Mites on Broody Hens

[skullgrrrl]

I have 3 broodys sitting on eggs (2 at day 19, one at day 15) in a separate area of the coop. I usually have them in dog crates and open the doors once/day for them to get off the nest. This time I've left all their doors open to allow them to eat/poop when they want.

I noticed that one of the broodys had gotten off her nest 3 times/today (really unusual) so I locked her in the crate thinking I'd open her door tomorrow. When I just looked in she wasn't on the nest. I looked at the eggs and they are covered in mites! Haven't seen any mites on the rest of the flock. So now what do I do? I put her 5 eggs under the other two hens (I hope there's enough room) and dusted her for mites. Her chicks are set to hatch tomorrow/Monday so do I try to keep her in the crate (with new bedding/dusted). What about all these chicks about to hatch?

 

[centrarchid]

Find where they dust bath when off nest. I suspect they do not have a good spot so provide one and mix a little seven dust in. After bathing hen will go back to nest where remaining mites will also be exposed. I have not seen problems with so exposed chicks.

 

[aart]

Find where they dust bath when off nest. I suspect they do not have a good spot so provide one and mix a little seven dust in. After bathing hen will go back to nest where remaining mites will also be exposed. I have not seen problems with so exposed chicks.

@centrarchid Have you ever used a permethrin product instead of Sevin?

Dust the nest and eggs too?

 

[centrarchid]

No, experience with sevin very limited as well. It is effective although simply allowing for regular dust bathing usually prevents need for such aggressive treatment.

 

[aart]

No, experience with sevin very limited as well. It is effective although simply allowing for regular dust bathing usually prevents need for such aggressive treatment.

I ask because Sevin is listed for a lifetime withdrawal per FARAD....and permethrin has no withdrawal.

 

[centrarchid]

I have sevin that is better than a decade old. Use infrequent and it is effective. Volume I have at current rate of use will be around through end of this century. Never purchased the other stuff and no new insecticides in general to protect my bees.

 

[Ridgerunner]

No, experience with sevin very limited as well. It is effective although simply allowing for regular dust bathing usually prevents need for such aggressive treatment.

I ask because Sevin is listed for a lifetime withdrawal per FARAD....and permethrin has no withdrawal.

Yet. A while back I spoke to a professional in that field, he implied that ban was coming too. They are changing the way they look at the data. It used to be that if things were shown to cause no harm, they were OK to use. Now it’s going to where if there is any residue in their after a certain time limit (I think 3 days) it will be banned forever whether it has been shown to cause harm or not. It doesn’t matter if there is no residue a few days later, it is still banned. The research is not new, the data they are using is generally from the 1960’s through 1980’s. It’s not new data, just a change in the way they look at it.

Interestingly, that only applies to animals. Sevin is still approved for use on vegetables. As soon as I got off the phone with that poultry professional I called a gardening professional to chat about it. No plans to ban Sevin for use on plants. He did say that most people tend to way overuse Sevin or other poisons in the garden. It only takes a little to get the target bugs and using too much kills a lot of beneficial critters, particularly in the soil under the plant.

Years before the same chicken medical professional said that mites killed more broody hens than anything else. At that time he said that Sevin did not affect the safety of the eggs, so you could eat eggs laid by a hen that had just been treated with Sevin for mites.

Skullgrrrl I suggest you treat all your chickens for mites, now. Your broody hens for sure, but the others as well. If I were doing it, I’d use Sevin. Not because I think it is all that much better than anything else but because I have the 5% powder available for use in the garden. There are other products that work. Don’t worry about harming the chicks as they hatch, the mites are much more dangerous.

Good luck on your hatches.

 

[aart]

Residue was 3 months...not days.
To each their own.

 

[lydiagirl99]

My broody hen had mites about a month or so ago and I personally used Diatemaceous Earth and it worked wonderful. Ruffle it into their feathers and put in on their favorite dusting spots. Now, I had noticed the mites about a day before hatch so I just let momma hatch the babies out first, then I moved them out of the nesting box they were in and into their own pen. Then I sprinkled the powder all in the infected nest and into the bedding. Then I grabbed momma hen and ruffled it all through her feathers and then grabbed the babies and gently did the same. Worked great ! But I have heard it can be hard on lungs.

 

[skullgrrrl]

For the first time I have my broodys without outdoor access - so no dust bath - my mistake, will never do that again! The rest of the flock seems fine, but will check them over.