Permethrin spray

[Folly's place]

I didn't remove all the shavings last year, and it worked fine. It would be better to clean it out, but you might just spray anyway. Hate those rotten little bugs!!! Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Were they chicken mites, or grain mites or something harmless? Mary

 

[ChickNanny13]

Were they chicken mites, or grain mites or something harmless? Mary

Thinking chicken mites, I ferment my feed. Guess I need to look up some pictures What happened to my post? Came back to add a picture of my enclosure & it's gone?

QUESTION: {Prior to finding the correct ratio, Thurs I mixed 15ml/gallon of water, sprayed the cracks, posts, roosts, shavings (mixing it around) & surrounding perimeter after finding some mites crawling on my but did not spray the girls. I had just dusted them (Poultry Dust) a few days ago. This morning I went out to feed them, found 2 mites on my arm after picking up a rock they dug up. So I'm assuming it's too early to respray with the correct mix (10ml/half gallon of water)? I had asked if I need to remove all the shavings & replacing, how do other doing DLM deal with this issue? I never ever saw mites on the girls but I do dust them regularly.

I was asked if it was chicken mites & not grain, I ferment my feed so assume it's chicken mites. I do sprinkle some dry on the ground for them to scratch, haven't found any in my feed bin. Need to look up some pictures.

This is my Chicken Enclosure & my girls, they're 18wks last Monday far from laying

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Was hunting for this thread to see what the ratio mix for Permethrin 10, Hubby calculated 3/4 oz per gallon water, which is under dose (.75 oz or 15ml) cause from what I've read 10ml/half gallon so that would be 20ml to a gallon.

This afternoon I was in my patio working on the workbench/brooder, sat down for a bit when I see mites crawling up my legs! I had just come from the Chicken House, thinking I had mites. Got the Permethrin 10 mixed a gallon.

I just dusted the girls (4) yesterday with Poultry Dust, rotating with DE every 2wks. I also dust with DE when I add more shavings. Never felt any nor seen any while in the CH which is open air. I sprayed the frame work, ceiling & shavings, the girls moved as I went from the back to the front, with the rake 'mixed' the shavings about & sprayed. Concentrated in the two corners they love to dust bathe in. A gallon is too much, having left over sprayed outside the surrounding perimeter. When I got done, looked back & they were bathing in the shaving.

Returning to the patio, confused, it wasn't until I was in the patio I saw the mites on my legs. My workbench is the top of my brooder in the patio that I use for storage when not a brooder. Opened it up & moved some things around, I see mites! Mixed up another gallon sprayed inside & out of the brooder drenching the cracks top, bottom & sides, the whole patio & the outside walls of the house attached to that patio.

Years ago I had chickens that I never cooped, they slept in the patio with the cat on a shelving unit. I never knew of mites until I saw these dark spots on my white walls in the house! A guy from Board of Health came showed how to check, running his hand along shelf, you could feel them crawling. Told me thats why it's best the chickens roost away from the house & better if cooped. Recommended Malathion which I bought & sprayed the WHOLE yard, outside walls of the house & fogged the house. Followed up 2wks later.

Mites bite while lice don't? Hate biting insects, mosquitos are the worst here. THANK YOU BYC for this website!

Thank you for posting this. I wanted to update my posts and I couldn't remember which thread it was...lol.

I'm the same. I wondered why there was no reply. Now I'll click and check things out. I do see that sometimes, like aart says, people do just quote without comment...lol.

Ugh, all the parasite talk makes my skin crawl. *shuddering* I haven't seen lice. That's a good thing. The idea of deplooming mites horrify me.

Thank you for the replies. I made a judgment call, and we'll see if I live to regret the decision or not. I found out we do have permethrin in Canada and it IS labeled for chickens. The owner of the store, totally steered me away from it...lol. Apparently everyone must use Carbaryl around here. The business supplies a lot of chicken people...lol. So I bought 2 canisters of Carbaryl, it's cheaper there. I'll buy the permethrin when we go back. Permethrin will be cheaper in the long run but it'll only work for summer application here.

Most of the dozen birds I saw with mites at last dusting have no evidence of mites. That's splitting feathers looking at the vent, above and below...under the wing and the belly/inner leg area for 15 seconds + waiting to see mite action. I checked the select roosters that were dusted before the hens and none of the ones I checked show any mite action, even the common offenders. All the checked birds still have Carbaryl residue on their skin. I check do check all the time, I don't want mites when I hug one.
View attachment 1061159

What's the dusting products like in the US? Here Carbaryl is a light pink and it's so darn sticky. It's not like flour, closest thing I can think of is electrically charged dust. I got Carbaryl on the paint on the side-by-side and I can't get it off with a pressure washer.

I use one cylinder for approximately 60 birds. They get dosed like 5 sides of a cube; bottom, 2 sides and under wings, top and the butt. They get dosed well. Ok...they get dosed excessively...lol! I figure any powder that shakes off their bodies...coats the bedding and everywhere. In the back I checked 4 non treated chicks, the broody, her keet, and the chickens who sit on the ground and I didn't see one mite. I clean the nest boxes 2 days in a row after dusting, eggs get fed back to the hens at this time. I bed the coop with the nest box shavings regularly so nest boxes get completely cleaned out and re-bedded with fresh shavings every couple of days or so. Here the Carbaryl container says to treat after 20 days.

I've never seen mites on the walls or roosts...and I've used my magnifier and a flashlight. It's always mentioned to treat the coop but I never see anything. Seriously!
I plan on painting the walls of the coop/coops white (VOC free) to seal the wood and brighten. I just started vacuuming the walls to keep the dust down. (Don't laugh...lol!)

I'm thinking of treating the buildings/chickens with permethrin in late fall. I oil the roosts. While it makes it slippery at first for the birds, I'm hoping it stops the parasites. I'm treating for leg mites anyway, getting it on the roosts is par for the course.

Mary, aart, Eggsighted...when you spray and the hen has a fluffy butt...how does it reach the skin? I seem to have a hard time envisioning this...

That's true...I'm sure there's ones I can't see. My cuckoo marans had a very irritated underside last year from something I couldn't see. The skin was red and angry and I treated him with Carbaryl. Whatever it was...it sent it packing. So no, not a dumb comment at all.

Ok, so you part the feathers. I purchased a pump handheld sprayer and a large pump garden sprayer last year. I think the handheld might be the one...I do all the treating by myself.

I don't like breathing crud either! And I'm not a great fan of having to crack out the hazmat gear. The first time I dusted, I did it outside with the wind blowing it away to the side of me...didn't think I needed a mask. I did not feel great afterwards. But now I suit up in a hoodie that's tied tight around my face, a good quality face mask and either vinyl gloves or the shoulder length cattle palpitating gloves and I feel fine afterwards. I think this is the powder is the stuff I used to put on our cats and dogs and carry them around as a kid....lol.

We'll see how I make out...lol.

This is a permethrin thread...but I wanted to update my previous posts.

The last time I posted we had cleaned the coop, re-bedded and I had dusted the adult birds the evening before moving the baby keets and chicks into the back of the coop. I was planning on purchasing permethrin so the buildings and birds could be treated. I had treated with Carbaryl and had made the decision to NOT retreat because there was zero evidence of parasites.

I just dusted the young keets and chicks two nights ago in preparation for moving them onto the adult side of the coop. I checked the young birds over extensively as they haven't been dusted to this point. I saw no evidence of any creepy crawlies what-so-ever. I checked all the bums of adult birds that were pointed my way as they roosted on the roosts and I didn't find mites there either. I picked up some known offenders and checked them over. I could not detect any mites or other parasites throwing a party...lol.

I did dust Mr. Olga because his underside is red and I dusted the other two oegb roosters.

 

[GardenTillers44]

This is an update to post #212. Several of our hens were showing signs of what we decided might be Northern Fowl Mites (see image) that we found only on the vent
area of 6 of our 22 chickens. Searched the coop day and night, but found no mites in the woodwork or on the perches. We mixed Gordon's Permethrin 10 in a gallon sprayer and dosed all the birds with a spritz around the vent, under the wings, on the breast area and back of neck. Then we thoroughly sprayed the coop, run and anywhere the birds tended to lay. We also refreshed the sand dust baths with more wood ash and DE. We removed as many of the feces and egg masses as possible with a comb the day after treatment. We clean the coop twice a week now and pick up feathers and poops daily. We check chickens once a week and now 6 weeks after treatment we have clean girls and coop. As a continuing treatment, we are alternating Gordon's permethrin 10 and Elector PSP (spinosad) once a month. So far, so good. Thanks for all the great advice in this thread...

 

[ChickNanny13]

Original Post #222 & #233
I'm quite sure it's chicken mites, plan on putting some in a jar to take to the Dept of Ag on Monday. Bought some Sevin 5 to dust the girls with next week, thinking of sprinkling in the DLM also, good or bad idea? Still found some crawling up my black rubber boots this afternoon after entering, so now I keep a can of Raid outside the door to spray the boots when I exit. I looked up pictures of mites (yuck), the ones I'm finding are "straw" colored & thankfully haven't discovered any nastiness on the girls but they must have it, right?

When reasearching the internet about mites, some paint Neem Oil in their coop/nest. So I decided to spray a mist along the frame work of my enclosure & the shavings. When I exited late this evening I didn't get much on my boots just a couple. Tomorrow is another day.... Next week Thurs can't some soon enough so I can respray with Permethrin.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

This is an update to post #212. Several of our hens were showing signs of what we decided might be Northern Fowl Mites (see image) that we found only on the vent
area of 6 of our 22 chickens. Searched the coop day and night, but found no mites in the woodwork or on the perches. We mixed Gordon's Permethrin 10 in a gallon sprayer and dosed all the birds with a spritz around the vent, under the wings, on the breast area and back of neck. Then we thoroughly sprayed the coop, run and anywhere the birds tended to lay. We also refreshed the sand dust baths with more wood ash and DE. We removed as many of the feces and egg masses as possible with a comb the day after treatment. We clean the coop twice a week now and pick up feathers and poops daily. We check chickens once a week and now 6 weeks after treatment we have clean girls and coop. As a continuing treatment, we are alternating Gordon's permethrin 10 and Elector PSP (spinosad) once a month. So far, so good. Thanks for all the great advice in this thread...View attachment 1109285

Sorry you're having trouble with parasites. That's a fantastic photo! By the appearance of what looks to be eggs around the feather shaft...I believe you may be dealing with lice and not mites. I'm linking a site below that has good pics showing lice and lice eggs. I'm linking a site for the red mite and two that about the northern fowl mite; the first one has closer pics.

https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/lice-on-chickens-and-poultry/
https://poultrykeeper.com/red-mite/
http://veterinaryentomology.ucr.edu/northern_fowl_mite.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/2947/northern-fowl-mite-management/

The parasite my chickens that seems to show up on my chickens is the northern fowl mite. They live on the chicken. There aren't any visible eggs at the shafts of the feathers like what your chicken is showing. What I see is slightly dirty looking feathers in the vent area. When you look close, especially if the infestation is bad, the entire dark area is moving. It's somewhat horrifying...lol.

 

[GardenTillers44]

Wickedchicken6, I suspect we had/have both lice and mites. The nits were strongly suggestive of lice but I never really saw any crawling around...but I understand they can be elusive. What we did see crawling about the vent areaand on the feather shafts were little roundish grey/brown guys smaller than a pinhead and not particularly fast. Those were what I took to be the mites. Anyway, the treatment was the same and seems to be helping with the management of the little buggers. Thanks for the references!

 

[aart]

Those were what I took to be the mites. Anyway, the treatment was the same and seems to be helping with the management of the little buggers.

Yes, unless you have the mites that only feed at night the bird and live in the coop during the day, then the coop has to be treated.
Well after dark....Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

 

[GardenTillers44]

aart: "Yes, unless you have the mites that only feed at night the bird and live in the coop during the day, then the coop has to be treated.
Well after dark....Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites)."

Yep, we do the coop mite check routinely at random hours of the night, and thoroughly treat all the surfaces, nooks and crannies of the coop and run once a month. I believe it was your post a while back, aart, along with our discovery of the buggers that convinced us to "bring out the big guns" and use chemical treatments to augment the dust bath, DE, herbs and other holistic treatments (that seem to be more varying degrees of prevention than cure) for our managment of pests.