MITES!

[thehippiechick]

Help! My girls have mites and I am just some kind of dumb! I'm still very new to chickens and have no clue how to treat them. I reached in to get eggs today and got more than I bargained for. On my way back to the house, I felt something crawling on my arm. I looked and found a TON of light brown mites crawling. They were all over the eggs, too. DH bought Sevin dust, but someone else said diatomaceus (?)earth. Either way, how to treat is my problem. Also, since they free-range, is my yard now a risk to the kiddos?!?! ACK! Freaked out, here!!

 

[eminator]

You can dust them with either the DE or the Sevin, and then clean out their bedding and dust the coop thoroughly. I wouldn't worry about the yard so much, because if these are Dermanyssus gallinae they tend to inhabit the living space of the birds. I would bleach the coop, dust it and put in new bedding.

 

[thehippiechick]

Thanks a big bunch!! It's a relief to know that my kids are safe from those nasty little critters!

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Ewww, mites are so gross. i remember when my dogs had the "moving dandruff" mites, you gotta look reaall close but it looks like their dander is moving. i thought my girls might have mites because a couple have most of their feathers missing from their heads, and one is looking kind of ragged but i've been checking and there isn't anything that i can see on the affected areas so i think they're molting... either way, i dusted them all with DE, cleaned the coop, and dusted the whole coop with DE.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

An easy way to apply the dust is to put it inside of an old knee high or panty hose and tie it at the top. Use it as a sort of a "powder puff", it helps make it easier to get real good around their vent and under their wings. Good luck!