Red mite infestation

[KsKingBee]

Thank you. The Ivermectin liquid I have is 1mg/ml so would I need to adjust the dosage? I also have no idea how much they weigh. When do I retreat?

Fix your quote above as it reads 40ml. We do not want anyone using that much on a bird. It should read 0.40ml or 0.4ml and is the correct amount when using Ivermec Pour-On for cattle when using on mature Peafowl. You can use a little less on smaller birds. Re-treating is not necessary unless you are still seeing live lice on the bird after a couple of weeks. The Ivermectin will stay in the birds system for at least a month.

 

[Lillith37]

Fix your quote above as it reads 40ml. We do not want anyone using that much on a bird. It should read 0.40ml or 0.4ml and is the correct amount when using Ivermec Pour-On for cattle when using on mature Peafowl. You can use a little less on smaller birds. Re-treating is not necessary unless you are still seeing live lice on the bird after a couple of weeks. The Ivermectin will stay in the birds system for at least a month.

Oh sorry about that. I’ve fixed it now. I searched up Ivomec pour on for cattle and it’s 5mg/ml.

I have a 1mg/ml Ivermectin product so
according to 0.4ml at 5mg/ml dosage
I would do 2ml of treatment.

I can see in the picture you shared about leg and face mites it says Ivermectin 0.2mg/kg. So if I estimate the peacock weighs 5kg it would be 1mg treatment in which case it’s 1ml of my 1mg/1ml product — which is half the dose as calculated based off a 5mg/ml cattle PO.

I’m thinking I need to figure out how much these peafowl weigh.

 

[KsKingBee]

Oh sorry about that. I’ve fixed it now. I searched up Ivomec pour on for cattle and it’s 5mg/ml.

I have a 1mg/ml Ivermectin product so
according to 0.4ml at 5mg/ml dosage
I would do 2ml of treatment.

I can see in the picture you shared about leg and face mites it says Ivermectin 0.2mg/kg. So if I estimate the peacock weighs 5kg it would be 1mg treatment in which case it’s 1ml of my 1mg/1ml product — which is half the dose as calculated based off a 5mg/ml cattle PO.

I’m thinking I need to figure out how much these peafowl weigh.

Ballpark weight on mature peas is eight to ten pounds per hen and 12 to 15 pounds per cock. Safeguard and Valbazen is close at 2.0ml per hen PO and 3.0ml per cock PO. Most of the drugs we use on peas are forgiving and you do not have to worry about being terribly precise. I know people that have given up to ten times the Safeguard recommended dose with no ill effects.

 

[Lillith37]

Ballpark weight on mature peas is eight to ten pounds per hen and 12 to 15 pounds per cock. Safeguard and Valbazen is close at 2.0ml per hen PO and 3.0ml per cock PO. Most of the drugs we use on peas are forgiving and you do not have to worry about being terribly precise. I know people that have given up to ten times the Safeguard recommended dose with no ill effects.

Okay that’s reassuring. I’m not even going to begin thinking about worms just yet. Thank you so much for all your help.

Do you have any tips for the handling of peafowl? They will be in an enclosed coop/run so I should hopefully be able to catch them, check them over and apply the topical medication is needed. But they are edgy around people and move away. I’ve never touched a peafowl in my life before.

 

[Lillith37]

I found one of the mites in my car and put it under the microscope.

 

[Lillith37]

So I spent 9 hours yesterday taking everything out of their chicken & peafowl coops, burning the bedding, pressure washing the frame/boxes/roosts, blow drying with a leaf blower and then first spraying permethrin everywhere I could and then spreading Pestene (rotenone & sulfer) dust.

The mites were everywhere. Literally everywhere. They have even colonised the adjoining tool shed (which I didn’t have capacity to address). Thousands of mites. I almost burst into tears several times.

I didn’t treat the birds because the owners wanted me to focus on the coops. The birds have red mites, scaly leg mites and lice. A lot of messy bottoms, a few are obviously sick.

I brought my chicks back home. I couldn’t leave them there. I treated them with ivermectin and then the dust before putting them in the carrier. There were dead/dying mites in the carrier when we got home. Now I think I should do a complete clean out and treatment of my own coop, burn the bedding, and change my nesting box set-up to deter any that may have made it through either on me or the chicks. I’m thinking plastic tubs that are easy to move and clean. I’ve got two broody hens so I can’t take any chances.

I feel so sorry for the birds at that property but I’m in two minds about going back to keep helping because it’s going to be so much work and I’m going to risk bringing mites back every time.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I feel so sorry for the birds at that property but I’m in two minds about going back to keep helping because it’s going to be so much work and I’m going to risk bringing mites back every time.

I think the best you can do in this case is to give the homeowners instructions on how to continue the treatment, and have them manage it themselves. Yes you're right that you're risking bringing this problem back to your own flock, or some other currently unseen issue. Plus it's unreasonable to expect you to fix this when it sounds like a massive issue.

The chicks you brought back should be kept separate from the rest of the flock for now. You don't know what else they might have brought back with them.

 

[BDutch]

How awful.
I feel sorry for you and happy for the chicks you brought back.
Great advise from Rosemarythyme. Good luck with the mites and chicks.

 

[Lillith37]

Does this still look like a red poultry mite?

I can see no evidence of mites on the chicks or in their coop. I looked each of them over very thoroughly last night and saw not a speck.

But when I scoop up their poop outside once or twice daily on the grass/dirt, I see mites running away from the poop on my little shovel. There are darker coloured ones (the adults?) and smaller lighter coloured ones (the nymphs?)

I caught one of the bigger darker ones and this is what it looks like under the microscope.

Could it be that there are just mites outside all the time and I’m only noticing these because I’m on red alert after this absolute fiasco?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Does this still look like a red poultry mite?

I can see no evidence of mites on the chicks or in their coop. I looked each of them over very thoroughly last night and saw not a speck.

But when I scoop up their poop outside once or twice daily on the grass/dirt, I see mites running away from the poop on my little shovel. There are darker coloured ones (the adults?) and smaller lighter coloured ones (the nymphs?)

I caught one of the bigger darker ones and this is what it looks like under the microscope.

Could it be that there are just mites outside all the time and I’m only noticing these because I’m on red alert after this absolute fiasco?

Have you tried googling for images of red roost mites? Since I haven't had them I can't pretend to be able to ID them.

The location you're finding them doesn't really sound like a spot that I'd expect to find these sorts of mites, as they want to hide in crevices especially during the day.

And yes there are many types of mites and similar tiny bugs in the environment that you might not have noticed before. Like every summer I get tiny white mite sized bugs that casually crawl all over things in the run and disappear once the weather begins cooling off. Not sure what they are, but as they aren't harmful to the birds or myself, I leave them alone.