Ivermectin use in poultry is `off-label'.
Eprinex cattle pour-on is very effective. Main problem, as has been mentioned, is reinfestation.
The only way to suppress external parasite load is constant vigilance and cleaning (all chooks not in indoor aviaries have some contact with wild birds). It is a good idea to check the chooks with a loupe after they go to roost (if the infestation is bad enough and you've been picking up/carrying chooks around, you'll feel `volunteers' scurrying toward your head - they won't try to eat... most of the time). Northern Fowl Mites prefer feathers and not `fluff'. If you have a roo, check around his fundament as mites tend to go for roo butt first (more feathers).
A few years ago our closest neighbor's flock was badly infested (only ten acres to the east, their turkey flock was visiting ours - had to get preemptive). We isolated their chickens and turkeys in old, fenced, mule `repository'. We treated them with Eprinex cattle pour-on and used 1-1.5 cc on the skin of the upper backs. All bedding/litter was removed from run/coop and burnt. The interior walls/floor/roosts were sprayed with a combination of Eprinex/Tea Tree Oil/Orange Guard (if you'd have seen the poor Easter eggers - this was not a matter of `overkill'). We went back over and repeated the application the following week and left plenty of the `spray'. They seem, now, to have this problem under control (if they'd put out traps for raccoons they'd be doing even better).
This is a good description of ectoparasitic dermatophytes in poultry: http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8162.pdf
This is from a study of the actual kill times achieved with various acaracides in vitro (stick `em in a tube and pour it on - so to speak) on human critters of the same `type':
Eprinex cattle pour-on is very effective. Main problem, as has been mentioned, is reinfestation.
The only way to suppress external parasite load is constant vigilance and cleaning (all chooks not in indoor aviaries have some contact with wild birds). It is a good idea to check the chooks with a loupe after they go to roost (if the infestation is bad enough and you've been picking up/carrying chooks around, you'll feel `volunteers' scurrying toward your head - they won't try to eat... most of the time). Northern Fowl Mites prefer feathers and not `fluff'. If you have a roo, check around his fundament as mites tend to go for roo butt first (more feathers).
A few years ago our closest neighbor's flock was badly infested (only ten acres to the east, their turkey flock was visiting ours - had to get preemptive). We isolated their chickens and turkeys in old, fenced, mule `repository'. We treated them with Eprinex cattle pour-on and used 1-1.5 cc on the skin of the upper backs. All bedding/litter was removed from run/coop and burnt. The interior walls/floor/roosts were sprayed with a combination of Eprinex/Tea Tree Oil/Orange Guard (if you'd have seen the poor Easter eggers - this was not a matter of `overkill'). We went back over and repeated the application the following week and left plenty of the `spray'. They seem, now, to have this problem under control (if they'd put out traps for raccoons they'd be doing even better).
This is a good description of ectoparasitic dermatophytes in poultry: http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8162.pdf
This is from a study of the actual kill times achieved with various acaracides in vitro (stick `em in a tube and pour it on - so to speak) on human critters of the same `type':
Resistance of Sarcoptes scabiei to various topical therapies has been described, but clinical assessment of treatment failure is problematic and in-vitro assays are generally not available. We describe a simple in-vitro analysis used to evaluate the relative efficacy of a range of topical, oral, and herbal treatments available in Australia for the treatment of scabies. S. scabiei var. hominis mites were collected from skin scrapings obtained from 7 crusted scabies patients over a period of 2 years (1997 and 1998). Larvae, nymphal instars, and adult mites were tested within 3 h of collection and continuously exposed to selected commercially available treatment products until death, with the elapsed time recorded. Neem was the only product to show little acaricidal activity. Survival curves indicated that, of the other agents, 5% permethrin (Lyclear) had the slowest killing time, with 35% of mites still alive after 3 h, and 4% still alive after 1822 h of constant exposure. In contrast, no mites were alive after 3 h exposure to 25% benzyl benzoate (Ascabiol), 1 % lindane (Quellada), 5% tea tree oil and 1008000 ng/g of ivermectin (Equimec). Despite the slower killing time with 5% permethrin, there was no evidence of any mite tolerance in vivo or treatment failure in any patients or contact cases.
Tea Tree Oil should not be applied directly on chooks.
We have had good luck mixing Sevin with DE mixed into the bedding, daily cleaning of coops and raking of runs, and making sure to add the ashes from the wood stove, along with a handful of DE, to their favorite dustbathing areas under the decks.
ed:gwamma/sp. as usual
Tea Tree Oil should not be applied directly on chooks.
We have had good luck mixing Sevin with DE mixed into the bedding, daily cleaning of coops and raking of runs, and making sure to add the ashes from the wood stove, along with a handful of DE, to their favorite dustbathing areas under the decks.
ed:gwamma/sp. as usual
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