- Oct 13, 2013
- 58
- 3
- 41
I've just read through this entire thread and have gotten lots of good info and ideas for treating my flock of about a hundred birds. Mites seems to be the main problem for me right now, I've lost two birds in the last week and have put 2 into the Chicken ICU ward in the last two days as they were acting listless and looking quite anemic. It's time for drastic measures!
I have successfully treated with Ivomec's Eprinex product previously, but as I neglected to do a full clean out of the coop of course the problem has returned....duh!!!
This time I will treat the birds with a dusting and the Eprinex, and will clean out and spray down the coop with permethrin, then rub Nu-Stock on the roosts and bottoms of nesting boxes...LOVE that stuff!
A question that came up while I was reading through this thread, was what to do about the outdoor spaces. My chickens have a fairly large enclosed run where they congregate in the evenings before coming to bed, or in case of an airborne predator threat. It's maybe 20' x 25'. Then there are are several chicken doors from this run out into their range area, which is just over an acre in size.
Do I need to clean out the enclosed run, and if so, how deep do I need to go? That's going to be at least an all day job even with several people helping, never mind if I have to do anything to their range area...I can't even imagine scraping off the top layer of that, and would have no idea where to put the birds while I do so.
Does anyone have any information on whether or not I need to do anything to their run or free range space when treating for mites in the flock? Is it sufficient to treat the birds and the coop, knowing that there will likely always be lice and mites to some degree and that getting them under control so they can be managed is the best I can do? Or should I be spraying their entire range with permethrin? That just doesn't seem practical, but if that's what's required I'll need to figure out how to incorporate that into my plan!
I have successfully treated with Ivomec's Eprinex product previously, but as I neglected to do a full clean out of the coop of course the problem has returned....duh!!!
This time I will treat the birds with a dusting and the Eprinex, and will clean out and spray down the coop with permethrin, then rub Nu-Stock on the roosts and bottoms of nesting boxes...LOVE that stuff!
A question that came up while I was reading through this thread, was what to do about the outdoor spaces. My chickens have a fairly large enclosed run where they congregate in the evenings before coming to bed, or in case of an airborne predator threat. It's maybe 20' x 25'. Then there are are several chicken doors from this run out into their range area, which is just over an acre in size.
Do I need to clean out the enclosed run, and if so, how deep do I need to go? That's going to be at least an all day job even with several people helping, never mind if I have to do anything to their range area...I can't even imagine scraping off the top layer of that, and would have no idea where to put the birds while I do so.
Does anyone have any information on whether or not I need to do anything to their run or free range space when treating for mites in the flock? Is it sufficient to treat the birds and the coop, knowing that there will likely always be lice and mites to some degree and that getting them under control so they can be managed is the best I can do? Or should I be spraying their entire range with permethrin? That just doesn't seem practical, but if that's what's required I'll need to figure out how to incorporate that into my plan!
