Mites question

[Nugget]

I have 2 chickens I need to treat for feather mites. I've tried ivermectin and Rotenone twice without success (looks like the lice are gone though!). I've heard that Sevin dust is the way to go, but I don't know where to get it!

I was thinking I'd wash them with dog flea and tick shampoo. I used baby shampoo today which was tolerated well but after drying her all off I saw the little things crawling around on her tail feathers.

Flea and tick shampoo is available everywhere. Is it worth a try? Can anyone tell me where I might be able to find Sevin dust in Nova scotia, Canada?

 

[seminolewind]

I know Sevin dust was banned in NYS, I had to buy mine in Florida. I think alot of people on this board would tell you to use DE, food quality.

 

[Nugget]

Really? Why did they ban it?

 

[Nugget]

I bought some flea and tick dog shampoo and washed little Irving. It went surprisingly well. It has pyrethrins in it, and I didn't see any live mites after drying her off. I'll post later to mention if it worked or not

 

[seminolewind]

I don't know why they banned it, I just couldn't get it any where up there. I would check online and see what kind of stuff they sell for chickens with mites. Karen

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Nugget, do your chickens have a dust bath?

Our chickens are exposed to mites here, from the birds that migrate to/through our property each spring. Years ago we used Sevin. Now we just provide a good dust bath and it works just as well for us. We have heavy clay soil here and making a dust bath for them with a lot of sand and loose soil really helps them. They scratch around on their own, too, but a deep pile of loose, fluffy, fine particulates gets up in their feathers much better. You can also add wood ashes or DE to it, to make it more effective.

 

[Nugget]

Irving has made a few holes in the yard to fluff around in. Our soil is pretty sandy but she doesn't have a sandbox per-se. These are my first chickens, where we found Irving as an adult stray while waiting for the day-olds we ordered. I wanted to eliminate the mites before exposing her to the babies. I get the 'itchies' after she's been on my shoulder sometimes too, although I know people can't contract them, it's still unpleasant to get some on you

Do you feel mites are inevitable? Am I worrying too much about them?

 

[WoodlandWoman]

At my house, exposure is inevitable, unless we clear cut the woods we live in or keep the chickens locked in a covered run 24/7. I don't want the chickens suffering from them, though, so we do check for them. The daily dust bathing seems to keep them from becoming a problem. We had a problem earlier this year, because we hadn't set up a dust bath in the new area for our pullets this spring. Once we did, it took care of the problem. If it hadn't, we would have treated with something stronger.

Because you've treated repeatedly and are still having a problem, I was wondering if you may be having a problem with re-infestation from the environment. Also, have you treated all the birds and their coop, or just Irving? If you've only been treating Irving, that could be part of the problem with re-infestation, too.

No matter what you choose for treatment, a good dust bath every day will help. I've been bitten by mites in the past and I'm quite allergic to them, too. I can believe they make you itchy. I really hate those things!

 

[Nugget]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Irving lives alone in a plastic and wire rabbit cage for now (until the coop is ready and I am comfortable that I can mix Irving and the chicks. Irving is a bantam). The cage is SUPER easy to clean and I've been very careful about not contaminating other birds (3 separate accommodations for chicks, irving, and an adult wyandotte). I feel pretty comfortable that I haven't had re-infestation.

I've read that feather mites are not susceptible to systemic treatments as they live on the 'dead' feathers. I treated twice with systemic meds without getting rid of the mites so moved on to pyrethrin shampoo and I washed the cage with it too. I haven't seen any moving specks on her feathers since but I'm not wanting to rush things.

I'll have to set up a nice dry dust bath for her. I am a bit afraid of diatomaceous earth, as I've heard it can to awful things if inhaled. Perhaps a litterbox full of play sand.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

It sounds like you're making progress! I hope this last treatment took care of them. Play sand makes a nice dust bath and sometimes that's all I put in a dust bath. My pullets took over a little flower bed next to the patio for a dust bath. It was already fluffier soil, from adding compost and other amendments to it, but they really seemed enthusiastic after my DH added more play sand. I didn't like the poppy that was in there anyway.