Preferred method of treating for mites?

[Ninjasquirrel]

If you've never had them...then there's no proof it works
I've never had mites either and I don't feed my birds garlic or peppermint.
These assumptions are what starts and propagates 'false facts' about how to fight pests.

I agree that we want to provide people with the correct and useful information. However if youre taking a vitamin and its working for you...your doctor would advise you to continue it. Everyones situation is different and if its working thats great. Permethrin works for everyone and its worth having a bottle. But a gallon of that stuff is worth an ounce of prevention. Theres no exact science to anything. Part of science is formulating a hypothesis, putting it into action and seeing if it works. I do agree with you however that the OP should at least have on hand a bottle of the poison.

 

[aart]

Part of science is formulating a hypothesis, putting it into action and seeing if it works.

Part of that would be having the bugs, using DE and garlic, then the bugs being gone.

However if youre taking a vitamin and its working for you...your doctor would advise you to continue it.

Oranges and apples.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

a large data collection would be useful - maybe we can do this by random anecdotal accounts but I doubt it: the problem is if someone used xyz for years and never had mites, they may say so and be used as an example of possible effectiveness of xyz - but if they then get mites, they do not retract their previous posts and it gets messy

we did not have any parasites for the first two to three years either and no predators at first and no mice - with time all three have found our coop and run - bummer!

it would be cool to start a data base on the forum and have people enter information like:

how many birds
how big an enclosure
methods and frequency of cleaning
climate (heat, humidity, length of hot and cold spells, amount of rain)
geographical location (pests native to your environment)
do the birds free range
age of the enclosure (while containing birds)
pest preventatives used
pests encountered
treatments tried
treatments tried that worked

etc.
and keep updating it at least once a year

a large scale data collection may give us some answers that may surprise us and/or could be super-helpful

if we do that, we may add other useful question about predators or feed etc.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I agree with @BennieAnTheJets . Such data would be quite useful rather than discounting all natural medicines as hokum. @aart while I value your opinion I could do without the attitude. I was respectful of you.

 

[BennieAnTheJets]

to answer your question:

I do exactly like rachelsflock said: pour on ivermectin repeat every 7-10 days at least three times and clean coop thoroughly

also recently used pyrethrins concentrate and sprayed the coop and pyrethrins powder on the birds (the spray worked great on the coop - stopped birds itching at night - the powder not so much)

EverGreen got in trouble in Oregon lately, I think, since their 90% "other ingredients" contains piperonyl butoxcide at 60% and some other compound (MGK-264) that is not allowable for organic pesticides - see Amazon reviews - but I got another bottle anyway since it works for us and piperonyl butoxcide is listed in my animal formulary as an agent that can safely be used on birds - not sure about the other one MGK-264, actually, but I can say we survived two treatments already - can't say about internal health of the birds

https://mgk.com/livestock-poultry/evergreenpyrethrum-concentrate/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...ef=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B006ZE3P7K

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ivomec-pour-on-250ml

I have this excellent copy but there is a 5th edition for sale now
https://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Anima...-2&keywords=exotic+animal+formulary+carpenter

 

[aart]

@aart while I value your opinion I could do without the attitude. I was respectful of you.

I was being brief and to the point, no disrespect or 'attitude' intended.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I was being brief and to the point, no disrespect or 'attitude' intended.

Fair enough

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I hear/read people say they've used DE for X amount of years and their birds have never had worms, except them when asked they admit they've never had a fecal done. I have had fecal exams come back positive yet I have never seen worms being expelled or signs of worms.

Along the same lines, some mites in the coop can be hard to miss until their numbers get up there to where you see them or you feel them crawling on you after you go in the coop at night. I did not know I had red mites in my coop until that happened - you generally won't see them on the birds or in the coop during the day since they hide in crevices and come out at night to feed. Luckily, they are easy enough to eradicate.

 

[Kiki]

@BennieAnTheJets How are things going today?

 

[Debbi H]

I have a question while we are on the topic:

Permethrin is incredibly harmful to cats...which i have. Id prefer not to get the stuff. Anyone have treatment recommendations that dont involve it? I know prevention is key and ive taken the steps but just in case...

I tried Permethrin and it didn't work here. Tried Seven Dust, diatomaceous earth, wood ashes, other poultry sprays, etc. I was cleaning out and replacing shavings every week. Nothing controlled the serious infestation of mites we had. Someone even tried to tell me to coat my henhouse with used motor oil!!! Oh, my gosh, NO! That stuff is carcinogenic...full of heavy metals, and a possible neurotoxin!

I found, through much research and trial and error, a mixture that will really knock out the mites, yet is safe to humans, pets, chickens, etc. It can be toxic to honeybees, though, but I only use my mixture inside the henhouse where no honeybees would go.

There is a substance called Spinosad that kills the mites. It is an ingredient in the tablets given to pets to control fleas and ticks. It is also in Monterey Garden Spray. I get the undiluted form of the Monterey and mix it with SaferGro PestOut (oils of cottonwood, garlic, clove) and water in a one-gallon garden sprayer and coat the inside of my henhouse. Depending upon how heavy the infestation is, you can use just one ounce each of the spinosad and pestout per gallon, or up to about 4 oz each if it's really out of control. There are more concentrated brands of spinosad online, too. The mites are controlled and the henhouse smells like Christmas. You can also mist the chickens with this mixture, just watch out for their eyes because clove oil can STING!