Mites in nesting boxes

[will hunt for food]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[speckledhen]

Another thing to look at is Orange Guard natural pesticide sold by ACE hardware. It is safe around animals and when I clean out the coop, I spray it in all the nooks and crannies. Smells wonderful! Then I replace the bedding and straw in the nests and dust with a bit of DE in the nestboxes, too.

 

[onthespot]

anyone know if lemon oil would work too? i have a few gallons of it left over from a remodel project a couple years ago and don't know what to do with it. I was thinking of spraying all wood surfaces with it until saturated.

 

[lisadchicken]

Hi I have some questions.
My first question is how do you know what kind of mite you are looking at?
We found black bugs running around our polish's "hat"
she is wobbly and not feeling well and is separated from the flock. (btw I am itching like crazy now)
she seems drunk...

anyway there are a ton of black bugs crawling around her hat and white webby looking stuff which I assume are eggs. Of course when I looked elsewhere on the bird and confirmed she is completely infested.

My second question is, we dusted her with DE, is that enough to fix the problem or do I need Sevin too? We are very non-pesticide people so I would rather not but she is really doing horribly. I am afraid she is going to die! I usually add DE to the coop on saturdays and I refresh the litter. She is new, it came with her... I did have her with one of my birds yesterday though

 

[speckledhen]

This is why we do quarantine, to check for those things before we put a bird in the flock. DE will kill mites, but it's hard around the eyes. Pet stores sell a spray for lice/mites for caged birds that may help. Doesn't matter what kind of mites they are, really. And you could get Invermectin wormer which should take care of any worms as well as lice and mites.

 

[bethandjoeync]

now I feel like I should take tomorrow and check all of my birds. I haven't had any clues on mites or lice, and don't itch when I go into the coop, and none of them seem overly irritated or scratching/nibbling themselves more than usual. but after reading all of these posts , I AM ITCHING LIKE CRAZY!! I don't have anymore DE but plan on getting some very soon because we need it for the coop. can I dust them with just seven?? I do have some of that. and should have enough to do all 26 (mostly juvies).

 

[19hhbelgian]

This is a great thread! I came on here hoping to find some info on mites, and here the OP is having the very same issue as me! I'm going to be doing exactly what has been explained here!!

Question though... One of my hens is sitting on some eggs. Will she be overly disturbed by me taking her and her eggs out of the box, that she will stop sitting? Thanks!

 

[trueblueshowgirl]

I did some Google-ing on Frontline for mites and lice in poultry. It looks like it does work. However, I also found this eye-opener...

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache...ckens+lice+frontline&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

So... be careful about using Frontline - esp. on poultry you intend to eat at some point. Firstly, you'll likely be eating the pesticide. Secondly, it appears that (in Minnesota, at least) they're doing spot checks on poultry flocks to test for the use of unauthorized pesticides, which is illegal. Gotta love Big Brother watching these chat forums!

 

[will hunt for food]

I wonder if the frontline shows up in eggs (consumption)?

 

[Sissy]

I have used Permectrin powder and so far so good. but i also sprinkle it into the wood shavings and nest boxes.