Mite removal?

[Chickem707]

Unfortunately I’ve discovered my chickens have mites. I have cleaned their entire house and blasted it with a mite kill spray, obviously I’ll do this several times. I was wondering how to get the mites off them, like is there a spray? I have seen mites on the actual chickens and not just on the house so I wonder how to kill them off the chickens. Thanks for any suggestions or products

 

[cmom]

I have posted this in other threads. I had some birds that were severely infested. I thought they were just molting but weren't getting their feathers back in when I discovered they had mites. The first thing I tried was DE. The birds weren't improving and still had mites. I first discovered them in only one coop but eventually found them on birds in another coop. I dusted the birds and the coops with the DE and no improvement. I did use some seven dust that I had but it was almost gone but it did help. I did some research and came up with permethrin, which is the pyrethrum on steroids. It lasts longer than pyrethrum. If you have a TSC you can get the dust, premixed spray and the concentrate. I also use the dust on the birds and in their nest boxes and spray inside of the coops, every crack and crevice, on and under the roosts, ceiling, walls, floors, anywhere the mites can hide. I buy the concentrate but I have a lot of coops so I mix it in a gallon sprayer and the wand helps me to reach the hard to reach areas. For smaller places the premixed spray is good. It took awhile for the birds feathers to come back in. If do use the dust or spray, wear special clothing including a mask and gloves. I did a weekly spraying for awhile and put permethrin dust in the nest boxes, originally sprayed the birds getting under the wings and worked it through their feathers with gloves. Slowly the birds began to recover and get their feathers back in. I think if I hadn't treated with the permethrin when I did I probably would have lost some birds to the mites. The birds were in bad condition. I did originally bathe the worst birds with flea shampoo which did help but did not get rid of the mites but then discovered that the over the counter (OTC) head lice shampoo for people also contained either pyrethrum or permethrin. The added benefit was no egg withdrawal period, and the birds are beautiful again. Good luck...

 

[Kathy Golla]

Good post, cmom...
Cmom mentions this but I will underline it, it is recommended that during the winter you use the dust on the birds vs the spray. Because the spray gets them wet...

 

[Chickem707]

Thank you for the advice!