I've tried everything, finally resorting to pesticides, help?

[sixlittlechicks09]

Hi everyone,
Our small flock (about 25) has gotten a BAD infestation of mites. With the warm weather, it never got cold and all the wild birds brought them in. We've been itchy and battling the mites since the beginning of February, and after using flock spray and DE and thinking (WRONG) we got them under control, they're back and better than ever. I'm fed up and ready to just get rid of them once and for all! I can't find the sticky, but I think it's Sevin dust I want to be using? Correct? And isn't there a period of time afterwards I can't use the eggs from the hens? Any help would be apprectiated. Also, we have a big coop - 10'x20' and a big run, 40'x10', what should I use to treat and clean them? Thanks!!!

 

[jdavis]

we use a dust that is the same as seven dust its called viper i think, we usually dust every three months we dust the chickens the coop the ground the nesters we dust everything, we dont hold off the eggs either some people do but we have never had an issue with it, in my oppinion we are going to consume more pesticides dusting the birds than we could ever get from the eggs, and we havent been affected from it either way.

 

[Hannah159]

• Creosote applied to the house. This has to be the old fashioned creosote, not creosote substitute that is sold in DIY stores. Old fashioned creosote I am told can still be bought at farm merchants in the UK. Paint Paraffin into cracks and crevices.
• Blow torches can be used around the cracks and crevices but be careful not to set fire to your coop!
• Steamers used for stripping wall paper can be used to get into cracks.
• Pressure Washers can be used to spray into cracks to wash out mites.
  
• Smearing a mixture of Paraffin and Vaseline into cracks and crevices. Vaseline is used frequently by poultry keepers to get rid of scaly leg mites. It smothers the mites.
• Double-sided sticky fly papers / double sided sticky tape on the underside of the perch and / or around ends of perches.
• Treating the birds with Frontline or Ivermectin. Whilst not licenced for use on poultry in the UK, vets often prescribe one or the other under their ‘clinical judgement' for lice / mite control. See the links to separate articles on these for more information. Whist these will eradicate mites that bite your chickens for some time, they will not kill of all mites since it is only the adults that bite your birds so a treatment from Frontline or Ivermectin should be used in conjunction with other measures.
• Carbolic Soap can be spread in the cracks and crevices to smother the mites.
• Coke poured into cracks to wet the mites apparently works by dissolving the waxy outer coating of the mite which then causes them to dry out, dehydrate and die.
• A dust bath can really help the birds with mites and lice and is their natural way to getting rid of external parasites. Dusting powders can be added to dust baths (like Diatomacious Earth) so the birds get it into the places you have missed. When mites hop onto your birds at night, they will rub against the diatom.