Mites

[d_outcast]

My husband built me a chicken coop as a birthday gift when we just moved to the countryside of Ontario, Canada. Since then I’ve been raising chicken and eating fresh eggs which my family and friends and neighbours love to eat everyday. We are snowbirds of Florida so I only raise chicken in the summer, then sell them before the snow falls. When we come home I start over.

For 3yrs I raised a very happy hens. I feed them fresh and organic greens from my vegetable garden. I give them fruits and boiled eggs as treats. I’ve never encountered any problem until now. I thought my chicken are moulting. But then when I goggle it, it’s too early for moulting season. So I checked their vents why they are losing feathers and that’s when I found out they have red mites.

I researched and choose organic way to get rid of mites since most of the chemical way of getting rid of pests are not available in Canada. For 3wks now, I’ve been power washing the coop, spraying water and apple cider vinegar and also water, cooking oil and dishwashing soap mixture. I also dusted the coop and chicken with DE. I’ve been giving them powdered and fresh garlic. The sight of mites stopped me from eating eggs. I know mites don’t affect the eggs but I just couldn’t!! I also noticed that they are still losing their feathers.

Does that mean the mites are still there? And when do their feathers grow back? My husband thinks I should try treating them with chemicals if I wanted to keep them this winter. We are not going anywhere anyways with the pandemic on the rise.

I really appreciate any help I could get. It really breaks my heart seeing them suffer.

Thank you to all!!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

I really think you should invest in a bottle of 10% Permethrin and treat them and the coop. Repeat in 10 days.

However it is not too early for molting. I have 4 hens and my rooster that are molting.

 

[d_outcast]

Thank you for your advice. Permethrin is not avail in Canada for some reason. I tried looking for alternative but no luck that’s why I choose the organic way. I also tried ordering in amazon.com but it said not “shipping in my area”. I could order when I go to Florida but I don’t know when the pandemic is over and when the border is allowing canadians to cross USA. My chicken will die b4 the covid-19 is gone.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Other alternatives (not sure what is available for Canada) - Elector PSP (Spinosad), elemental sulfur powder. Elector isn't cheap but supposedly works very well, sulfur is probably more available and does not have risk of pesticide resistance, but works slower.

 

[hookie]

My husband built me a chicken coop as a birthday gift when we just moved to the countryside of Ontario, Canada. Since then I’ve been raising chicken and eating fresh eggs which my family and friends and neighbours love to eat everyday. We are snowbirds of Florida so I only raise chicken in the summer, then sell them before the snow falls. When we come home I start over.

For 3yrs I raised a very happy hens. I feed them fresh and organic greens from my vegetable garden. I give them fruits and boiled eggs as treats. I’ve never encountered any problem until now. I thought my chicken are moulting. But then when I goggle it, it’s too early for moulting season. So I checked their vents why they are losing feathers and that’s when I found out they have red mites.

I researched and choose organic way to get rid of mites since most of the chemical way of getting rid of pests are not available in Canada. For 3wks now, I’ve been power washing the coop, spraying water and apple cider vinegar and also water, cooking oil and dishwashing soap mixture. I also dusted the coop and chicken with DE. I’ve been giving them powdered and fresh garlic. The sight of mites stopped me from eating eggs. I know mites don’t affect the eggs but I just couldn’t!! I also noticed that they are still losing their feathers.

Does that mean the mites are still there? And when do their feathers grow back? My husband thinks I should try treating them with chemicals if I wanted to keep them this winter. We are not going anywhere anyways with the pandemic on the rise.

I really appreciate any help I could get. It really breaks my heart seeing them suffer.

Thank you to all!!

Same problem and tried DE, no luck. Ordered food grade sulfur off Amazon. The mites were gone in four days. Wish you lived closer I'd give you some. I had to get 10lb which is more the I could ever use.

 

[d_outcast]

Thank you for your response. Any specific brand of sulfur? Is it powder?

 

[cmom]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/permethrin-in-canada.1368803/post-22532461

 

[d_outcast]

Thank you. I will try it.

 

[d_outcast]

How often should I spray permethrin in my chicken coop?

 

[rosemarythyme]

How often should I spray permethrin in my chicken coop?

I'd say roughly 5 days for red mites, 7-10 for northern fowl mites. I see a bit of variance in days between treatments, so the main thing to keep in mind is permethrin does NOT kill eggs, so you're basically killing the mites themselves, which is why retreatment is necessary.