How do I treat mites safely around bee hives?

[MyFrancesca]

There is SO much conflicting information, I am confused at this point. Currently I use food grade DE in the coop and on the roosts. My lady's waddles are turning dingy grey and I assume this is some type of mite...per what I have read. They were wormed sort of blindly (splash of fellow chicken friend's liquid wormer in the water) when they were around 2-3 months old. Currently they are now 6 months and began laying. They are free range chickens. I saw ivermectin is commonly used but read the lice/mice treatment isn't for chicken lice, but cow lice. I see a lot of people use Seven Dust but I have bee hives setup 10 feet from the coop. I can't risk the life of my bees! I have also found using pyrethrum in the coop but not on the chickens.
Can someone please tell me the safest way to treat for mites/lice and worm the chickens within close range of bee hives?

 

[Eggcessive]

I wouldn't use permethrin, pyrethrin, or sevin near bee hives. I would think about using Eprinex or Ivomec as a "spot on" treatment. Here is a thread for dosage which is usually 1/2 ml for a standard hen: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/613307/ivomec-dosage-please As you will read in that link, it is not a good worm remedy, for good for mites. For a wormer, you can't beat Valbazen cattle wormer, or Safegard Liquid goat wormer. Dosage for either one is 20 mg per each 2.2 lb.

 

[MyFrancesca]

What I've read is the Ivomec is for cattle and can't treat the same mites on chickens as it does for cattle...so overall just worming happens from that.

 

[dawg53]

What I've read is the Ivomec is for cattle and can't treat the same mites on chickens as it does for cattle...so overall just worming happens from that.

Ivomec is used in cattle as a wormer and it also kills blood sucking mites and blood sucking cattle lice.
Chicken lice do not suck blood, they feed off feathers and skin, but are opportunistic and will suck blood from a scratch or wound for example. Chicken mites definitely suck blood and will cause anemia, then death. If in fact you know that you're dealing with mites, I recommend using ivomec on your birds to protect your bees. Since you're using DE and it's ineffective in controlling the mites, I recommend stopping it as well. DE can also harm your bees. You can clean your coop out thoroughly, then mix up a batch of Adams flea and tick dip and spray the inside of your coop with it. I wouldnt worry too much about ivomec's effectiveness in chickens as a wormer.
Here's a link with pics to help you identify what external parasites you're dealing with:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140

 

[MyFrancesca]

You are so helpful. Thanks so much for the information. I didn't know DE isn't safe around my bees. You learn something new everyday. I honestly don't know if it's mites or not. Basically it looks like the ladies dipped their faces in a pile of dust but it's not coming off. It's on their wattles, and around their faces a bit. Some have tiny dark grey splotches just barely on a few areas of the wattles and combs but then others look like their whole wattle is dirty. They aren't acting any different, aren't losing feathers, aren't acting ill, etc. I feed them Purina Layer feed and tons of scraps from the house. I've seen some signs of wattle color changes is due to anemia but I don't think they're sick. Their eggs have speckles on them but they just started laying last month so I assume it's a developmental thing. Most of the eggs are very hard shelled but every once in awhile I'll find a very soft one. I plan to pick up some oyster shells since I feel they're not getting enough of their own egg shells back to keep the calcium up.
Anything above stick out to you that it might be? I figured since they haven't been wormed or treated for mites that doing so would only benefit them at this point and possibly treat the wattle issue.