MITES - Lots of MITES!!!!!!! Urgent!!

[tenderkat]

Well, my flock has not been in the best of health this winter, and I have tried to rule out so many things. I have switched over their feed, started adding Wormguard to their diets (not sure if it's working, though), and done some coop tweaking. I have tried to keep things as close to organic as possible, but at this point I'm open to ANY suggestions to get my flock back to health!!

The past couple of weeks Lily has seemed to have just a bit more diarrhea than has been typical, so I've been giving her some yogurt and vitamins to supplement her diet. So, this morning I noticed she was sort of hunched with her tail down. I just got back home, so I went out to check on her, and OMG!! Her abdomen seems really full of fluid, and as I was palpating her to see if I could feel an egg, I noticed she is just CRAWLING with bugs!!! I have no idea if these are lice or mites, but the poor girl!! And the crazy thing is that I have been checking my girls, the roosts, and their boxes periodically for weeks, and these are the first bugs I've seen! I've also been sprinkling a bit of DE in their boxes every so often, but obviously it's not working or I'm not using enough. I'm assuming that the whole flock is infested, and I need to do some serious management/treatment ASAP!

So, I really want to kick this in the butt, but I'm not sure how to approach this. Really, I'll take any and all suggestions. In the meantime, I'll do some research, but I'm hoping for some immediate direction so that I can address this as quickly as possible. I know I'll have to do a thorough clean out of the henhouse, but what do I use to treat the hens? I've read of Sevin Dust and Ivermenctin Pour-On, but which one is the safest and most effective?

Please, please, please help us!!

 

[tenderkat]

Oh, I just realized that I had Lily on my lap, and as I typed the message my cat has jumped onto my lap. Can I spread these bugs to my other pets?!

 

[BillMinor68]

My chooks got mites last summer after I'd been diligently cleaning their coop every other week and spreading DE liberally. I dunked all my chickens in a lukewarm bath with Dr. Bronner's liquid soap - one at a time and changed the water/soap between chickens. Once they were all good and soaked (I've got to post some pics), I towel dried them and let them dry out/preen in the front yard. The dead mites left a thick ring when the tub was drained, every time. Once they were dried, the chickens were much happier.

I then cleaned the coop (swept/mopped), shopvac-ed the dust and whatever else was there, then put 1/3 bleach, 2/3 water in a spray bottle and sprayed all the surfaces in the coop. Once it dried, I put in fresh straw, powdered everything with DE, and Borax (from the detergent aisle in the grocery store). Then I put DE and Borax across the yard where they roam - my yard is small enough that a big box of Borax and an 8 lb bag of DE covers everything pretty thickly.

Mites gone, no problems since then. I've never had to go non-organic (knock wood), but if you do a search on mites; there are a bunch of posts on BYC with pictures of mites (and other stuff chickens can pick up) and tons of suggestions on how to tackle the problem organic and non-organic.

Good luck!

Bill

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

For mites I'd go with the Ivermectin Pour on. Around .25cc for bantams, .50 cc for standards on the skin on the base of their neck. The only thing is unless you use the Eprinex brand, I wouldn't eat the eggs for at least a week.

 

[tenderkat]

So after perusing some photos of lice and mites on the internet, I believe I have a lice infestation. The creepies are flatter and elongated, light amber or straw colored, and FAST!! I'm not sure if the treatment is the same, but at least I think I know what I'm dealing with. Does anyone know if poultry lice can be transmitted to dogs or cats?

 

[Judy]

No they won't live on dogs, cats, or you, but they will live in the coop and get back on your birds unless you treat it thoroughly. 5% Sevin dust and permethrin/pyrethrin spray or dust (poultry dust, Adams flea and tick spray) are all options for both the birds and coop, as well as Eprinex as already posted. I think you can also use some other flea medicines but am not familiar. Do not depend on DE to manage an infestation.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6006304#p6006304

 

[okieinalaska]

My poor little cochins with the bad feet I posted about...found lice on them the other day. And I had been checking them, just not right around the vent area and so I had missed them.
It wasn't too terrible but any is yuck so I used seven and dusted them and next day all gone.

 

[buildingmyark]

You may still be careful about allowing your animals around the chickens. I think I may have read that the bugs can live off of their host for a few days. So, if the bugs hop onto you or your pets and come back in contact with your chickens they may be reinfestated. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Lice cannot live off of the host for long at all. Mites can live without a host indefinitely. The lice that chickens get, and most mites they get are bird specific. Yes, they would be a threat to other birds, but not to mammals. There are parasites that will affect both birds and mammals: fleas, ticks, some mites (such as chiggers). Not all external parasites can be seen with the naked eye; some are microscopic. Not seeing bugs does not mean your birds are free of them. If you see symptoms of external parasites, regardless of whether you see them or not, they are likely present.

 

[tenderkat]

Quote:
I just read somewhere that Sevin is highly toxic to bees. I know I said I will do anything, but is one of the products listed above equally effective, but less toxic? My coop and chickens are right in my garden area, which is visited frequently by bees. If I was to use the Adams, do I just spray this all over the birds and the henhouse? Any special precautions? Does the Eprinex also address any internal parasite issues? Lastly, I've called around to the local feed stores, and none of them carry ANY of these products!! This is so strange, as I'm sure I'm not the only local backyard keeper that has needed to address an infestation problem. If I need to order this stuff online, is there anything I should do in the meantime for my chickens?

Would a severe lice infestation cause Lily to be acting so uncomfortable with her tail down and hunched?