Mite help urgently needed!

[StaceC]

So I discovered by being covered and bitten by the nasty things that my two hens and four,four week old chicks have mites. They've also invaded my house
I've thoroughly hosed out my large pen, and the maternity pen, changed bedding in nesting boxes, dusted everything in pestene including the chooks, and we still have mites!!!
All chooks free range in the day and are locked up at night, but it seems the grass around the maternity pen particularly is infested with the tiny menaces. I've dusted around it with pestene and DE, but they're still there!
How long do they take to die??
Am I doing something wrong??
HELP!!

 

[StaceC]

Anyone??

 

[amills654]

You should try sevin dust 5% it's sold almost anywhere and online I believe it's $7 on Amazon it worked for me and it's safe

 

[cafarmgirl]

The key to getting rid of mites is to break the hatch cycle as well as using an effective product. DE won't clear out an infestation. That also means you have to keep re-treating your birds and the coop every 7-10 days. This can take two or three treatments, sometimes more. Mites are often hard to get rid of because if you miss a few they just keep reproducing. So use Sevin, or Garden and Poultry Dust on your birds and try spraying the coop with Sevin or with something that has residual effect like Insectrin.

I've only had to deal with mites once but I don't want to do it again. So every spring and fall when I strip out the coop I spray it with Insectrin and my birds get a shot of Adams Flea and Tick spray for pets under each wing and under the tail at the same time I do the coops. No more problems.

Now, all of that said, the kinds of mites that chickens get shouldn't be biting you or getting into your house. It might be a good idea to try to pick some up on tape or whatever and see if you can get them identified, make sure of what they are and that you are treating the problem the most effective way.

 

[StaceC]

Thank you!!!
Checked my chooks last night (they're REALLY hard to catch in the day!)
And they seemed clear at last, and no more bites for us. Hooray!
Gonna keep up my regime for another couple of weeks just to be sure