product. Spinosad works and is approved in the USA, but is much more expensive.
Mary

 

[Debbi H]

So just wanted to check in again. It's now a year later, and I've seen a few mites again since the nice weather started. Used my recipe of Spinosad (Monterey Garden Insect) and PestOut (oils of garlic, clove, and cottonseed) to spray the inside of the henhouse again during the weekly cleaning/changing of shavings that I do. I also sprayed the underside of the henhouse since it's raised and the hens can get under there.
I understand what someone said about bees, but like someone else pointed out, I'm only using it inside the henhouse and the "chicken run", not out on any plants that might be attracting bees.
Neem oil didn't work when I tried it, so can't use that.
At least I now have a method of controlling the mites so that my chickens aren't in misery, and I'm not covered in the darn mites every time I go into the henhouse to collect eggs! (Yes, it got that bad last year!)
Good luck everyone.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hi, all. Sorry this is long: I have had a horrendous mite problem going on for over a month. The henhouse is crawling with millions of them, so bad that they are crawling on ME when I collect eggs. I check the hens, and there aren't very many on them, although some of the 29 are acting sluggish and not looking very well....

The mites that you are dealing with are red or roost mites and they spend the daylight hours hiding in the cracks, nooks, and crannies of the hen house and then come out to suck the blood of your chickens after the Sun goes down. A better name may be Vampire mites. As many as 3/4s of a million of these mites may attack a single hen in only one night. It won't take long at this rate for roost mites to kill a healthy hen so no wonder your hens are lagging.

Treating the coop or hen house with used motor oil to which a little Permethrin insecticide has been added will go a long way towards getting your hen house back. Lay the mixture on especially thick in the nests, on roost poles, in the corners, at wood and lap joints, in cracks & crevices etc and don't forget to really work it into the wood. A homemade spray made with permethrin and water and used in a garden sprayer to treat your hens with should finish the job.

 

[Backyard Bruce]

Deja Vu

 

[Folly's place]

All over again.
Mary