Areyoucluckingme
Chirping
- Jun 14, 2022
- 79
- 94
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I live in very northern Washington state, almost to Canada. The temps here in winter get to be at LEAST 10 degrees F, but often -20F. Will this kill off my red mite issue?
A little back story. I've had chickens for 3 years now (was a total newbie). Always been in the same coop. I keep the coop very clean. This year was the first year I noticed a mite problem and I learned the hard way. One of my girls was getting a pale comb and getting lethargic and I didn't know why. Since the mites were hiding during the day and I didn't see any actively on her, I genuinely didn't know. Then one day she died and almost around the same time I was in the coop really early in the morning and saw it CRAWLING with red mites. I was mortified. I felt terrible my girl died a slow death from that.
I completed cleaned out the coop of all bedding after that, sprayed it with a spray from the feed store (I don't remember what the active ingredient was), and sprinkled DE in with all the new bedding. Also sprayed the chickens and was spraying the coop for 3 days straight.
well it seemed like that minimized the issue but didn't eradicate them. Now one of my Australorps is also showing signs of a pale comb but she also has scaly leg mites so I treated her with topical ivermectin and her pale comb went away within 48 hours. It really seems to help with red mites even though some stuff you read online tells you otherwise. She appears to have bounced back and is doing well, and I will be treating her with a second dose of ivermectin.
Here's my thing: I am assuming the mites are new this year to me. It could be they have been there for the past 3 years but I feel like I would have noticed my chickens acting off or seen them, so I'd like to think this is their first year. And if that is the case, I'm hoping the cold temps will kill them off and not be an issue next year?
A little back story. I've had chickens for 3 years now (was a total newbie). Always been in the same coop. I keep the coop very clean. This year was the first year I noticed a mite problem and I learned the hard way. One of my girls was getting a pale comb and getting lethargic and I didn't know why. Since the mites were hiding during the day and I didn't see any actively on her, I genuinely didn't know. Then one day she died and almost around the same time I was in the coop really early in the morning and saw it CRAWLING with red mites. I was mortified. I felt terrible my girl died a slow death from that.
I completed cleaned out the coop of all bedding after that, sprayed it with a spray from the feed store (I don't remember what the active ingredient was), and sprinkled DE in with all the new bedding. Also sprayed the chickens and was spraying the coop for 3 days straight.
well it seemed like that minimized the issue but didn't eradicate them. Now one of my Australorps is also showing signs of a pale comb but she also has scaly leg mites so I treated her with topical ivermectin and her pale comb went away within 48 hours. It really seems to help with red mites even though some stuff you read online tells you otherwise. She appears to have bounced back and is doing well, and I will be treating her with a second dose of ivermectin.
Here's my thing: I am assuming the mites are new this year to me. It could be they have been there for the past 3 years but I feel like I would have noticed my chickens acting off or seen them, so I'd like to think this is their first year. And if that is the case, I'm hoping the cold temps will kill them off and not be an issue next year?
