Mites - how to get rid of them, short of burning the coop down

[Justicedog]

What's the most effective way to get rid of mites? I was going to put my 6 week old chicks into half the coop, but I find that at least one of my old chickens was infested with mites, so I'm sure all of them are.

A friend has some permethrin she had used and is going to give me some of it. I understand that it's a process, clean coop, spray coop and run, spray chickens, repeat weekly for 3 weeks.

Their run is dirt, floor of coop is wood shavings.

Should I not even consider moving the new chicks into the coop until the 3 week process is over?

Is a sand coop floor better? I'm thinking of switching from wood chips to a sand floor.

 

[DobieLover]

What's the most effective way to get rid of mites? I was going to put my 6 week old chicks into half the coop, but I find that at least one of my old chickens was infested with mites, so I'm sure all of them are.

A friend has some permethrin she had used and is going to give me some of it. I understand that it's a process, clean coop, spray coop and run, spray chickens, repeat weekly for 3 weeks.

Their run is dirt, floor of coop is wood shavings.

Should I not even consider moving the new chicks into the coop until the 3 week process is over?

Is a sand coop floor better? I'm thinking of switching from wood chips to a sand floor.

Have you researched Elector PSP?
It requires just one application to the coop and birds. It kills the mites and the eggs.

 

[SueT]

Permethrin dust will do it:

I’ve used it on day old chicks with no issues. You can dust your coop, your chickens, the roosts, nest boxes, etc.

 

[theoldchick]

http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/control-external-parasites-poultry

http://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/files/246959.pdf

http://www.ava.org.af/books/Ectoparasites1.pdf

 

[Chicalina]

As well as permethrin in the coop, use ivermectin on the chickens. It will kill worms, mites, lice, etc etc. and is systemic, I.e. it kills them when they bite, not just on contact. Repeat after a couple of weeks to get the eggs that hatched.

 

[BDutch]

What's the most effective way to get rid of mites? I was going to put my 6 week old chicks into half the coop, but I find that at least one of my old chickens was infested with mites, so I'm sure all of them are.

A friend has some permethrin she had used and is going to give me some of it. I understand that it's a process, clean coop, spray coop and run, spray chickens, repeat weekly for 3 weeks.

Their run is dirt, floor of coop is wood shavings.

Should I not even consider moving the new chicks into the coop until the 3 week process is over?

Is a sand coop floor better? I'm thinking of switching from wood chips to a sand floor.

Everyone claims other ways / poisons / treatments to get rid of red mite. I never had a bad infestation. Only a small one under the roosts. For me it worked to cleaning the coop twice and use a lot of DE. Rubbed a little under their wings without inhaling the dust. As a paint, on the roost, the roost area and in the nest box area, especially in all the cracks.
By using a sand floor with a little DE mixed in it and I have been using some other natural things to prevent that they come back in bigger numers. Lavender and tabacco in the nestboxes. Garlic in the water for a week every month during summer. And checking often if anything comes back again.
I also have lots of light and ventilation in the coop (red mites don’t like daylight).
Every spring I paint the coop again with DE. Since this first light red mite problem I never had a cluttered group of red mites/eggs. Whenever I see a few tiny crawling thing I add some DE ‘paint’ and keep checking.
But it seems that the mites in the US do not die from DE . In Europe even farmers use to control the infestation.