mites

[Kiki]

I wonder how you used the DE?
The way I use it:

• I make a ‘paint’ of the DE by mixing DE with water. ‘painted’ the roosts, all the walls around where the chickens sleep and the walls of the nest boxes.
  
• I ‘paint’ over the old layer every spring and do a paint check / ‘paint’ the roost in summer and autumn again.
• The cracks in the wood are filled with DE ‘paint’.
• The connection of the roost to the coop is ‘painted’ in 3 layers.
• I put a few spoons of DE in a big pot the chickens use for bathing.
• I have sand in the run and no shavings. Sand spilled from bathing with DE comes on the floor of the run.
• I put a thin layer of sand with DE under the shavings/hay in the nest boxes.
  
• When I had lice I dusted my chickens carefully with DE under their wings (don’t inhale)

I can't help but giggle a little because it would be impossible for DE to work if it was wet.

 

[David61]

I can't help but giggle a little because it would be impossible for DE to work if it was wet.

Sealing up the cracks in the wood with mud would work. Keeping them out of the wood to hide anyway. Now if the dry de mud gets on them who knows. If you click your heals together and sprinkle fairy dust on your chickens they can fly. second star to the right and straight on till morning.

 

[BDutch]

I can't help but giggle a little because it would be impossible for DE to work if it was wet.

When painting it is wet. But after a day it is dry and sticks to the wood and in the cracks.

The baby mites come out from the eggs. But wil not survive coming out of the cracks for a long time.

 

[Doublete]

That would be quite a task for me. I'm an old lady and can't do what I used to do. In several of my coops I can't paint because I can't reach but I did cover everything with the DE including dusting birds which made them look like powdered doughnuts, under the wings around their vents, etc. I put it in the nest boxes on the floors, everywhere I could reach. I have usually, depending on the time of year, 200/500 birds. Not an easy task and the permethrin has worked well. I had an issue with flies and the DE didn't work there either but with the permethrin, no more flies. Some cow ear tags are made with permethrin to help control the flies around the cattle. I use the concentrated permethrin and put it in a gallon sprayer with a wand to reach the hard to reach areas and the dust in their nest boxes. Maybe the climate has something to do with it. It works for me so I'm going to continue to use it.
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What dilution do you use in the sprayer per gallon?