I'm fairly sure our mites are permethrin resistant at this point.
She's got a few to be seen, almost all of the older chickens do except the rooster. The young ones and bantams seem...resistant? They all spend almost equal time in each environment, so I cannot attribute it to "oh the bedding, or it's the nest boxes" reinfesting them etc. They are redmites, not roost mites, so at least that's something.
I literally bathed this chickens every 5 days or so all summer. Every time, treated surfaces too.
Too cold for bathing now, have done a few sessions of rump and wingpit spraying since September. Still, some always persist.
I'm finding chickens to be obnoxious creatures to keep. Might need to make big changes in my chicken plans. We've had chickens since March. Only March, and have had to deal with almost every chicken problem in the books. These guys are here to lay eggs, 90% of them are just livestock to us. We care about them but clearly I am over making time to care for every single individual bird with a booboo or bug.
But this is about Barb, one of my few pets
Sorry for the rant. Maybe there's an AHA moment coming.
What permethrin product have you been using?
You could try Ivermectin Pour On to see if that helps, I can give you dosing if you need that. If she's still got Red Mites, then this likely is contributing to her decline. She may have more going on, but the mites surely are not helping.
I'm so sorry that your chicken keeping experience has not been a pleasant one. I would agree with you that if you are finding them obnoxious to keep, then they may not be right for you. It's clear that you care for them, but there is nothing wrong with re-evaluating goals/lifestyle, etc. and making that decision that you need to let them go.