Mites - what do I have and what are the most effective treatment combinations?

[Serotonin]

The day I have been dreading since getting chickens has arrived - I have discovered mites on my poor hens. I first wondered if I might have an infestation when I noticed a lot of my chickens getting poopy butts, but figured it was probably a gut health problem as I had not seen any actual mites. This morning, while doing my daily coop clean, I picked up some discarded feathers under the roost and noticed quite a lot of mites crawling on my hand. I found some on my phone, which was sitting on the roost bars, too. They were light grey or brown, but this was just after sunrise and since I found them in the coop, I thought I was dealing with Red Mites. But I just checked one of my chickens this afternoon and noticed that she had active mites around her vent. Most were bright red, but some were that same light grey/transluscent-y color. So now I'm confused. Are these Red Mites or Northern Fowl Mites? Do Red Mites ever hang around on the chickens during the day? It has been overcast today, could that affect anything?

I've tried to do a lot of research on treatments today, but all have both positive and negative testimonials so I'm a bit overwhelmed with choice and unsure what treatments I can combo. I'm leaning towards Elector PSP for both the chickens and the coop... For the chickens themselves, can I combo that with Ivermectin or Permethrin? I guess, to really break it down, I'm trying to decide between these...

For the Chickens:
Elector PSP Alone
Elector PSP & Ivermectin Pour-On
Elector PSP & Permethrin Dust
Ivermectin Pour-On Alone
Ivermectin Pour-On & Permethrin Dust
Permethrin Dust Alone
Bronco Horse Flyspray
Pyrethrin Spray?
Frontline?? - I know it's not approved for chickens, but I've heard people say it worked for them??

For the Coop:
Elector PSP Alone
Elector PSP & Permethrin Dust
Permethrin Dust or Spray Alone

Plus maybe Lime or DE in the bedding?

I am willing to try multiple treatments over time, but I am going on vacation in a little over a week for a little under two weeks (of course this is happening now...) and I would like to try to provide my flock with some partial relief at least before I go.

Until I can get some treatments going, I'm going to wrap some blue painter's tape on the roosts to see if I can catch any mites overnight.

If anyone has any advice or treatment plan that's worked for them, I'd really appreciate any suggestions and advice!

 

[GodLovesU]

Here’s an article I wrote that may be helpful.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-or-mites-on-chickens-using-permethrin.79711/

 

[Debbie292d]

Diatomaceous earth is a prevention only. We've used it for over 20 years, and it works; however, if chickens get mites, then you'll need something else. The vast majority use permethrin/garden powder. It's way less expensive than Elector, and it's dry, so especially in cold climates, you're not getting your chicken wet.

Some put the powder in an old sock and pat their chicken all over with it, especially under their wings and their vent area.

 

[Dsmurl]

Heads up, I have dipped birds with pemethrin before and I believe it killed a couple. I've successfully permethrin dipped probably 70 chickens, but in that time if one had a medium to heavy infestation on them then I believe their blood volume was low and putting the pemethrin directly on their skin fried them.



Long story short, I no longer dip with pemethrin. I spray the skin lightly with elector and then use pemethrin only on the coop and wood areas. When I treat the coop, I do it early in the morning once they all have left for the day on a low humidity or hot day so that it's mostly dry by the time the chickens come home to roost.



Pemethrin is good but it strong and I have accidentally killed chickens with it especially with dipping them. So be very very careful with pemethrin or do what I do and avoid direct skin contact because you don't know how much blood they have if they have a lot of mites and they may be anemic in which case pemethrin will kill them.

 

[DonyaQuick]

If you found mites crawling on spent feathers, it's one of the following:

• Northern fowl mite
• Tropical fowl mite (these can come in from contaminated wood even if they're not native to your area - happened to me once!)

Red roost mites retreat back into crevices in the wood; they don't stay on the birds. The fact that you found some red ones just means they've fed - and unfortunately rules out something harmless like grain/mold mites. So depending on your climate, you have one of the types of fowl mites.

I use permethrin powder in bedding and on birds. I've also used elector PSP but my personal experience has been that the powder works better in cooler temps (like <75F), and not just due to the fact that Elector PSP reqauires getting the birds wet.

Personally I have found Ivermectin useless at controlling northern fowl mites; never tried against tropical ones but don't expect any better results. It has a half life of something tiny like 8h, so it's basically out of the bird in 24h and the mites also have to bite the bird to be affected - so mites that are just chilling out on the feathers post-meal waiting to lay eggs are unaffected and will proceed to lay those eggs, which will then hatch and not bite the bird until the Ivermectin is long gone. Elector PSP and Permethrin handle that situation a lot better as long as you coat the bird really well, since they kill on contact (takes a bit for Elector PSP; don't espect mites to just touch it and drop off dead like with permethrin).

Because of the life cycle of mites, once you knock the population back they risk bouncing right back if left untreated for 2 weeks. Permethrin treatments must be quite frequent with a bad outbreak. So, Elector PSP + Permethrin dust in dry bedding and rest of the environment is probably your best bet if you have no one who can treat the birds for you in the interem. Elector PSP lasts a couple of weeks. It is not a one-and-done though like some people claim; if you look carefully in documentation from the manufacturer, they say it can require repeated treaments for mites.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Ah sorry I just realized this thread is already almost a month old! I misread the date and thought it was the 23rd. I guess it's probably too late then for the vacation timing and all. I hope your birds have fared ok!!