Mites or molting?

[MPio13]

Oh, those sure do looks like mites. You will need to treat your coop, too, and maybe the run. Permethrin works okay and it's not expensive, but I've really become a huge fan of a product called Elector PSP. It's spinosad. It works by enzymatic action, biologically. It may be a bit pricey, but it's highly concentrated and a little goes a long way.

I mix up a deep warm dipping tub and dip the entire chicken. It also kills scaly leg mites better than anything I've ever used. For small lice infestations, I just use a squirt bottle, and one treatment has lasted a year.

You can mix it into a garden sprayer and hose down your coop with it, getting into all the cracks and crevices where the mites hang out.

Your poor chickens have had a bad time with the cocci and molt and now mites. Molt really saps a chicken's reserves and some of mine act downright ill. I try to give them high protein treats several times a week - mackerel or eggs. And molt can be widely different from chicken to chicken. I've had roosters molt so discretely I was hardly aware they were molting. I've had hens molt so heavily, they barely had any feathers on their bodies. I've had a hen take a year to molt, others six months, and others are done in a month. I just had one hen completely skip her first scheduled molt, go through all last winter with feathers so shabby they barely covered her, then she molted finally at the beginning of summer. Still have no explanation for it.

Good to know thank You! Where is a good place to purchase mite remedies? Tractor supply? Agway? I'll probably get in there tomorrow evening and attack the mites. Then again Wednesday and again Saturday.

 

[azygous]

I got the Elector on Amazon. Permethrin powder is sold in the garden section of Walmart or the pet section. Feed stores carry it.

 

[ronott1]

Oh, those sure do looks like mites. You will need to treat your coop, too, and maybe the run. Permethrin works okay and it's not expensive, but I've really become a huge fan of a product called Elector PSP. It's spinosad. It works by enzymatic action, biologically. It may be a bit pricey, but it's highly concentrated and a little goes a long way.

I mix up a deep warm dipping tub and dip the entire chicken. It also kills scaly leg mites better than anything I've ever used. For small lice infestations, I just use a squirt bottle, and one treatment has lasted a year.

You can mix it into a garden sprayer and hose down your coop with it, getting into all the cracks and crevices where the mites hang out.

Your poor chickens have had a bad time with the cocci and molt and now mites. Molt really saps a chicken's reserves and some of mine act downright ill. I try to give them high protein treats several times a week - mackerel or eggs. And molt can be widely different from chicken to chicken. I've had roosters molt so discretely I was hardly aware they were molting. I've had hens molt so heavily, they barely had any feathers on their bodies. I've had a hen take a year to molt, others six months, and others are done in a month. I just had one hen completely skip her first scheduled molt, go through all last winter with feathers so shabby they barely covered her, then she molted finally at the beginning of summer. Still have no explanation for it.

I wish I could give you more than one like for this!


You can also use generic spinosad like captain jacks dead bug juice. It is the same thing as elektor but a bit lower in concentration. Works the same though--treat both the chickens and the coop. Repeat the chicken treatment in 7 to 10 days and the coop once a month for several months

 

[MPio13]

Ok I stopped at Tractor Supply and grabbed "poultry dust" as well as permethrin. (Also some meal worms because after all this I figured they deserve a treat).

Tomorrow I'm going to rake the run out, then take one girl out of the coop at a time (I have 7 hens) to apply some dust.... then I'll clean out the coop completely, putting everything from.the run and coop into a trash barrel. (Which will be hauled to a field where I dump leaves and lawn clippings).
I'll spray the permethrin all around inside the coop into the cracks while there are no shavings
Then I'll throw some dust down and put new bedding.
Then I'll redo this entire process again on Saturday.
Any other suggestions ?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You shouldn't need to retreat so soon. I think it's every week for 3-4 weeks. Life cycle is approximately 10 days.

 

[ronott1]

You shouldn't need to retreat so soon. I think it's every week for 3-4 weeks. Life cycle is approximately 10 days.

Treating the chickens every 7 to 10 days for three treatments breaks the life cycle. Treat the coop once a month for several months.

This will give better control of mites and is what is recommended

 

[MPio13]

First treatment done. I took a video I'll try to put on YouTube. I believe I may be dealing with lice. They were white bugs mostly up under the girls in the thick down feathers.
The poultry dust I got lists lice on the bottle so I should be good.

 

[twilightgecko]

looks like molting to me too. i have 5 of my girls going thru a molt.. and they all drop their tail feathers [bare bums] but i see pin feathers poking thru.. and feather loss around necks and chest before wings.. sounds like the same areas..

 

[MPio13]

One chicken ("turkey") is definatley molting. But we did have some parasites as well. Here's a video: please forgive my narrating, my wife makes fun of me for always narrating. I won't even show her videos anymore lol. Input and comments are welcome.

 

[yogamebird]

Our girls haven't laid an egg in well over a month and there have been feathers everywhere. We've had chickens for several years and have never seen such a protracted molt. Their combs are pale and they don't seem to want to eat much (except sunflower seeds but we know their layer feed is better for them.) Does it hurt to treat them for mites even if they might not have them? Can you eat the eggs of the chickens you are treating?