Mites, what else can I do?!?!?!

[Kuntry Klucker]

Hi All,

I have been battling a red mite and lice infestation in my chicken coop of the past few months.
I have done all the advice that I was given. Such as Eprinex on the girls. clean the coop
thoroughly several times. Dust the chickens and so on. And still I cannot get rid of them.

Short of burning down the coop, what else can I do to get this under control.

Also, I was wondering, can get the mites and lice transmitted from the birds?

Thanks

 

[Judy]

Use 5% Sevin, or a pyrethrin/permethrin type spray. Treat the birds, and on the same day, spray the inside of the coop, being sure to get the undersides of the roosts, and change out all the litter. Ten days later, repeat the whole process.

Or, see post #5 here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/818674/are-these-some-kind-of-egg-clusters#post_11897957

Another good source:

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Try to do everything on my list here as I have dealt extensively with the Northern Fowl Mite and hopefully this will work for you:

1. Make sure you are using something good. I use Eprinex too on occasion, but I don't depend on it entirely. So I am going to give advice that ignores Eprinex.

2. Dust chickens with poultry dust (permethrin) from feed store. Poultry science experts used to recommend Sevin garden dust and it worked really well for the bugs resistant to permethrin but unfortunately it is not approved for poultry use anymore.

3. Either spray the coop with permethrin liquid diluted as per label or dust coop with poultry dust (not DE) after tossing all bedding. Toss all nestbox material as well. If you don't toss nesting material they will be back.

4. Spray under roosts since you are dealing with red mites, and every crack in coop. I would recommend you go with permethrin liquid for this.

5. When you dust the chickens you might do as I do, and put dust in an old sock. I dust the vent area, under the wings, and everywhere but the face. I wear long sleeves, gloves, mask, and take shower afterwards.

6. Repeat all coop and bird treatments at 7 days. This is vital for mites.

7. Repeat all coop and bird treatments at 14 days. This is vital for lice, which has a longer life cycle.

If the repeat treatment is not done, or there is a reservoir left for the bugs, like a nestbox, they will be back.

Red mites can live with no poultry blood meal for 9 months.
Northern Fowl mites can live with no poultry blood meal for 3 weeks.
Lice die pretty quickly without poultry but I am not sure how long, and tend to stay mainly on the chickens from what I have read. I have not dealt with lice or the red mite but they will die if there is no reservoir left, the treatment you are using they are not resistant to, and the retreatments are done on time so that the life cycle is broken.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

There are some scare stories out on internet about the red mite and how it takes over people's homes after they come in through the air conditioner in the window from a bird's nest in a tree. But they come in by the thousands and they can live for 9 months with no bird blood meal. So you can see how they would believe they are breeding in their home.

I read a scientists account on a reputable website regarding this, and he adamantly refutes the idea that the red mite can breed on human blood.

So when I am dealing with an infestation in my coop I take steps to try to eliminate bugs coming in my home on my clothes. Mites will bite humans but cannot survive on our blood. Red mites come out at night to feed and then hide in the crevices of the coop during the day. NFMs are found on the chickens and in the coop.

Poultry lice are species-specific and cannot infest humans. So no, these bugs may be a nuisance to humans but cannot take over your home permanently unless you are constantly bringing them in from your coop.

Mites and lice can kill your chickens though, so it is vital to get to that bug-free status as I see you are trying to achieve.

I hope this helps as I have been in tears sleeping on a cot in my living room, taking a bath every 2 hours and vaccuuming all through the night to try to get the NFM out of my home in the past. So I try to help people with bugs and please realize that it is important to keep wild birds away from your coop as it is they who bring in these bugs to your poultry.

It is a wonderful thing to not have any bugs in the coop, and I am confident that you will be able to do so.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Try to do everything on my list here as I have dealt extensively with the Northern Fowl Mite and hopefully this will work for you:

1. Make sure you are using something good. I use Eprinex too on occasion, but I don't depend on it entirely. So I am going to give advice that ignores Eprinex.

2. Dust chickens with poultry dust (permethrin) from feed store. Poultry science experts used to recommend Sevin garden dust and it worked really well for the bugs resistant to permethrin but unfortunately it is not approved for poultry use anymore.

3. Either spray the coop with permethrin liquid diluted as per label or dust coop with poultry dust (not DE) after tossing all bedding. Toss all nestbox material as well. If you don't toss nesting material they will be back.

4. Spray under roosts since you are dealing with red mites, and every crack in coop. I would recommend you go with permethrin liquid for this.

5. When you dust the chickens you might do as I do, and put dust in an old sock. I dust the vent area, under the wings, and everywhere but the face. I wear long sleeves, gloves, mask, and take shower afterwards.

6. Repeat all coop and bird treatments at 7 days. This is vital for mites.

7. Repeat all coop and bird treatments at 14 days. This is vital for lice, which has a longer life cycle.

If the repeat treatment is not done, or there is a reservoir left for the bugs, like a nestbox, they will be back.

Red mites can live with no poultry blood meal for 9 months.
Northern Fowl mites can live with no poultry blood meal for 3 weeks.
Lice die pretty quickly without poultry but I am not sure how long, and tend to stay mainly on the chickens from what I have read. I have not dealt with lice or the red mite but they will die if there is no reservoir left, the treatment you are using they are not resistant to, and the retreatments are done on time so that the life cycle is broken.

Thank you so much. I will try the Permethrin this time. I was using the Eprinex, seven dust, and DE to control. Hopefully the Permethrin will do the trick.

Thanks so much.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

There are some scare stories out on internet about the red mite and how it takes over people's homes after they come in through the air conditioner in the window from a bird's nest in a tree. But they come in by the thousands and they can live for 9 months with no bird blood meal. So you can see how they would believe they are breeding in their home.

I read a scientists account on a reputable website regarding this, and he adamantly refutes the idea that the red mite can breed on human blood.

So when I am dealing with an infestation in my coop I take steps to try to eliminate bugs coming in my home on my clothes. Mites will bite humans but cannot survive on our blood. Red mites come out at night to feed and then hide in the crevices of the coop during the day. NFMs are found on the chickens and in the coop.

Poultry lice are species-specific and cannot infest humans. So no, these bugs may be a nuisance to humans but cannot take over your home permanently unless you are constantly bringing them in from your coop.

Mites and lice can kill your chickens though, so it is vital to get to that bug-free status as I see you are trying to achieve.

I hope this helps as I have been in tears sleeping on a cot in my living room, taking a bath every 2 hours and vaccuuming all through the night to try to get the NFM out of my home in the past. So I try to help people with bugs and please realize that it is important to keep wild birds away from your coop as it is they who bring in these bugs to your poultry.

It is a wonderful thing to not have any bugs in the coop, and I am confident that you will be able to do so.

Wow!! thank you so much for the good information. I put my cloths in the washer and take a shower as soon as I am done cleaning the coop and treating the chickens.
I hope this is enough to keep the mites and NFM out of my house.

I am sorry that you at one point felt you had to sleep on a cot and vacuum so frequently. Thank you for telling me this because I would probably do the same thing if I did not have
the information you just gave me. You spared me a mental break down because I can see myself freaking out if I thought they could take over my house.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Your sevin dust would have worked VERY well in my opinion - I am thinking there must be a reservoir to find, or retreatment time to fix.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Your sevin dust would have worked VERY well in my opinion - I am thinking there must be a reservoir to find, or retreatment time to fix.

It could be that I missed a few cracks or something. I was not able to clean the coop 7 days later as needed due to bad weather. I was finally able
to get to it about 12 days later. Maybe that was enough time for the mites to recover.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Hi All, I have an update on our mite situation. I have done all the recommendations that were suggested.
As of now the girls appear to be mite free. They are much happier and seem to feel much better.
I will keep a close eye of them for a while longer and do these recommendations again should I see
any mites reappear.

Thank you all so much for help and suggestions. I really appreciate it!!!

Roy and flock

 

[liljerry71]

Formulated as Yellow Jacket 90 Wettable Sulfur II, and Yellow Jacket Sulfur 80 DF, these products are used primarily as a fungicide or miticide. Wettable sulfur can be applied as a ground spray or aerial application. Poultry houses can be rid of depluming mites by applying Yellow Jacket

Wettable Sulfur II as a spray to all interior surfaces. These products are registered by the EPA and certified for organic use under the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP).http://georgiagulfsulfur.com