How do I bathe my chickens to get rid of mites?

[EmilyRobb]

@chloezoebob101 I bathe my chickens whenever they have a show coming up. I always fill my tub and put a cochin or 2 in it and they float on the surface like little ducky fluff balls. You'll want to get a bucket, tote, or tub, or something else large enough to fit at least one of your chickens. Fill the container of choice with warm water. The water should be warm enough to make your hands feel slightly or relatively uncomfortable. Chickens have a relatively high body temperature that they maintain, and water that you think is nice and warm is probably too cold for them and will harm them. Take some kind of soap, I use unscented purple Dawn soap of whatever type, and mix it into the water until you get some suds going but not too many. Take your chicken and put them into the water. I always have my palm on their belly and my fingers clamp their legs so they don't flail and hurt themselves. The one hand holds the bird while the other gets water in everywhere. Be gentle, but make sure to get it all up in their feathers right to the bases and work away whatever you need to such as dirt or parasite eggs, and do this for every area of the bird. When you're ready, dunk the bird quickly to get the head wet but don't hold it under for more than like 2 seconds. If you're only concerned about a certain part of the bird, only worry about getting that part wet, I'm just listing off what I do when I clean the entire bird. When you're done cleaning the bird, take a towel and wrap it up like a burrito so it doesn't get to cold and try to soak away all of that excess water and soap. Once the chicken is damp but not soaking, take a blow dryer on a warm and medium setting and dry off the bird. I find that going against the feathers, so that the air from the dryer makes the feathers rise, dries the bird quickly. Continue drying everywhere until the bird has no more or minimal water on it, and you should be good to go.

 

[Stelliebellie1234]

Diatomaceous earth will get rid if mites and has many health benefits, you should try that

 

[AceSierra]

The first time my birds had mites I used flea shampoo. It did help but didn't get all and I let the birds sit in the water I shampooed them in for a few minutes. I bathed some birds twice with the flea shampoo and it still didn't get them all. The shampoo did help but they still had a few mites. I cleaned out the coops and sprayed the inside of the coop THOROUGHLY with permethrin, every crack and crevice, Ceiling, walls, roosts on and under, everywhere. I initially sprayed inside of the nest boxes as well as the birds. When I refresh my nest boxes I use the poultry dust in the shavings in the nest boxes. So far I have had a couple of coops where some birds had a few. When I find them in one coop, I treat all of the coops. I haven't noticed any ill effects with my birds. I don't think something like Dawn will rid your birds of mites and most products for getting rid of mites suggest retreating weekly for at least 3 or 4 weeks to kill the mites as they hatch. It worked for me and I tried everything including DE. Sevin dust used to be ok to use on poultry but not approved anymore. I had a little sevin left over but not enough to treat all, so upon doing some research came up with permethrin. My opinion is, if it doesn't work for someone, either the mites have built up a resistance to it, or if you're using the concentrate, mix it a little heavier. Good luck...

this sounds wonderful do you have a link to what you use because permethrin is kind of broad. I have some permectrin 2 I got from a hardware store but idk if its effective against feather mites. is what you use good for feather/ depluming mites

 

[AceSierra]

@chloezoebob101 I bathe my chickens whenever they have a show coming up. I always fill my tub and put a cochin or 2 in it and they float on the surface like little ducky fluff balls. You'll want to get a bucket, tote, or tub, or something else large enough to fit at least one of your chickens. Fill the container of choice with warm water. The water should be warm enough to make your hands feel slightly or relatively uncomfortable. Chickens have a relatively high body temperature that they maintain, and water that you think is nice and warm is probably too cold for them and will harm them. Take some kind of soap, I use unscented purple Dawn soap of whatever type, and mix it into the water until you get some suds going but not too many. Take your chicken and put them into the water. I always have my palm on their belly and my fingers clamp their legs so they don't flail and hurt themselves. The one hand holds the bird while the other gets water in everywhere. Be gentle, but make sure to get it all up in their feathers right to the bases and work away whatever you need to such as dirt or parasite eggs, and do this for every area of the bird. When you're ready, dunk the bird quickly to get the head wet but don't hold it under for more than like 2 seconds. If you're only concerned about a certain part of the bird, only worry about getting that part wet, I'm just listing off what I do when I clean the entire bird. When you're done cleaning the bird, take a towel and wrap it up like a burrito so it doesn't get to cold and try to soak away all of that excess water and soap. Once the chicken is damp but not soaking, take a blow dryer on a warm and medium setting and dry off the bird. I find that going against the feathers, so that the air from the dryer makes the feathers rise, dries the bird quickly. Continue drying everywhere until the bird has no more or minimal water on it, and you should be good to go.

my chicken had feather mites which hide inside the feather shaft so just down soap isnt goin to get them out do you have anyrhing else?

 

[AceSierra]

Diatomaceous earth will get rid if mites and has many health benefits, you should try that

I do use de and I havent seen any change

 

[AceSierra]

Food grade DE is digestible per animal weight, I use it every week with my birds in their coop, not only in the cracks and crevices of the coop, but in the bedding as well, usually a couple tablespoons at best. I have a dozen birds in the coop and they like to bath themselves in the pine shavings with no ill effects. Have no issues with mites, ticks, or fleas or any flies in the coop. My birds free range during the day and are very happy though they can be a pain and want to follow me outside when I'm working.

I did use de and it was giving my chickens bad diahrea and she still had ceacal worms so I stopped

Food grade DE is digestible per animal weight, I use it every week with my birds in their coop, not only in the cracks and crevices of the coop, but in the bedding as well, usually a couple tablespoons at best. I have a dozen birds in the coop and they like to bath themselves in the pine shavings with no ill effects. Have no issues with mites, ticks, or fleas or any flies in the coop. My birds free range during the day and are very happy though they can be a pain and want to follow me outside when I'm working.

I used to feed her de but Ir was giving her bad smelly diahrea and she still had worms so i quit

 

[Aunt Angus]

I use permethrin spray. Kills lice/mites, easy to apply, no egg withdrawal period. You can use it in the coop, too. Just KEEP IT AWAY FROM CATS.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Here's a link for Amazon. I got mine @ TSC.

Permethrin 8%

 

[AceSierra]

I use permethrin spray. Kills lice/mites, easy to apply, no egg withdrawal period. You can use it in the coop, too. Just KEEP IT AWAY FROM CATS.

you use it directly on bird? does it kill feather mites?

 

[AceSierra]

Here's a link for Amazon. I got mine @ TSC.

Permethrin 8%

also how do I dilute it to use on the birds