mites

[mullers3acers]

Help! our hens are losing their tail feathers. We think its mites it only happens during the winter and the feathers never grow back and we have some really beautiful birds.

 

[MissPrissy]

Clean out your coop and dispose of the bedding. Dust your coop with sevin dust. When you put the bedding back you can lightly dust again. Catch each of your chickens and lightly dust them as well. Do not inhale the dust. Wear a mask. You might want to dust the chickens outside so they don't inhale it either.

 

[mullers3acers]

hubby wants to use lime what are your thoughts on that?

 

[MissPrissy]

You can put lime in the run outside but you need to till it in and have a good rain before you let the chickens back on it. It can burn them.

I would never advise putting lime in the house itself.

The lime stweetens the soil. It is not an insecticide.

 

[bigzio]

Yep, the 5% sevin dust works well for mites. I would dust them again in 7 days and the problem will be gone.

Lime would serve no purpose at all for mites. Barn lime is a no for chickens and can burn their feet. Garden lime is ok to use, however has no purpose for mites.

bigzio

 

[therealsilkiechick]

i agree with above posts and make sure ur skin is covered cause sevin is a pesticide. i didn't first time useing it and only wore a mask and got a chemical poisoning from wearing shorts and a t-shirt. be very careful with it and adams flea and tick spray works also just as good but is expensive at least here.