Mites

[Shadrach]

Thank you all very much for your feedback! It's much appreciated!!

Do you all recommend doing anything to keep mites away in the future? As more of a preventative??

Our Vet shared that the mites live on the bird, not the coop. She recommended cleaning out the coop but said that treating the birds should suffice. So we cleaned out the entire coop today, nesting boxes and all. I made an essential oil mix that kills mites for those that were inside the coop. I sprayed it down top to bottom. I did watch a couple of bugs die that got sprayed so I'm going to guess it works. I guess we'll find out.

Thanks again!!

You've got a good vet.

 

[chickiemama27]

You've got a good vet.

Thanks! We love her

 

[Ted Brown]

Northern Fowl mite lives on the bird so it is not necessary to clean and treat the coop itself

Not certain what essential oil mix you used but I doubt that it will kill your mites. If it does you will still need to follow the 5-7 re-treat cycle recommended by @Wyorp Rock above as their eggs will hatch and re-infest your birds in short order

Permethrin is the most commonly used treatment and is VERY effective. Costs about $10 at TSC for the concentrate and will last you years so well worth the money.

 

[chickiemama27]

Fantastic idea I saw another post regarding mites! The person posting recommended putting the permethrin dust in a bag, putting the bird in the bag, with the birds head outside of the bag. You move the bird around inside of the bag and get the dust all over the bird, getting less on yourself.

I share because we individually dusted 25 birds today. Not gonna lie...It was maddening. Going forward, I think we'll give the bag idea a whirl, in hopes of making the job a little easier ;-)

 

[chickiemama27]

Northern Fowl mite lives on the bird so it is not necessary to clean and treat the coop itself

Not certain what essential oil mix you used but I doubt that it will kill your mites. If it does you will still need to follow the 5-7 re-treat cycle recommended by @Wyorp Rock above as their eggs will hatch and re-infest your birds in short order

Permethrin is the most commonly used treatment and is VERY effective. Costs about $10 at TSC for the concentrate and will last you years so well worth the money.

Thanks!! That's what our Vet said as well...that they lives on the bird and not the coop. I treated each bird with Permethrin dust as was recommended. It was honestly maddening because we needed to do it during the day, in order to clean the coop out. That way, when we put them back in, we weren't putting treated birds in a dirty coop. After I treated them with P, I sprayed down the coop with this solution just for an added measure. I really didn't want to spray down our coop with insecticide if I didn't have to. I'll treat them again in 7 days, hoping to haunt the cycle.

 

[Folly's place]

I did that. Once. Never again! I wasn't wearing that N95 face mask I keep mentioning, and nearly ended up in the hospital, because the dust was a total mess! The spray is easiest, less messy, and effec tive. Wearing personal protection so whatever is used isn't inhales!
Mary
And I'm talking about that 'bag method'!

 

[chickiemama27]

Northern Fowl Mite perhaps?
The reason I asked is some mites live on the chicken (Northern Fowl Mite being one) and other mites live in the coop.
Some mites live on the body and feathers while for example the feather/depluming mite lives in the feather shaft.

The so called Red Mite which isn't red, it's grey until it feeds, can live months without eating, whereas the Northern Fowl mite needs to eat every few days.
Red Mite, while irritating and a cause of a loss in egg production is rarely a serious health problem to the chicken.
Northern Fowl Mites on the other hand are a serious problem which needs sorting out post haste. Northern Fowl Mite left untreated can kill a chicken and have done.

There isn't much point in worrying too much about the coop with Northern Fowl Mite because they don't live there. It's the chickens that need treating,
With Red Mite the priority is in reverse; the coop needs dealing with. Red Mite in the coop can be a long war. They are not a treat once and forget proposition, particulary if you have chickens roosting in the coop. Keepers used to burn coops with a Red Mite infestation.

Knowing what type of mite one is dealing with makes dealing with it a lot less time consuming and a lot more efficient.

Thank you. The Vet confirmed they were fowl mites. She treated one of our young pullets with Permethrin which is how we learned of the infestation. What threw me for a loop is we are so particular about how clean our coop is and we handle and look at our birds and hadn't noticed any on them.

 

[chickiemama27]

I did that. Once. Never again! I wasn't wearing that N95 face mask I keep mentioning, and nearly ended up in the hospital, because the dust was a total mess! The spray is easiest, less messy, and effec tive. Wearing personal protection so whatever is used isn't inhales!
Mary

It was such a mess. Got it done but thought we were all going to lose our minds. I like the dust because you can see where you get it and if you've missed any spots. But next time I'm going to try the "bag method" that someone recommended. It was brilliant!!

 

[Folly's place]

I lost three nice hens, long ago, before figuring out that it was all about a mite infestation! Definitely a guilt trip, and a learning experience. The wild songbirds who come for the chicken feed in the coop, and who are out there with free ranging chickens, bring them in. So, checking at least a few birds weekly, at night, with a flashlight, is best, so they can all be treated is even one bird has a few.
And here the roosters seem to have most, most often, probably because of their mating behavior.
Mary

 

[Shadrach]

Thank you. The Vet confirmed they were fowl mites. She treated one of our young pullets with Permethrin which is how we learned of the infestation. What threw me for a loop is we are so particular about how clean our coop is and we handle and look at our birds and hadn't noticed any on them.

It's easy done. I random check the chickens I look after and they still get mites.
I've got a coop sitting empty because of a Red Mite infestaion which blew up from tolerable to way out of control in a matter of days in the hot weather.
Checking them on the roost at night with a headtorch is often easiest I've found, around the vent and preen gland and at the back of the neck, lifting a layer of feathers as you work down their backs.