Mites, of course....

[Hughes Wildlife Farm]

I rechecked all the girls again, since dusting. I still can not find any. But here is exacly what i saw.. Clear in color with a hint of straw like coloring and oval in shape. Scattered when I parted the feather around the vent.. But now I cant find them since I dusted

 

[WthrLady]

Poultry lice. Yup. I mix the concentrated permethrin by the gallon. I buy concentrated from the farm store. Read the booklet. Two different concentrations for the pressure sprayer. One for the coop/premise. Second, less concentrated for the birds themselves.

Most easy to dunk them and then let them dry. Second way is to wait until they are good and sleeping and go out and spray each bird one at at time. You have to get down to the skin. Vents, under wings, and then any other place they'll let you. Avoid the eyes.

You must repeat a week later. MUST. If you miss it, you have to start all over again from the start.

Cleaning the coop and treating it as well is also part of the must do's.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. I had a severe infestation of mites last year. I tried DE and it didn't do anything. I had to do something so I used permethrin. The birds were in terrible shape and I thought they were molting but they didn't seem to be getting their feathers back. That is when I discovered the mites. I started to spray their coops thoroughly weekly and eventually they got their feathers back and became beautiful again. Permethrin doesn't kill the mite eggs so thorough repeat sprayings are a must, ceiling, walls, floors, on and under the roosts, nest boxes, any and all cracks and crevices. I initially sprayed the birds, but now and then I dust them and and put some dust in their nest boxes. I would repeat weekly for awhile. There is no egg withdrawal period. If you have a TSC they carry the permethrin powder, the premixed spray bottles and the concentrate. The dust you bought is good. Good luck...

 

[Hughes Wildlife Farm]

I did get the consintrate a tractor supply.. Its very oily and smells horrid. I put it in a spray bottle and sprayed some stuff for now.. We have a major rain event comming tonight so while the girls are dusted, roosts and edges of coop were sprayed. I have a plastic shed, not wooden. So I think this stuff is going to stick to walls n floors after I do the power washer this weekend. Think i will just buy new 2x4s for their roosts. I just hope the fumes dont bother them ugh

 

[getaclue]

Repeat dusting them in 7 days from initial dusting. Dusting does not kill the eggs, so it needs to be repeated to kill the emerging nits.

 

[Hughes Wildlife Farm]

I will do every week for a month, I wanna make sure this doesnt go any further.. With such wet weather, dust boxes are now a must

 

[aart]

Lice only live on the birds, probably don't need to treat the coop.
Just 2-3 bird treatments every 7 days should get them all.

 

[getaclue]

Yeah, 3 treatments should be sufficient.

 

[cmom]

If you do treat inside your coop, give the coop awhile for the spray to dry before letting the birds back in and if you dust, give the dust time to settle before allowing the birds to go back in. I sprayed on and under the roosts. No need to replace them.