Red mite infestation

[azygous]

Good grief! And you're down there where they don't allow spinosad which is the secret weapon against coop mites here. Good luck. Be sure to be fastidious about spraying into all cracks and crevices.

It's easy enough to determine if the bugs on the pea fowl are lice or mites. Grab one and examine it under a magnifying lens. Count the legs. Lice have only six. Mites have eight. They are separate families of insect.

 

[Lillith37]

Good grief! And you're down there where they don't allow spinosad which is the secret weapon against coop mites here. Good luck. Be sure to be fastidious about spraying into all cracks and crevices.

It's easy enough to determine if the bugs on the pea fowl are lice or mites. Grab one and examine it under a magnifying lens. Count the legs. Lice have only six. Mites have eight. They are separate families of insect.

Luckily fastidious is my middle name. Virgo here

Time to get me a magnifying glass. I'm writing a list of things I'll need. I think these people will have pretty much everything but I've got a day to prepare and I want to be ready regardless.

I guess the treatment for lice/mites is going to be similar if not the same.

 

[BDutch]

Good grief! And you're down there where they don't allow spinosad which is the secret weapon against coop mites here. Good luck. Be sure to be fastidious about spraying into all cracks and crevices.

It's easy enough to determine if the bugs on the pea fowl are lice or mites. Grab one and examine it under a magnifying lens. Count the legs. Lice have only six. Mites have eight. They are separate families of insect.

Red mites are not on the animals during the day when they are exposed to daylight, unless you have a very bad infestation.

I googled Spinosad (wiki) and it seems it can only be subscribed by a vet where I live. It’s a natural product but quite poisonous.

From wikipedia: Spinosad is very toxic to bees, and moderately toxic to toxic to earthworms, fish and aquatic organisms. So it cannot be used when bees are active. Spinosad does break down fairly quickly on the leaves of the plants, and the degradation products are much less toxic to bees. In water, spinosad is slowly broken down.

 

[BDutch]

I guess the treatment for lice/mites is going to be similar if not the same.

No. It depends on the type of lice or mite which treatment is the best. Especially if you don’t want to use too much poison.

People often seem to think that poisons are harmless. They are not! Dive into Parkinson's disease as an example for the harm poisons do to people. And read about the problems of disappearing bees and other insects in Europe.

 

[Lillith37]

No. It depends on the type of lice or mite which treatment is the best. Especially if you don’t want to use too much poison.

People often seem to think that poisons are harmless. They are not! Dive into Parkinson's disease as an example for the harm poisons do to people. And read about the problems of disappearing bees and other insects in Europe.

Red mites are not on the animals during the day when they are exposed to daylight, unless you have a very bad infestation.

I feel like this is a very bad infestation... Like I said best case scenario it would be wood mites which (whilst annoying because they climbed all over me and would no doubt climb all over the chickens) are not feeding on the chickens, I think it's more likely that we are dealing with red mites. I found an internet video showing a massive red mite infestation on a plastic pre-fab coop and it looked exactly like what I saw today. I wasn't in my most grounded state of mind but I was able to examine one as close as possible after the fact and correlate with internet images. I'll be able to take my magnifying glass day after tomorrow and have a bit of time by myself to properly scope things out.

I would absolutely prefer not to use chemicals if I can help it. I think to beat back the first wave of this infestation I'm going to have to go heavy and then as a preventative/management look at more natural options. And for the peafowl, well, it's my next learning curve.

I absolutely don't want to harm the bees. My own experience has been that permethrin products are okay in a coop space and the bees that frequent the surrounding areas are unaffected. I have one of those wooden hanging "bug-homes" nearby that is always full of mud-dauber wasps and we have a paper wasp nest in the Monstera near the house -- both native pollinators who clearly are okay being near the poison. I'm careful at my place and I'll be careful at this new place too. The guy gave me over a kilogram of natural honey from his apiary. I can't kill his bees! We've talked about their behaviour and the areas they frequent and think it should be okay.

 

[azygous]

Yes, poisons are very dangerous to all life forms and must be used only by responsible informed individuals. It goes without saying that we would not wish to hose down the entire environment with them.

This is where being very meticulous would pay off big time.

 

[BDutch]

I'll be able to take my magnifying glass day after tomorrow and have a bit of time by myself to properly scope things out.

If the owner or you can look after dark and shine a light on the chickens/poultry you probably see the red mite walk away from the chickens/poultry.
In the morning if you find red mite in the control rolls you see blood when you crush them.
Applying DE between their feathers at the start of the night is a good way to reduce the numbers. Be careful not to dust much, not use it around the beak and eyes. And use a mask/be careful not to breathe it in yourself too.

 

[Lillith37]

If the owner or you can look after dark and shine a light on the chickens/poultry you probably see the red mite walk away from the chickens/poultry.
In the morning if you find red mite in the control rolls you see blood when you crush them.
Applying DE between their feathers at the start of the night is a good way to reduce the numbers. Be careful not to dust much, not use it around the beak and eyes. And use a mask/be careful not to breathe it in yourself too.

I did suggest to the owners to go out after dark with a flashlight, and even if they struggle to see the mites themselves to take a piece of damp toilet paper and wipe against any dirt on the skin/feathers to see if it bleeds... Not sure if they will do that or not
I'm going to be scoping the whole place out on Friday morning when I go back there. It won't be first thing but hopefully I'll be able to get a better sense of things.

 

[KsKingBee]

@KsKingBee and @casportpony I found another thread where you two are talking about Ivermectin treatment for peafowl lice. Unfortunately my brain implodes when trying to do math.

I don't know if these peafowl have lice (and/or mites) but I'm going to have to check them over and figure it out.

I have an Ivermectin pour-on product which is 1000µg/ml Ivermectin.

Can you please advise on dosage and the correct way to do a general health check for peafowl? And specifically how to check for exoparasites as that's what we we know we are dealing with next door.

Thanks in advance!

Even if your real problem is red mites it won't hurt to also treat the peafowl for lice. It is simple, easy, and may also help a bit with internal parasites. When using the Ivermectin pour-on, use 0.40ml and distribute it on the skin of the bird, Put the majority of it between the shoulders on the back, a tiny drop for face lice just behind the crest. Pull the feathers forward on the buttcheek to expose skin and do the same on the side of the breast to expose more skin or under the wing. There are two kinds of lice, body lice are larger and face lice are very tiny and can usually be seen drinking from the eye. There are no blood sucking lice on peafowl although there is another type called feather lice that attach their eggs to the base of the feathers. To treat them you need to use a dust like Sevin as they feed on dander.

 

[Lillith37]

use 0.40ml and distribute it on the skin of the bird, Put the majority of it between the shoulders on the back, a tiny drop for face lice just behind the crest. Pull the feathers forward on the buttcheek to expose skin and do the same on the side of the breast to expose more skin or under the wing.

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?