Mites in the hen house! Help!

[Willow2253]

My chicken coop is an old wood shed that we converted. The floor is dirt, so we lay down hay, and use wood shavings in the nests. We had a broody in one of the ground level nest boxes, and her chicks hatched a few days ago. Two died from hatching too early, and when I took them out I didn’t notice anything, nor when I was collecting eggs any previous day, but the next morning the last chick was dead too and COVERED in mites. We’re not sure where they came from, but our chickens are free rangers and we live in the middle of the forest, so it could have been anywhere. We removed all of the hay and bedding to be burned. We cleaned off every surface. We couldn’t hose out the coop because of the dirt floor and the weather hasn’t been all that warm yet, but I was very generous with the diatomaceous earth on the floor and every other surface, in the chickens’ favorite dust baths, and I powdered the broody like a donut. From what we could tell, we caught the infestation before it was throughout the whole coop, we were only finding them in that corner where the broody had been sitting. None of the chickens are showing signs of discomfort or being overrun with mites, so we’re just throwing some DE on them and trusting that they’re grooming themselves.
What I’m wondering is, is there anything else we can do to help get rid of the mites faster?
One note is that we can’t go to the farm store. The closest one is 80 miles away and we’re avoiding going to town whenever possible.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

Fresh Eggs Daily has a good recipe for killing mites which is 2 cups water mixed with 1 cup of cooking oil. Then add 1 tablespoon of dish soap, put it in a spray bottle and spray the house. Good luck!

 

[Willow2253]

Fresh Eggs Daily has a good recipe for killing mites which is 2 cups water mixed with 1 cup of cooking oil. Then add 1 tablespoon of dish soap, put it in a spray bottle and spray the house. Good luck!

Thank you, we can try that.

 

[aart]

Would be good to know if they are Poultry Mites or Roost Mites.
DE is not gonna do much, but it mite(haha!) slow them down,
until you can order some permethrin dust and/or spray online.

Not sure oil and soap is a good choice, except if they are roost mites it could be used in cracks and crevices.

Some of this may be redundant or unnecessary, but.....
My Bug Check notes:
Have you checked them over real well for mites and/or lice?

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).


Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[Willow2253]

My mom and I can’t seem to agree on what kind of mites we think we have, and haven’t had the chance to inspect the birds up close. However, we went through our gardening supplies and found neem oil, which we read is safe to use on chickens and can help control mites, so we sprayed down the coop and everything in it with that.

 

[aart]

My mom and I can’t seem to agree on what kind of mites we think we have, and haven’t had the chance to inspect the birds up close.

The key is if they are on the coops structure and roosts at night.....those are roost mites.

 

[Willow2253]

So far we’ve only found them on the ground and on one chicken. I’ll go in and get a closer look tonight once they all go to bed though.

 

[aart]

So far we’ve only found them on the ground

If they are on the ground during the day, they might not even be either kind of poultry mites.
There are a lot of insects out there, most don't bother poultry, but they can be very hard to ID. I catch em on a piece of clear cello tape to get a better look before breaking out the poison..

 

[Willow2253]

Well by on the ground I mean they were in the nest box with the broody that was on the ground. I haven’t actually seen any today, even after being in and out of the coop all day. They must be some kind of pest insect, because they killed at least one of our chicks.

 

[Al Gerhart]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is where the mites came from. What is bringing them to the coop? They cannot live without hosts.

Rats, mice, wild birds all bring lice and mites and a lot of diseases. The common clue is what brings them to your coop? Food. Deal with the feed and you will have fewer pests like this.