Howdy all, let me join the ranks of chicken owners who have come to realize the their hens have mites. Sigh.
I have DE, (the good stuff from permaguard) but I am not sure how to use it to rid the birds of mites.
I went and added a few scoops to the coop bedding, and about just under a quarter cup to each nest box.
I caught my two very friendly hens, and patted DE on their bottoms where it seems the mites hand out.
Today, I will be giving them a dusting pan of DE and wood ash. They do not have an official dusting pan, just wherever they feel like dusting in the run, otherwise, I know they have some dust holes out free ranging, but these are not places I can easily get to put DE in. I would have to climb rusty barbed wire fences and other obstacles to get there.
What else can I be doing? I would like to catch all of my hens and pat them with DE, however, I have two hens that I got as adults that are really terrified of being caught. I tried to catch one the other day and she started bashing herself into a wall trying to get away as I slowly walked up and finally flew right over my head. My other "wild" hen has a defect, she has all five toes on her feet curled into a fist, so she is quite handicapped, and I worry about her injuring herself in a panic trying to escape me. I can already tell that her feet have been hurting her more than in the past year, and I would feel so bad if she injured herself and got bumblefoot, especially since she is so wild she would be very hard to treat. She is a good hen, just doesn't like getting within 15 feet of people/
If I must catch these wild hens, I will, but it will be very hard on them and me. I wonder if people have had success ridding the hens of mites without dusting all the hens? What else can I do? I was thinking of brushing the powder all over the roosts, I have flat 2X4 roosts, so I think I could get a thick coating of the DE up there.
I have plenty of DE, so it isn't a problem to use plenty. (and I know all the safety concerns as well.)
I have DE, (the good stuff from permaguard) but I am not sure how to use it to rid the birds of mites.
I went and added a few scoops to the coop bedding, and about just under a quarter cup to each nest box.
I caught my two very friendly hens, and patted DE on their bottoms where it seems the mites hand out.
Today, I will be giving them a dusting pan of DE and wood ash. They do not have an official dusting pan, just wherever they feel like dusting in the run, otherwise, I know they have some dust holes out free ranging, but these are not places I can easily get to put DE in. I would have to climb rusty barbed wire fences and other obstacles to get there.
What else can I be doing? I would like to catch all of my hens and pat them with DE, however, I have two hens that I got as adults that are really terrified of being caught. I tried to catch one the other day and she started bashing herself into a wall trying to get away as I slowly walked up and finally flew right over my head. My other "wild" hen has a defect, she has all five toes on her feet curled into a fist, so she is quite handicapped, and I worry about her injuring herself in a panic trying to escape me. I can already tell that her feet have been hurting her more than in the past year, and I would feel so bad if she injured herself and got bumblefoot, especially since she is so wild she would be very hard to treat. She is a good hen, just doesn't like getting within 15 feet of people/
If I must catch these wild hens, I will, but it will be very hard on them and me. I wonder if people have had success ridding the hens of mites without dusting all the hens? What else can I do? I was thinking of brushing the powder all over the roosts, I have flat 2X4 roosts, so I think I could get a thick coating of the DE up there.
I have plenty of DE, so it isn't a problem to use plenty. (and I know all the safety concerns as well.)