Keeping mites/ticks at bay?

[Carry on clucking]

Hi to all,

I am new to BYC and to keeping chooks in general. I have moved to an old farm house that has an existing old chook pen. I got some chickens only to discover that they were starting to dye off. After inspecting a couple I have discoverd they were covered in mites/ticks.

I have dipped the chooks in a powerful insect killer stuff, and have been told to spread lime in the chook pen. I have checked the chooks (those I have managed to save) and they still seem to have some mites/ticks. They seem healthy though, eating, drinking, scratching around etc .. .

so my question is, how often do I dip the chooks? how often do I spread Lime around?

I dont want to do it too often and harm the chooks. but also dont want to not do it often enough and let the mites/ticks take hold once more.

any advice will be soooo gratefully received.

hope you can help
Cheers

 

[jerseygirl1]

You may want to have this moved to a different thread and get more answers

What are you using on them?

 

[Drk_Wlf]

I don't use chemical and stick to just Diatomaceous Earth (food-grade) it works great. I've had some trouble with mites at one point and it really did the trick. Although if your mite/tick problem is that bad you should probably bomb the coop (lime just aint gonna cut it) with some insecticides and clean it really good, then put down the DE. I use lime for my other livestock pens to help with the smell of ammonia, I've never used it to control mites though.

Just make sure to keep cleaning the coop regularly and applying the DE to both the coop and the birds as needed, its a fine powder just make sure to not get it in their air ways or yours. You can apply it as often as needed, it's not a chemical so it won't harm the birds.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I use Permethrin 10% livestock and premise spray. The residue lasts for about 30 days. I also just started using the pour on ivermectin. About .25 cc for a bantam on the skin at the base of the neck. I believe that lasts about 6 weeks because its slow release. I will alternate between the 2.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

You have to determine what you are dealing with before you can effectively treat. Mites are very different from ticks. Look carefully at this page and you might be able to determine what's on your birds: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/toc_204700.htm Good luck and

 

[Carry on clucking]

thanks for all of your help.

I have read on this site about the food grade DE, but the price of it means it is out of the picture. $100 for a 12kg bag!!!

I will have a look at the name of the chemical I used to dip the chooks. I also sprayed it all over the coop, removed the bedding and put in fresh. And now have thrown lime around the place.

Thanks to Gallo del Cielo for that site! I had no idea so many little critters could harm them! I am still not 100% sure what it is, thinking perhaps even sticktight flea. As what ever these things are they are little black spots on the chooks. Once they are infested the chook just sits down and slowly dies. So thinking aneama. . . .

so any cheap options to help with the fleas????

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

Wow...I got a 5lb bag of DE for $9.99 at country max but I'm pretty sure I've seen it online for the same price.

 

[Double-0 Chicken]

I have seen 10, 25 and 50 lb bags of food grade DE on Amazon for really great prices. Shipping wasn't too bad either around $11.00 for the 10 lb bag.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I think SundownWaterfowl had a good suggestion for how to treat, whether it's mites or fleas. Another inexpensive possibility would be Sevin dust. You should probably also clean/treat the coop as well. Check your local feed store for less expensive DE; but I don't think DE will help you with your level of infestation. Good luck.

 

[calicokat]

Little black dots - sounds like mites. They live on blood, by biting the chicken. This weakens the chicken and brings on anemia, and can kill them too.

They are hard to get rid of because unlike lice, they don't stay on the chicken. They hang out in the coop, nesting boxes, etc. They really like to be in the nooks and crannies of the chicken house.

We dusted all the birds with Sevin and stripped out all the bedding, dusted the coop, put in fresh bedding - but only a small amount because the process gets repeated in 10 days. With a normal out break the 2 treatments should be enough.