sevin dust for mites/ lice :-(

[karri25]

Ok, the life cycle of mites and lice is two weeks so you should repeat treatment every two weeks until the infestation is gone.

Here is a tip I found on applying the dust to the birds that I think is going to save me sooooo much time:
put sevin dust in a trash bag and then put your bird in with their head sticking out and shake the bag around! I was REALLY not looking forward to rubbing dust into their vents

 

[karri25]

ok onemore question...I am going to treat for leg mites too just in case and
1)does the vaseline thing work for cochins?
2)if it's really cold will the vaseline freeze? I know that question is stupid but I want to make sure.

 

[Heidi]

I didn't treat for leg mites because mine didn't have any. I have cochins too and I can't imagine trying to put vaseline on their legs, but good luck. The trash bad idea is decent - probably alot quicker than what I was doing. I will try that since it looks like I need to dust them again this weekend. Thanks for the info. And yes, your plan of attack sounds good.

Vaseline won't freeze. Most people with rooster w/ large combs will put vaseline on them prior to a hard freeze or weather below freezing.

 

[karri25]

Duh about the vaseline, I should have remembered reading that.

Putting it on the cochins is weird by the way, I am definately all greasy and ruined these jeans I was wearing.

The bag didn't work. I don't know if they were really stinky bags or what but their claws ripped it so I went your route. It took me all day to do the chicken house and run and dust all of the birds and bathe half of them!!!! I am so tired and yet still my house needs to be swept and mopped:-( I ran out of sevin sort of. Do you think that it will kill the mites even if I didn't have enough to put down in the run? I put down what I had left and raked it all up so that it would get everywhere. I just don't think I had enough. I am going to put out some more tommorrow but I don't want to have to deal with a reinfestation. I am already dreading the next time I have to treat:-(

Also, my chickens are normally very healthy. I think the transplants brought home more than themselves:-(

 

[bantymum]

Hello, I personally would not use straw.
Yes it looks nice and snuggly but it breeds thingies in it.
I guess though with the low temps you get over there you need it!!!
I switched from straw to shavings with the best results ever.

 

[Heidi]

It is a tiring job - I ended up going to bed at 9:00 pm that day cause I was so tired. Trying to catch 18 hens and 1 rooster was the worse though. Normally they all come up to me and I carry them around and pet them, but after they saw what I did to the first girl they were gone! I ran around that coop for over an hour trying to catch them. My butt and legs were so sore the next day I could bearly get up from a sitting position.

I would definitely dust your run when you get more Sevin. You might want to put apple cider vinager (organic) in your water for the girls to boost their immunity just in case that Sevin got into their lungs. Mine get it every day in their water - it's suppose to be really good for them. Just something else to consider.

 

[bantymum]

A traditional method for scaley legs mites is one part caraway seeds crushed with mortar and pestle with 5 parts of petroleum jelly.
Scaley legs are usually transferred through dust and litter, not directly from other chickens.

 

[karri25]

ok, here's the deal and give me your oppinions please. I use straw in their nesting boxes b/c they like it. Everywhere else in their house I use shavings. I also put straw in their run right now and here is why: our yard literally turns into a swamp when it rains a long while. Well, I live in Arkansas and rains a long while in the fall. It was either put down something or they would be swimming. After reading so many people's posts about how bad straw is though I am currently looking for bags of leaves.

I will put some acv in their water today. I put in there every so often but not all of the time.
I got some more dust so I will put that down in the small run and their sandbox.

Do y'all think that will work??? I really don't like little buggies and I feel so bad for all of my girls:-(

And yes, I was EXHAUSTED last night!

 

[SandraChick]

Well....I'm getting into this thread late....but ....I'll give my 2cents anyway....

I'm a big fan of Food Grade DE...Sevin Dust has perythrins and other stuff in it. Perythrins are toxic to cats and should not be inhaled.....so that's why I chose not to use it myself.

I treat every bird that comes onto my property. Mites can be transferred by hay...but many times your birds can get it just because the wild birds have been infested. This is why I'm ademate about putting DE everywhere my chickens hang out as a preventative.

IN the coop shavings....
IN the nesting boxes...
Weekly add DE to favorite dusting areas....

THis makes it so that the chickens are effectively dusting themselves with DE regularly.

SOmeone I know had a huge infestation come into his flock of >100birds. I told him about DE and he just ended up putting piles of it in each coop (he had big ones)...the birds began to dust bathe in those piles on their own right away---he said it was almost as if they knew that's what they needed!!! Anyway- he's been spot checking chickens, and he hasn't seen any more sign of mites....


My treatment for scaley mites is a mixture of mineral oil and tea tree oil. Really- anything greasy or oily works, but my thinking is the more liquidy it is means it can get into the nooks and crannys under the scales better. The tea tree oil has natural antibiotic and antifungal properties which helps with secondary infections from advanced scaley mites (I had a rescue that lost the majority of her scales due to mites). It's important to oil the roosts as well. For this I spray orange oil (sold as orange guard at ace hardware). I spray ALL the wood in the coop, and reapply on the roosts as necessary (when they look really dry....it means it needs more oil). The oily roosts also helps control mites, as it helps kill them when they drop off. If you have a lot of chickens...keeping the oily mixture in a coffee can with a lid makes it easy to dip the legs in and then have it available for future use. I do treatments once a week for 3 weeks...

Additionally- if you have a wood stove...WOOD ash is great for ridding mites....PUt them in piles in your run...and they will dust bathe in it. DOn't do this if you burn trash in your stove.

Good Luck
Sandra

 

[karri25]

Thanks for the advice. I didn't know to oil the roosts, thanks for the tip.

I have tried to get de at my feed store but they will only order the kind that's not food grade. I guess I will have to ante up and order offline:-( I just don't have very much money right now so all of this crap I have been buying is adding up.