mites

[ericmcginn5]

ok i have 8 chickens and they keep getting mites so i treat thema then treart them again in 10 days and a month latter they reaper. what can i do to make this stop what can i do to provent mites

 

[Eggcessive]

What are you using on the chickens and to treat the coop? Sevin dust is excellent for treating chickens, and permethrin spray is good to spray the coop and walls after all of the pine shavings are removed from the coop and nest boxes. The sevin dust and spraying have to be done every 6 days for a few times to get all of the eggs. Mite eggs hatch every 4-7 days where lice eggs hatch out every 10. Mites are one of the hardest things to get rid of completely because one type hides in the crevices and cracks of the coop and only come out at night. Here are 2 good sources to click on for advice and pictures: http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8162.pdf and
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[Janet Pesaturo]

Frontline for cats has been used successfully to treat chickens for mites. Draw it up into a syringe with a small needle and put a few drops on the skin on the back of the neck of each bird. Presumably it gets distributed into the skin glands just like it does in cats, and kills the mites when mites bite. It lasts for a month on a cat, but is thought to last longer, maybe up to 3 months on chickens. Clean out the coop and spread fresh, dry litter, keep the coop clean and dry. You don't need to do anything else to the coop. As the mites bite the chickens, they die. Eventually mite population in your coop dies out.

Because Frontline works in the skin, and is thought not to get into bloodstream, there is no need to stop eating the eggs. However, no one has really studied this in chickens, so to be on safe side, I use Frontline around molting time, when chickens are not laying many eggs anyway.

 

[ericmcginn5]

so should i just add front line to my chickens have u done it before it sounds much simplies too do then my dust i have to get all over my chickens. and do i just put the front line on the neck of the chicken or do i have to put it all over and will it kill all the mites or just the ones on the neck

 

[Janet Pesaturo]

Yes, I have used it on the advice of someone else on BYC. It is very easy to use. Draw it up into a syringe using a fine gauge needle. Some people apply a drop on the back of the neck, a drop under each wing, and a drop near the vent. But I can tell you this is NOT necessary. A few drops applied to the skin on the back of the neck is sufficient. Just like you apply it to a cat. Once Frontline is applied anywhere, it gets distributed throughout the skin over the entire body, through the skin glands.

The smaller the chicken, the less Frontline you need. One drop for a bantam, 5 drops in a very large, standard chicken. Other chickens are in between.

Below is a link to a video of someone doing it. They put drops under the wings and near the vent, but there are definitely people who just put it on the back of the neck and it still works.

 

[ericmcginn5]

for the sevin dust how much should i use per chicken

 

[cafarmgirl]

Just dust them really good all over, make sure you get it down to the skin, no set amount. Make sure you are stripping the coop and thoroughly treating it as well. Sevin spray is very good for that, it's easy to get it into all the nooks and crannies where the bugs like to hide.