Mite control

[Peggsblueinc]

What’s a suggestion for mite control. I have straw and shaving on dirt floor in coop. About 3 inches thick. Keep coop nice a warm for winter and just rotate it daily. I’m having a problem keeping the girls free of mites. I’ve dusted them once already a few months back. What is everybody using for mites. I put diamatous earth on dirt ground in run and when I clean out coop and nesting boxes. How often and what to use. Please help. Excuse spelling

 

[DobieLover]

I’ve dusted them once already a few months back.

This isn't the way to eradicate mites.
You need to strip the coop completely bare, sweep/shop vac it and double bag or burn the bedding. Then spray every wood surface with a permethrin based poultry spray. I would get the concentrate then dilute it per the label instructions for use as a 'premises spray'. EVERY surface of the wood should be sprayed with extra attention everywhere wood meets wood, including the nest boxes. Then put a fan in the coop to air dry it quickly.
Then you need to mix up a bottle of spray diluting it for use on poultry. Then thoroughly spray each bird down to the skin.
After the coop is dry, re-bed it with fresh bedding.
After 7 days, repeat all of the above.
If you have a particularly nasty infestation, repeat a third time after 7 days.
The permethrin will kill the adults but not the eggs. So if you just spray once and only the birds, you've only killed what is on the birds. Mites tend to crawl off the birds and hide in the crevices of wood during the day and lay eggs there and on the birds. So the first attack should get all the adults. The second attack will kill freshly hatched mites before they have a chance to reproduce. The third attack is for anything that escaped the first two treatments.

 

[Peggsblueinc]

Thank you, I’ve done all you mention but I’m gonnna do it a second time a week later as said. Do mites live in dirt. I know I should ignorant on this but I am. I clean the coop and run everyday. Can you give name of the spray you use.

 

[Perris]

alternatively, you might consider burning your wooden coop and its attendant mites to ashes, and investing in a Nestera plastic coop, which will be much less attractive home for mites, and can be cleaned with a power washer and plain water.

 

[Peggsblueinc]

burning the coop is extreme. I’ll just do the clean and redo a week later.

 

[Perris]

burning the coop is extreme. I’ll just do the clean and redo a week later.

yes it is, but it is also a permanent solution, rather than one that needs to be repeated at very regular intervals and requires additional consumables each time. Plus the keeper's time and irritation.