Infestation of mites and concurrent cold

[Jilissa]

Hello. Thanks for the help. Here in the country, the internet is poor at best. Also, where I live most people including most of the veterinarians will laugh at you if you ask about medicine for a chicken. They will say, it is just a chicken, leave it be.
For these reasons your help is invaluable. And I can help to inform my neighbors. Also, we do not have access go most of the products that you use.
The bugs:
In the house, not on the birds
Very tiny, barely visible
Flat and
Gray, gray-brown, but
others appearing to be full of blood, are plump and red
The birds seem a little bit lethargic and a couple are now developing colds
One who is wheezing and sneezing is isolated with nitrosulfa in her water and appears to be improving
Also (I am on the south side. It is summer.) They are molting.
I have a small amount of iodine in the community waters for the cold prevention. And we feed garlic. One more has drippy nose and a wheeze, but I have to devise someplace to isolate her.
In their house I have removed and burned all nest boxes.
I have sprayed wood with neem oil after washing everything with Creolina and it drying completely.
Also there before were items being stored in plastic crates. Those have been removed, most contents burned, sprayed with neem/alcohol. The mites were living between the boxes and under the edges of lids. Maybe it sounds stupid, but never use your chicken house for storage, I could only protest a little.
There are far fewer mites. There were billions. Now I need to make new boxes and roosting branches and continue to combat the mites, as there still are many.
Any insight into this situation is helpful.
Also we have ten baby chicks three weeks old and many baby turkeys. The young birds and mothers have their own quarters and seem to be unaffected, but I am preparing to fix up their homes as well for the doubts.
I am concerned that the babies will be introduced to the rest of the flock soon and I want them to all stay healthy and safe.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

The bugs:
In the house, not on the birds
Very tiny, barely visible
Flat and
Gray, gray-brown, but
others appearing to be full of blood, are plump and red

The birds seem a little bit lethargic and a couple are now developing colds
One who is wheezing and sneezing is isolated with nitrosulfa in her water and appears to be improving

They are molting.
I have a small amount of iodine in the community waters for the cold. One more has drippy nose and a wheeze

I have sprayed wood with neem oil after washing everything with Carolina and it drying completely.

Burning the nesting boxes and bedding was a good idea.
You don't mention your location so it's hard to make suggestions on products to use.

Do you have Permethrin products available to you? That would be what I would use to treat the birds in addition to the housing. You may not be seeing the mites on the birds during the day, but as you mention, the mites look to be full of blood so they are coming out at night and feeding on your birds. Most mites do not live on the birds, but do live in the bedding/housing as you have discovered.

I'm sorry that you have some birds that are not well. The mites can weaken birds, so getting rid of the bugs is very important.

If you are dealing with a respiratory disease like Infectious Coryza, the Sulfa medication may be effective in treating symptoms. There are many causes of respiratory symptoms, from disease, to ammonia from droppings to moldy bedding.
Have you looked inside the beaks of your chickens to make sure there is no canker or yellow cheesy material?

Again, it's hard to recommend products since you don't live in the US, but since you have a mite infestation, I would give the birds extra vitamins as well. Do you have a poultry vitamin that has B Vitamins?

 

[Jilissa]

My location is in Uruguay.
I think permethrin is available but I'm not sure. We are trying not to use the chemicals as this is a fragile chemically damaged ecosystem already which we are rehabilitating.
I have not seen a vitamin for birds here. But they free range all day, eat many kitchen scraps, and have the best ration we can find.
Thank you again.

 

[Jilissa]

I have inspected inside the mouth and nose of the wheezing sneezing hen, and there it seems normal.
I did not mention breeds, because they have different names here. The flock is mixed. I am trying to determine the breeds.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My location is in Uruguay.
I think permethrin is available but I'm not sure. We are trying not to use the chemicals as this is a fragile chemically damaged ecosystem already which we are rehabilitating.
I have not seen a vitamin for birds here. But they free range all day, eat many kitchen scraps, and have the best ration we can find.
Thank you again.

I see. Then I would treat the birds with your Neem oil solution. What you want to do is try to rid the housing of all the mites you can, but the birds need to have some type of deterrent/treatment as well - so the mites are not getting on them at night.

Can you get human vitamins? See if you can get B-Complex vitamins. I would give each adult bird 1/4 tablet a day for 3 days. Then once a week for a few weeks after that.

If that's not possible, give them a treat of eggs or some beef liver (about 1tablespoon of beef per bird) - this will give them a boost of protein plus vitamins/minerals. Mites can make birds anemic.

 

[Jilissa]

That's great advice for giving them b-vitamins or organ meats which they steal from the dogs also...but we will probably give them some in their 'run' so that we can close the dogs and cats out and they get all of it.

 

[Jilissa]

I've been rubbing a bit of diatomeas beneath their feathers and it seems to be helping a lot. I feed them garlic and spray them with homemade garlic spray. I wasn't sure the neem directly on their bodies would be safe.
I think we are victorious, but still have some work to do and also need to be vigilant.
There are no mites crawling on me anymore when I enter to clean. I cannot find them on the roosting areas.
What we have used so far is garlic spray on bedding, all wood and birds, neem oil spray in house, diatomeas on birds and in bedding and dust bathing area, cleaning and treating wood, floor, walls, roosts all with Carolina and linseed oil. And we plan to paint all of the interior surfaces with either lime or a milk paint.
They instinctively bathe in the fire pit, and I think it helps a lot.
Thank you for taking interest and helping

 

[Jilissa]

Everything has improved greatly. The house is free of mites. The infestation was so bad, that there were thousands of mites crawling on my hands and arms after cleaning; now there are none! I have been using multiple cures, for the doubts. Cleaned house with Creolina and poured dilute Creolina water in the soil of their "run," although they free-range. Cleaned also with potassium soap. Limewashed inside house including floor. Burned old wooden nest boxes and burlap curtains. Spraying house, roosts, and nest boxes with garlic spray and neem oil spray, and neem oil mixed with diluted potassium soap for spray as well. Rubbing diatomeas onto birds under wings, back of neck, ventral area and cloaca. Feeding garlic to birds, b-complex vitamin found at animals store, apple cider vinegar.
Still one bird has a cold medium level and one bantam rooster is a little bit congested. Four birds died. Two, very suddenly, listless and then dead as soon as I had noticed. But all is well and I think we are past it now.
Thank you for all of the input.

 

[Jilissa]

Birds are bug-free on their bodies also.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Everything has improved greatly. The house is free of mites. The infestation was so bad, that there were thousands of mites crawling on my hands and arms after cleaning; now there are none! I have been using multiple cures, for the doubts. Cleaned house with Creolina and poured dilute Creolina water in the soil of their "run," although they free-range. Cleaned also with potassium soap. Limewashed inside house including floor. Burned old wooden nest boxes and burlap curtains. Spraying house, roosts, and nest boxes with garlic spray and neem oil spray, and neem oil mixed with diluted potassium soap for spray as well. Rubbing diatomeas onto birds under wings, back of neck, ventral area and cloaca. Feeding garlic to birds, b-complex vitamin found at animals store, apple cider vinegar.
Still one bird has a cold medium level and one bantam rooster is a little bit congested. Four birds died. Two, very suddenly, listless and then dead as soon as I had noticed. But all is well and I think we are past it now.
Thank you for all of the input.

I'm glad to hear things are improving, but sorry that you lost 2

Thank you for the update and for outlining your course of treatment, I hope that others find it helpful.