Mite Problem

HellurrJesse

In the Brooder
7 Years
Jan 13, 2013
16
0
22
Houston, Texas
Hi everyone, so lately I've noticed tiny, tiny bugs crawling around the chicken coop. I didn't really pay much attention to it since my rooster and 2 hens lived parasite-free since they were born last year. Over the summer, we had chicks. 3 survived and are pretty large already. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. I wasn't worried about pest problems.

About a month or two ago I noticed these creatures crawling on the carpet I put for my chickens. I thought it was the carpet so I threw it out and cut up fresh new carpet. The situation didn't help and they would crawl on me every night when I put them on. They are so tiny, I didn't know whether to call them mites or not.

Finally, I noticed my chicks plucking out their feathers a few days ago and lo and behold, mites. I can't stay in denial anymore since I actually realized that they were full of blood.

I'm really upset, how did this happen? It has been raining a lot here in Houston and birds practically live in my backyard. Is that an issue? I'd really like to treat my chickens but as a college student, money is tight on my hands. I have a pressure washer, I thought I might be able to hose down the entire coop but I'm not entirely sure it would work.

I'm looking for a cheap solution to help these guys, preferably natural. Help please. I hate seeing my lovelies being eaten alive. :(
 
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Mites and lice can get them quite sick, even kill them if the infestation is severe enough. They are carried by wild birds and are a common problem. Once the birds and coop are relatively pest free, they can be controlled with access to a good dust bath, better if the dust bath has wood ashes. Sand for litter also helps. But first you must kill off the majority of them with Sevin garden dust or another product. They or their eggs will hide in tiny cracks and on the bottom of roosts, and certainly in carpet. I would remove the carpet and replace it with sand, pine shavings, hay -- anything that can be cleaned. here are a couple of good resources:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/818674/are-these-some-kind-of-egg-clusters/0_20#post_11897957
 
If this were happening here (and it has) this is what I would do:

1. Dust the chickens good with poultry dust (I use http://www.amazon.com/Prozap-Garden...8&qid=1384179892&sr=8-1&keywords=poultry+dust) If it's easier you can put the powder in a bag and then put the chickens body in the bag and "fluff" them.

2. Change bedding and spray coop down good with Permethrin-10 -- floors, ceiling and walls then once everything is dry I powder the bedding with the poultry dust. (http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/permethrin-10-livestock-amp;-premise-spray-32-oz )

3. Keep this handy -- Manna Pro Poultry Protector -- you can get it at Wal-Mart, TSC or even Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/Manna-Pro-050...=1384180229&sr=8-1&keywords=poultry+protector ) It is natural and I use it whenever I even think that I see a spot on one of the girls. I spray their legs and their behinds at night when they settle in.

Good luck! :)
 
Permethrin is fine, and is mentioned in the thread I linked. I probably wouldn't buy Manna Pro poultry protector myself, though. Product description says it "cleans away pesky bugs." Evidently it doesn't kill them.
 
I've had mites twice, both times in the summer (two different summers, so just once per year) and both times when I had broody hens sitting on eggs. I cleaned out all of the shavings out of the coop and nest boxes before spraying the walls with peroxide and then scrubbing every square inch of the inside of the coops and boxes. I made sure to spray any cracks too. Allow to dry, then sprinkle Sevin dust on the floor and in the nest boxes before adding fresh litter. Then I took each chicken one by one and dusted them (careful to cover their faces when you do this), getting the dust under their wings and undersides.

If caught early enough (before you have a new hatching of mites), doing this once should be sufficient. It worked for me- did not have them come back. But if the infestation has gone on for a while, do this again in a week. You should be good.

And don't feel bad, either. This is pretty common. I remember I felt terrible the first time it happened- I've always taken such good care of my flock. But it truly is something that can happen to anyone. Good luck!
 
Permethrin is fine, and is mentioned in the thread I linked. I probably wouldn't buy Manna Pro poultry protector myself, though. Product description says it "cleans away pesky bugs." Evidently it doesn't kill them.
They list the ingredients as 99.9% Citric Acid and 0.1% Potassium Sorbate
http://www.mannapro.com/products/poultry/poultry-protector/nutritional-information/

I suspect Lemonade would have the same results, and you could drink what you don't use
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