Red mite infestation!!! How to treat coop in subzero temps?

[lbrykowski2011]

Glad i was able to read this, I just brought a bird into the garage for the others were picking on her suddenly. She looks absolutly fine, so didn't think she was sick. As I was trying to look her over (not good lighting in garage) I saw 2 very small bugs run on the back of my hand. Freaked me out totally, now I'm thinkin mites. It's only 19 here and freezing also, so i never thought mites or bugs would be a problem this time of yr.

@dawg53 -when u say put them in a grocery bag and shake n bake, lol- how much sevin in the bag do u think? and is there a way to protect their eyes n nose or will it not bother them? New to chickens this past summer so don't know how to treat anything or what anything really looks like. Thanks

 

[accidentalchick]

We just put their bodies in the bag with the sevin and held the bag closed around their necks near their heads. I really worked the dust into their vent area and under the wings, but I did the whole body too. It was a two person job this way, but it went really quickly for our 15 head.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Thanks, that makes sense now. I just read the link from the prior page and am gonna go look again. Now I read the descriptions, lice might be the culprit. So hard figuring it out, especially by myself, trying to hold her and look with a flashlight. Might have to wait till DH gets home to help figure out which one it is. If it's lice and not mites- do you still treat the chickens and coop with sevin, the same way?

 

[Michael Apple]

Thanks, that makes sense now. I just read the link from the prior page and am gonna go look again. Now I read the descriptions, lice might be the culprit. So hard figuring it out, especially by myself, trying to hold her and look with a flashlight. Might have to wait till DH gets home to help figure out which one it is. If it's lice and not mites- do you still treat the chickens and coop with sevin, the same way?

Yes. Except I don't like dusts for premise treatment. I believe better coverage and penetration is achieved on wood surfaces with concentrate sprays like Ravap EC or Permectrin II. Treating the coop is as important as treating the birds. Fast moving, straw colored insects shaped sort of like a termite are what a poultry louse looks like. There are two types; the body louse, which feeds on skin, and the smaller shaft louse, which feeds on feather shafts. If one bird has them, all them likely do, so it is best to treat them all. Sevin will kill them as well as permethrin or rabon. Those led lights now built into the bill of ball caps come in handy when inspecting individual birds. Turning on lights in the coop excites the birds, so keeping them calm makes it easier to treat them, and is less stressful to birds. Night time is the best time to treat birds since they are calm on the roosts.

 

[accidentalchick]

Because of the freezing temps (mostly subzero here before windchill), we used sevin vs. a spray for the coop. We didn't have access to a leaf blower as Dawg suggested, but DH used an air compressor to blow the dust around. It was messy, but it worked really well (I think...time will tell I suppose). As for the amount of sevin dust, I bought a two pack of the containers they sell at places like Walmart for about $5-6 each (two pack was $9.97). It took most of one container to do our two room coop (maybe 15'x15' or so) and the nesting boxes, and then it took the rest of that container and the second one to do the birds. I'd say we were pretty liberal with it though.

 

[accidentalchick]

Oh, and we burned the bedding, our roosts, which were made of branches lashed together with twine and thus easily replaceable, and anything else in the coop that wasn't worth trying to save (ex. wooden boxes and cages that I'd gotten at bird sales with birds I'd purchased).

 

[lbrykowski2011]

lol, I was thinking air compressor also, we don't have a leaf blower. Would be hard to use sprays when it's below freezing now. Gonna try sevin and see how that goes, still can't tell if it's mites or lice, so it sounds like the treatment is the same either way. Thanks for the help.

 

[dawg53]

This link (with pics) will help you identify exactly what type of external parasite(s) you're dealing with, you'll need a magnifying glass:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Thanks, those links helped. It is lice, not mites; although I treated the same. Sevin dusted the chickens and coop. Was reading on making a dust bath in the winter for them also, seems they don't want to free range much right now in the cold temps. Gonna go get a litter box and some sand and add a lil DE to it and put under their covered run, hopefully this helps as a preventative. Thanks for all ur help, lana

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Was wondering now, how about the eggs? I have 9 hens just for eggs and Sevin is a toxin. Do i have to wait 2wks after the last dusting to use the eggs? Next 2 wks are my biggest baking wks of the yr.