Mites?

[LadiesMan017]

I just got 4 young easter eggers, and I didn't "inspect" them, and now I see that they have little red bugs, sort of like fleas on a dog, crawling on them.
What are they, and how can I get rid of them?

 

[OregonChickenGal]

Red mites. Dust them with Sevin 5% dust. Under their wings, stomach area, back of neck and vent area. Make sure you don't get it in their eyes, nose or mouth. You'll also have to clean out the coop and dust everything and I mean everything (nook and cranny), nest boxes and roosts. Then put fresh shavings back in. Repeat in 10 days. An easy way to dust the chickens is to use a panty hose with the foot cut off. Fill with Sevin and use like a powder puff.

 

[CrestedGirl]

Quote:
x2 Sevin 5% works great! http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...1qU8pO-qWtmQYcDWw&sig2=Bi_nTG3_KF3Qw5Sx6VvT9g

 

[CMV]

They are mites. You can get rid of them, but it's going to take some work.

You need to pick a product and method of dealing with them. The easiest is dusting them with Sevin dust, which can be picked up at any garden center. There are several other potential ways of dealing with them, but this is quickest and easiest, so let's focus on this one. You can dust them one of 2 ways-
1. Make a powder puff out of a small section of panty hose. You can fill the section with Sevin and use it to puff the bird all over focusing mostly around the vent and under the wings.
2. Put a quantity of dust into the bottom of a pillowcase. Put the chicken into the pillowcase up to their neck. Cinch the pillowcase closed and then shake the bird and case around to get the bird coated in dust. Keep the dust out of the face.

Once the birds are dusted then you must treat the coop. All the bedding needs to be removed. The house needs to be sprayed with an insecticide. I like to use Adam's Flea and Tick Spray (although I have used straight bleach and activated Oxine, as well with good results). Once the coop is dry then put a light layer of bedding in and dust that lightly with Sevin, as well. You are only putting a light layer in because you will need to treat the coop again.

The birds should be OK for now, but you are going to need to re-treat everything and everyone in 7-10 days to catch the mite eggs that hatch in the meantime.

You need to care for this problem ASAP. Mites can be deadly to birds in large numbers. I nearly lost my flock a few years back to mites.

Good luck.

 

[JoeOxfordCT]

Good Morning,

I have red mites too in my coop with 11 girls. I am going to follow the instructions in this thread.
However, I will not be able to find any panty hose...wife doesn't wear them....any workaround ??

Any other info about treating the coop/birds missing from this thread ?

Thanks....

Mites suck !

 

[thumper76]

We've had an outbreak of mites here as well and I have used sevin in the past with good results.

I just can't stop laughing at the thought of stuffing a chicken in a pillowcase and shaking her around. I must be easily entertained!