Mite treatment

[Mei&Popcorn]

Hi! I recently checked my chickens for mites, and I found some... (luckily, I caught it in the beginning stages). So, what's the best treatment for this that can be readily found in normal pet stores?

Also, prevention tips?
Does the type of bedding affect whether you're going to get mites or not (shavings vs sand, etc)?

Also, I was looking at the bag of feed, and I realized there are little orangish reddish bugs that look suspicious... Do mites live in feed? I keep the feed sealed, so the only possibility is that it was already IN the feed....

Poultry mites cannot transmit to people, right?! (ugh, I'm going to go shower now...)

Thanks a lot!

 

[wren]

Weird...you have mites in your feed. Probably the bag was open, wild birds or your birds jump in it to eat and leave mites behind. Sounds like you have a fairly heavy infestation. Use sevin brand dust for vegetables under wings and around vents. Poultry dust is the same stuff. I would spray the building down with a natural orange product to slow these guys down. They talk about it on this site.

 

[johnderosa1]

Mei,

Some Poultry mites (northern fowl mites) can and will bite humans. They can infest your house/auto as well if you bring them in on your clothes. They can be difficult to control and you really need to follow a good treatment protocol to get rid of them. One problem that people encounter is reinfestation of their birds. If you have them in your house and or auto you could be unwittingly bringing them back to your coop each time you visit. It is important to stick with whatever program you choose and address all potential sources. Otherwise you wont be successful. One thing i would do for sure is give them a place to dustbath. I never had an issues with mites on any birds that had free access to dustbathing. I got into trouble when i built an indoor breeding facility that lacked a place for them to dustbath. I also let someone come in and look at the birds... I believe that was the original source of the mites. They could have come in on feedbags.. Either way it took me a while to notice and i 've been dealing with the problem ever since . I am slowly wining the battle but it has been a tough fight. My goal is to have them eliminated by april.

 

[Mei&Popcorn]

So, what I plan to do is spray everything with poultry protector (I found it at a local shop) and change the bedding of the coop and get a new bag of feed.... sounds good?

Also, does dust bathing in pine shavings work well enough?

I guess to prevent house infestations, I will keep my clothes (after handling chickens) sealed in a bag or something...

 

[johnderosa1]

Poultry protector is good for direct contact but i dont think it has any residual effect. The label says you can spray everyday ? So if you dont have a lot of birds you may be able to control the mites with regular (daily) sprayings. If that doesnt work, you might have to up the ante. As for pine shavings... Probably not good enough. A dust box with wood ashes mixed in would be best. Definitely put you clothes in a bag or throw them in a dryer on high for 15 minutes after each use. I shower immediately after coming into the house as well. Good luck!!!

 

[Mei&Popcorn]

Yup - apparently poultry protector is all natural. I only have 5 birds, so I think it'll be OK. I'm going to switch over to sand bedding soon, so that will probably be good dust bathing material. But for now, I'll think of something...


Thanks!!

 

[johnderosa1]

Sounds like a plan. Good luck!

 

[kendradillon]

I dusted min lastnight I have northern mites... Make sure you dust the entire bird face back an all not like lice can't do just under wings and butts.. Anyone know about using wormer paste for them?