Mite Infestation

[skullgrrrl]

I have become quite skilled with the Vaseline - I toss scratch into a small pen (4'x12') and when the hens enter so do I with a tub of Vaseline. I can pick one up, cover their entire legs/toes with Vaseline, rub it in well and release them in a minute. The Vaseline stays on longer than the oil - and it doesn't drip on me.

I also got some cedar sawdust and added it to the ashes in their dust baths. I put a little bit in the nest boxes as well - not much as cedar isn't good for them.

 

[HappyHenFarm78]

I bought cement mixing tubs from Home Depot and put fine and coarse play sand in them and sprinkled in permethrin poultry dust and put them in the coop. I have 50-ish birds so treating them all gets time consuming. I did dunk the few that were heavily infested and snipped egg riddled feathers off them. One poofy headed bird I scalped completely as the mites infested her head and it was just too difficult to wash that close to her face w/out drowning her so now she looks just awful with her wig cut off but what else could I do!? LOL

Luckily I have no scaley leg mite issues...but have both types of fowl mites... the red and brown. My whole coop is wood. I sprayed down the perches with Poultry Protector nearly every day. I used to use covered kitty litter boxes as nest boxes but with so many birds there was not enough room for all the litter boxes needed so made one big community box -I have 5 broodies hoarding eggs in it right now- its wood, but I have been spraying and dusting the heck out of it...the darn things just won't DIE! and if they do they are apparently quickly replaced.

I know it takes time but sheesh...when you see parasites by the millions it kinda freaks you out until they are GONE!

I USED THE IVERMECTIN 5MG/ML POUR-ON in the yellow and red box by durvet. (The only one I could find in the stores near me.) I am hoping it works just the same...??? Supposed to treat lice and mange mites in cattle so don't see why it wouldn't kill chicken mites...?

I never had them at my old house...since I moved all my birds over to my fiancé's house I have been battling this and its so frustrating...not looking forward to it year after year, it really turns an enjoyable pet/hobby into a miserable one.

 

[ellend]

You can't use insecticides on the small chicks; use Poultry Protector. Non-toxic, kills the mites, but make sure to keep the baby warm!

 

[ellend]

I bought Carbaryl (which Sevin is called in Canada) and put it down in their dust bath holes. Can I use this is the coop as well? What about the coop where the chicks are? Should I be dusting the hens directly? What about the one with the chicks? What about the chickens breathing the fumes in at night?

The situation seems to be getting better - I vaselined their legs last night and afterwords only found one mite on me. I looked in the coop and couldn't see any crawling so that's an improvement.

The one with the worst lifted leg scales has had a couple fall off. I'm taking that as a good sign as what is underneath is normal. Am I right? When they no longer have lifted scales that should be a sign that things are better.

You can't use insecticides on the small chicks; use Poultry Protector. Non-toxic, kills the mites, but make sure to keep the baby warm!

The scaley leg mites are different from the Northern Fowl mites (seen on the bird's body, esp. near the vent, during the day) and the Red mite (hides off the bird during the day, bites them at night.) Keep treating the scaley leg with the vaseline for about two months. Yes, the old scales should come off, revealing normal leg scales--good thing. Treat the other mites as posts here recommend. The ivermectin pour-on is working well for me this summer, but I also bathed the birds and cleaned and spayed the coop to get a better start before using the ivermectin. Try getting rid of ALL bedding, and use a bit of sand as a substrate. No wooden or cardboard nest boxes. If the nest box isn't sprayed or dusted, you won't win. Keep up with the treatments. Remember that most insects / arachnoids develop resistance to products, so vary your sprays and powders a bit. Neem oil: I haven't tried it; good for fungus, I don't know about mites.

 

[skullgrrrl]

I have been very vigilant & consistent in my efforts to rid my flock of mites (as far as I can see they just have scaly leg mites and not the others). I've cleaned out the bedding weekly, sprayed everything down with a mixture of water, soap, neem oil & sliced garlic; added a small amount of cedar sawdust/chopped garlic scapes and lavender flowers under the pine shavings; given them piles of ashes to dust bathe in; vaselined their legs every 2 days. I'm happy to report that their legs are looking much better and I haven't seen one mite in 10 days. And I've done it without having to use toxic pesticides. I'll reduce the frequency of treating their legs but I'll keep up the other measures so the mites are truly gone.

 

[HappyHenFarm78]

poultry protector does not actually kill mites it claims only to 'wash them away'.

 

[skullgrrrl]

wash them away?! to where? in the coop - if so, that's not much of a help.

 

[dawg53]

I bought cement mixing tubs from Home Depot and put fine and coarse play sand in them and sprinkled in permethrin poultry dust and put them in the coop. I have 50-ish birds so treating them all gets time consuming. I did dunk the few that were heavily infested and snipped egg riddled feathers off them. One poofy headed bird I scalped completely as the mites infested her head and it was just too difficult to wash that close to her face w/out drowning her so now she looks just awful with her wig cut off but what else could I do!? LOL

Luckily I have no scaley leg mite issues...but have both types of fowl mites... the red and brown. My whole coop is wood. I sprayed down the perches with Poultry Protector nearly every day. I used to use covered kitty litter boxes as nest boxes but with so many birds there was not enough room for all the litter boxes needed so made one big community box -I have 5 broodies hoarding eggs in it right now- its wood, but I have been spraying and dusting the heck out of it...the darn things just won't DIE! and if they do they are apparently quickly replaced.

I know it takes time but sheesh...when you see parasites by the millions it kinda freaks you out until they are GONE!

I USED THE IVERMECTIN 5MG/ML POUR-ON in the yellow and red box by durvet. (The only one I could find in the stores near me.) I am hoping it works just the same...??? Supposed to treat lice and mange mites in cattle so don't see why it wouldn't kill chicken mites...?

I never had them at my old house...since I moved all my birds over to my fiancé's house I have been battling this and its so frustrating...not looking forward to it year after year, it really turns an enjoyable pet/hobby into a miserable one.

Cattle lice are biting lice, a different type of lice than chicken lice. Chicken lice dont suck blood, but will suck blood from a scratch for example. Chicken lice feed off skin and feathers, ivermectin wont kill chicken lice but will kill bloodsucking mites on chickens.

 

[16 paws]

I've got the same problem right now--normally I don't ever see bugs--only saw lice once and became really good about dusting after that. But...in the last couple weeks, I noticed some of my girls have a messy fluff, missing feathers around their necks and heads and aren't laying as much either--then I noticed one of my pens' pine shaving is infested with bugs-(I thought you couldn't see mites during the day-but this must be what these were-they weren't lice). I put pymethrin dust in their dust bathing holes all around their run and clean their coop once a week and every couple weeks I spray with a bug spray for horses/livestock and then dust all the roosts, nests and the coop floor. Today, I thoroughly cleaned out the coop--sprayed it, dusted everything. I even changed their nests. Using plastic crates now--no wood and hubby is building metal roosts for me--no more wood. I've got a vinyl floor in the coop so the critters can't hide in the floor. One other thing I did was put a little cedar shavings in with the pine shavings as I was told that bugs hate cedar. I've got good ventilation and live in a dry climate so no worries about fumes from the cedar hurting my chickens. Then...instead of dusting all 26 chickens I decided to try ivomec/eprinex after I read about it. I went to my feed store today and got a bottle of it (kind of pricy--but there is enough to last my lifetime!!) and I tried it out tonight. From what I've read about it from others who have used it--it sounds like the ticket! It was amazingly easy to administer to my chickens too. Took me less than 10 minutes. I waited till they were all roosting--went in the coop with my head light/lamp on and used a dropper and put the dose on the back of each one of my chickens necks. I wore rubber gloves but didn't even get a drop on me and each of my chickens sat still as I carefully and quietly squeezed the dropper of liquid on the neck. The only one that stirred a little and made any noise was my big rooster...he just ruffled his feathers as I put the dropper through his neck feathers, but it only took me a second. I don't know about you but wrestling 26 chickens during the day or at night when they're on the roost to dust them is a nightmare...and I'm usually covered in that nasty dust and breath it even with a mask on to boot. This was the easiest thing EVER! I hope it works! I'll let you know. If you're interested--the dose is .5 cc per large chicken (per 11 lb bird) and .25 cc per bantam (5.5 lb bird). I have 9 yound chickens-about 9 weeks old and I just used a little less than .25 cc for them. If this stuff works--I'm going to be in heaven and so are my chickity-chick-chickens! Good luck with your battle with mites! Let's win this thing!

How is the treatment for mites working? The ivomec?