Northern Fowl Mite Disgust

[Rels]

This is going to be sort of a long story..I have been dealing with Northern Fowl Mites for who knows how long. I had treated my flock for it last year and believed to have gotten it under control but am suspicious that they never fully went away. The topic keeps me up at night, I want them GONE! I noticed about a month ago that one of my silkie roosters was often seen sitting, I also noticed the majority of my flock with messy bums. Upon further examination of my rooster I realized that he was loaded with mites. The mites were mostly in the vent area, I will attach a close up of them. I have not really found mites within the coop but I do see them on their eggs.
I went straight to work and gave the rooster a dawn bath. I then proceeded to treat the whole flock with Eprinex. I have 15 silkies, 3 of which are roosters (they have it the worse due to never dusting) and I also have 12 mixed breed chickens; anconas, orpington, wyandotte, etc. They are housed in a huge divided coop/run and they free range pretty much every night, something that I wish to continue to do because they love it. The Eprinex has been applied to all chickens 4 times now, 04/01, 04/06, 04/12, & 04/16, .25mL to the silkies and .50mL to my full sized chickens, to the vent and back of neck area, directly on skin. I have read that the NFM have a 5-7 day life cycle so I have varied the ranges of applications to experiment.
I dipped all of my messy silkies in a Permethrin dip and took to trimming the majority of all of the chickens mite-egg-filled vent feathers. I sprayed Adams flea and tick spray on most of the chickens and the silkie's mite-filled-crests. I gutted their coops, doused the coop in Permethrin solution, offered Permethrin dust to every crowded area/dust bath/dusted chickens with it, gave fresh shavings. I have even given them fresh garlic treats. I also wormed my flock with Safeguard during all of this (because why not?), two doses 10 days apart, .25mL/lb of bird, directly into the mouth, and voided eggs for 20 days.
I really want to cut down my flock and sell some of my beloved silkies. I was going to give a broody silkie to a friend that was getting chicks and thought that my treatments would have been more than enough to fight this issue. I gave the hen a detailed bath and came to the disgusting realization that she still had a couple of mites on her and possibly some eggs. I could never give the hen to my friend and have her have to deal with what I have dealt with. I also will not sell any hens until they are 100% mite free. I understand that ectoparasites are an ever present issue in this hobby. But this is ridiculous, what is the most effective method to combat Northern Fowl Mites? I am willing to spend $$ to get rid of this issue for good. Is it worth it to try the Elector PSP? Furthermore, what would be an effective preventative method once the infestation is cured? Any insights are appreciated

 

[Shadrach]

Eprinex and Ivermectin are not going to deal with Northern Fowl mite.
Properly applied Permethrin will.
Despite the fact that Northern Fowl mite live on the chicken and not in the coop like red mite you will need to strip out everything in the coop and treat every inch and every knook and cranny with Permethrin spray. If there is bedding in the coop, burn it.
You will need to treat every chicken whether you see mites on them or not.
You may find that buying a powder and pouring a good quantity of the powder into a double thickness plastic bag and then putting the chicken in the double bag leaving it's head out and shaking the bag with the chicken in it the most effective method. You can very carefully do their heads with Permethrin spray afterwards.

Do not bother with DE or cider vinegar or any of the other alternatives suggested.
Elector PSP has a solid reputation but I've never used it and it is expensive.

 

[roosterhavoc]

This is great. Thank you! I am going to try this next.

Don’t forget to come back and tell how well it worked.

 

[Gallega]

I feel for you. I deep clean once a week and spray apple cider vinegar EVERYWHERE!! i even make aure it hits the chickens!! tey dont mind much but I really think it helps.i have also heard that guinea fowls will actually eat this mites..

 

[Alexgil]

This is going to be sort of a long story..I have been dealing with Northern Fowl Mites for who knows how long. I had treated my flock for it last year and believed to have gotten it under control but am suspicious that they never fully went away. The topic keeps me up at night, I want them GONE! I noticed about a month ago that one of my silkie roosters was often seen sitting, I also noticed the majority of my flock with messy bums. Upon further examination of my rooster I realized that he was loaded with mites. The mites were mostly in the vent area, I will attach a close up of them. I have not really found mites within the coop but I do see them on their eggs.
I went straight to work and gave the rooster a dawn bath. I then proceeded to treat the whole flock with Eprinex. I have 15 silkies, 3 of which are roosters (they have it the worse due to never dusting) and I also have 12 mixed breed chickens; anconas, orpington, wyandotte, etc. They are housed in a huge divided coop/run and they free range pretty much every night, something that I wish to continue to do because they love it. The Eprinex has been applied to all chickens 4 times now, 04/01, 04/06, 04/12, & 04/16, .25mL to the silkies and .50mL to my full sized chickens, to the vent and back of neck area, directly on skin. I have read that the NFM have a 5-7 day life cycle so I have varied the ranges of applications to experiment.
I dipped all of my messy silkies in a Permethrin dip and took to trimming the majority of all of the chickens mite-egg-filled vent feathers. I sprayed Adams flea and tick spray on most of the chickens and the silkie's mite-filled-crests. I gutted their coops, doused the coop in Permethrin solution, offered Permethrin dust to every crowded area/dust bath/dusted chickens with it, gave fresh shavings. I have even given them fresh garlic treats. I also wormed my flock with Safeguard during all of this (because why not?), two doses 10 days apart, .25mL/lb of bird, directly into the mouth, and voided eggs for 20 days.
I really want to cut down my flock and sell some of my beloved silkies. I was going to give a broody silkie to a friend that was getting chicks and thought that my treatments would have been more than enough to fight this issue. I gave the hen a detailed bath and came to the disgusting realization that she still had a couple of mites on her and possibly some eggs. I could never give the hen to my friend and have her have to deal with what I have dealt with. I also will not sell any hens until they are 100% mite free. I understand that ectoparasites are an ever present issue in this hobby. But this is ridiculous, what is the most effective method to combat Northern Fowl Mites? I am willing to spend $$ to get rid of this issue for good. Is it worth it to try the Elector PSP? Furthermore, what would be an effective preventative method once the infestation is cured? Any insights are appreciated

Thank you for posting this. I am eagerly awaiting any replies you might have as I have just discovered Northern Fowl Mite on my Pekin Bantams. 2 of them looked a little sorry for themselves and after close inspection I saw them. I have 10 pekins and I am looking for the best way to manage this i.e prevention and treatment. I have been reading about how difficult it is to be rid of them and that Elector PSP seems to be the biz. I am in the UK though and can’t buy it here - plus it is so expensive. I look forward to the replies to this post.

 

[roosterhavoc]

How funny that you reached out because I have recently been wondering how others are keeping mites away. I do exactly what you do. I do Permerthrin often-strip the shavings and cover the entire inside of the coop. I also spent months dosing everyone in Eprinex and dusting them. I did it like 4 times over the course of a month. I do believe it helped because I was no longer seeing the mites on the eggs when I would go to collect them. I have two roosters and both have the mites the worst- I believe it is because the roosters do not dust as much as the girls and I don't know about yours but one of my roosters is older. My situation is also the same because both roosters have gotten numerous baths and even Permerthin dips over the summer, bum feathers all cut, sprayed with flea and tick solutions. IDK! I really wonder if other chicken owners have them but just are not staring into their chickens vents like I am (lol.) It seriously makes me want to get rid of my roosters. The girls will have some but not as bad as the boys. I started this post because I wanted a better solution to these mites. I still have not found one. I, of course, understand ectoparasites are going to be a maintenance thing with chickens but can someone explain to me how you can treat both the coop and the birds multiple times with Permerthrin sprays/powders and topical solutions and STILL have issues?!?!? Is that frontline worth it? It is so ridiculous and extremely heartbreaking honestly. I mean not to be dramatic but you go through all of this trouble to protect your pets and do what is best for them and it still isn't enough. Terrible.

It’s because permethrin is overused and has already showed signs during testing that it has been losing its effectiveness regardless of what all the *experts* recommend. It’s labeled for poultry use so that’s what everyone sticks with and repeats over and over and over.

 

[Rels]

Well frontline is fipronil which isn’t approved for poultry use but it works way better with one or two treatments a year max. Make sure you dust the birds very well all over with the sevin powder puff too. Make sure you get plenty of dust around the vent area. They should look like a ghost when you’re done. Yes just a small spray under each wing on the skin and near the vent.
https://www.chewy.com/frontline-spr...YbWUKrkulMUKeWPMsKAZaPfx9HMdmx60aApsaEALw_wcB

This is great. Thank you! I am going to try this next.

 

[buttertart]

I can't get Sevin dust in Canada. We can't get a lot of things here, even medicine. I order what I can get from the US. We have no vets available in my area who will deal with chickens either. I am hoping with deep winter coming i can get a handle on the mites. It is pretty much the roosters that get it worse. I had read somewhere about it usually starting with them. I will just keep cleaning, spraying and treating them as best as I can, regular. I am now thinking of doing the weekly garlic juice and water spray on the chickens, weekly and then like once a month. And do the Front line every 3 months after that.

 

[buttertart]

We are so restricted here! I got rid of mites with de (I know some people say it doesn't work but as someone who has pool operator courses, I have researched the cleaning power of micro-exoskeletons) It's unfortunate the government is so restrictive when we can't even find a vet to see our animals!

Yes you are so right. We can't kill weeds legally, and we can't kill mites either.
Only in Canada eh!!! No vets, no meds. Its sad really.

 

[RainbowHen]

You have to treat the coop and birds consistently once a week for several weeks in a row. I battled mites this spring. If you don't treat them aggressively they will keep coming back and build a tolerance to your chemical of choice.