Our chicks have red mites/chicken mites, what to do???

[Dutchgirl]

Long story short, yesterday morning we discovered that our Cochin hen had made a nest in our bales of hay and hatched out a LOT of chicks. Since it's cold outside and we were afraid she'd be eaten, we put her in a box with the remaining unhatched eggs and put the box in the garage. There were so many eggs and chicks that we took away seven of the chicks and put them under a heat lamp in the house. They spent the night there.

This morning we discovered red mites on the chicks, kind of straw-colored. We put the hen outside and brought the chicks back to her.

Now I'm really scared that the house and garage are infested with the mites. As far as we know, we'll have to burn the whole haystack that the hen made her nest in, burn the cardboard boxes they were in, and pray that our house will not be infested.

Although we checked two of the other chickens for mites and found nothing right off the bat, I know that the mites get off in the daytime, so the mites could easily be inside the coop.

So, does anyone have a simple solution? I'm afraid that dusting or spraying is not an option for day-old chicks. It makes me sick to think about bombing the house with chemicals. And, since we had the chicks and hen held close to our clothing and we touched inside her little nest, we might have them on us.

Please help!

 

[sager:)silkies]

Quote:
in my experince i had this happen i use powder in the hen house worked great on the chicks i put very little on them
i had the same thing happen i didnt want to powder the chicks ethier but the day one of the chicks died i said to myself i may as well powder the chicks cause the bugs will kill the young chicks or the powder will i took the risk cause i wasnt letting them die without a fight none have died since know today they are 7 weeks old

 

[Mattemma]

I have read of people spraying with a puppy/kitten product that have the same active ingredient as sevin. Some have done a drop of those flea and tick drops like Frontline,but usually on tween chicks. Me, I might spray the bedding they are in whether it is pine or a towel.Spray it,and as they sit on it they are rubbing the mites into it.

 

[Dutchgirl]

Thanks. We are most worried about our house though... I don't want to have to move out because of an infestation.

 

[sager:)silkies]

Quote:
when i had them none got in the house so i really wouldnt know what to there

 

[jermoatc]

You could use food grade DE (Diatomaceous Earth) on your chicks. It is non toxic and it did a great job treating a couple of my hens with poultry lice.

 

[Dutchgirl]

I saw a huge bag of DE at the TSC today, but the book said , "medical grade" cut the creatures up, so... I didn't buy it. Don' t know where to get any other kind, or even a cheaper bag. The employees never have heard of it, but I've been hearing of it for many years!

 

[Dutchgirl]

Thank you for your help!