mites - can I dilute ivermectin pour-on for coop treatment?

[terri1nd]

Wonder if I could dilute ivermectin pour-on & put some in a pressure sprayer to treat the roosting perches, nest boxes, & inside of the coop, for mites???

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Diluting it would make it ineffective for it's intended use. Also, it has a type of alcohol in it and would evaporate quickly making it ineffective. Why not dust with sevin dust? It has staying power to kill mites and their eggs when the nits hatch.

 

[ivan3]

It might be of some benefit if not diluted. Tea tree oil can be used if rubbed into roosts/ sprayed into cracks, etc. (kills ectoparasites as quickly as eprinex preps ~1hr. in a petri dish - Sevin takes up to 24hr), however, use of tea tree oil, even diluted, directly on poultry can result in a toxic reaction and kill them. We mixed a witches brew of Eprinex Cattle Pour-on/Tea tree oil/Adams tick and flea spray to clean out neighbor's coop a few years back (place was, and chooks were, crawling with Northern Fowl Mites). Stripped coop down to wood, burnt all removed bedding, etc. Treated chooks with eprinex pour-on .5cc on upper backs, placed them on temp. bedding in dog run (both sevin/DE mixed into straw and wood chips). They returned chooks to coop the following day. Haven't been reinfested, yet (couple of years, now). Had to strip and bag up our clothes in garage after we'd walked back to our place - NFM's like to scurry towards one's head. Just bagged up and dosed clothes with a bit of eprinex and, later that day, dumped `em into washer. Tea Tree Oil shampoo for `bod' decontamination and that was that. Probably got enough eprinex through the skin to kill any stealth worms in our guts, as well (if one thinks they might be sensitive wear gloves - like wearing a N95 rated mask when using Sevin/DE).

Stripping the coop for thorough cleaning, and limiting exposure to wild birds will go a long way to preventing reinfestation (carry chooks around a bit every week - roo's in particular as they tend to be infested first - NFM's prefer feathers near roo's fundament, not the hen fluff - if the NFM's have taken up resisidence you'll feel a few stragglers migrating up your body towards your head (won't dine on you - just cause `emotional irritation'

).

Some links with info:

Aviagen puts out a series of tech documents on diseases/parasites with good photos: http://www.healthybirds.umd.edu/Disease/Deworming%20Birds.pdf

INCHEM is a good source of detailed info on all things chemical (a lot of info on Ivermectin as it is widely used in humans): http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/pharm/ivermect.htm

Our vet also suggested eprinex for topical use for chook `bugs' (why we had it handy when neighbor called).

 

[terri1nd]

you have some fantastic information, thank you for sharing. I can't strip the coop right now, though. Winter here in North Dakota & my health are not making this easy for me.
I wonder if I use the ivermectin pour-on, on them & sevin & DE (food grade) throughout the coop? I forgot how much of the ivermectin to use on the chickens (large fowl breeds), so I have to research that.
I plan on putting on some sort of repellant on myself BEFORE I go back into the coop in a little bit.

Quote:

 

[ChooksChick]

This is not recommended on any labeling, so I can't recommend it...particularly as chickens are intended for human consumption...

BUT:

I had a terrible issue with mites that then ended up in the house because of dogs, broodies, hospital cage....

I finally got desperate and made one bird a guinea pig to see if Advantage worked as well on mites as it does on dogs for fleas (seconds flat, gone for 6 weeks) and found that it did! This roo I used it on first had had Eprinex, Ivermectin, Sevin dust, etc, etc, CONSTANTLY and still had some level of infestation I couldn't ever fully rid him of...I think our mites are resistant to stuff (probably glow in the dark, too...).

Never had success like this. I'm going to put a drop on everyone, then retreat every 4 weeks. The booger mites that live in the coop will die or starve.

 

[ivan3]

Our turks and chicken hens have never had a problem with any species of mite/lice. The roo had a very brief acquaintance with NFM. As it was caught almost immediately the Eprinex did the job (as Dawg said ya gotta get the eggs). We have remnants of congoleum (over plywood) as flooring in both coop and turkey shed. This is covered by 3-4" of sand that has DE mixed in. Over this are wood chips and small amount of straw. Always toss a handful of DE in with wood chips before spreading. Both shed and coop are emptied out every spring (along with the daily removal of droppings).

The dustbathing areas also have DE sprinkled in but, the wood ashes from the fire pit seem to be the most useful as a preventative. Sevin dust concentration, if added in bedding, might be a concern for some (7 day withdrawl period). Don't concern myself with the low dose of eprinex (withdrawl/residue) as we don't sell the eggs. Don't like using dusts directly on poultry and always avoid being downwind of the turks when they start `shaking it off' when leaving the firepit.

We are in the woods and have a lot of wild birds. We are pretty particular about removing any and all nests under construction on house/deck. Nests that have been abandoned and fall from their former locations are often loaded with ectoparasites looking for new homes on the free ranging chickens.

Med withdrawl list for poultry-`on label' (just a handy ref.): http://www.cfo.on.ca/_pdfs/PoultryWithdrawalTimeChart-Mar30-07.pdf

 

[chikkaboomboom]

Ok I am a newbie, but Grannie and Papa always painted everything in the chicken coup with used motor oil for mites, does this still work?Just asking...
but back in the 70's they also used DDT on the milk cows and the laying hens..lol..

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
There's alot of old timer remedies that are guaranteed to work including painting the coop with burnt motor oil. Way back when, I used burnt motor oil for mange on one of my dogs...cleared it up in 3 days, I used it on my hogs to keep biting flies off them. I dont do that anymore with the old remedy's and treatments because we finally got educated enough to know it's a proven fact they cause cancer and have adverse effects on the environment...we didnt know that back then neither, now we do. DDT, chlordane and hundreds of other 'treatments' and 'remedies' have been discontinued, banned or not recommended for use. I'm glad too, safer for us and safer for our animals.

 

[chikkaboomboom]