SEVIN DUST for mites

[goldeneggtees]

Hi Dawg! Been having horrible mite problems here with my hens this winter, with all the snow, no one has been able to dust bathe. I finally made them a dust bathing box in their coop and so far only the youngins have been using it.

I've been dusting butts with Poultry dust but it seems the little "suckers" are immune.

I can't wait for Spring and warm weather. I have never had issues like this before. UGH!

 

[dawg53]

Hi Dawg! Been having horrible mite problems here with my hens this winter, with all the snow, no one has been able to dust bathe. I finally made them a dust bathing box in their coop and so far only the youngins have been using it.

I've been dusting butts with Poultry dust but it seems the little "suckers" are immune.

I can't wait for Spring and warm weather. I have never had issues like this before. UGH!

Poultry dust contains permethrin, sevin contains carbaryl. Did you dust the inside of the coop/nests after dusting your birds and repeat dusting both in 7 to 10 days? If not, expect your birds to continue to get mites.

 

[chickisoup]

Just a bit of "2 cents" from an old farmer here. You can no longer purchase Sevin over the counter at the strength once used by everyone for everything (thus why you can no longer buy 10% Sevin). That said, the 5% Sevin is plenty strong enough to get the job done on mites and lice. When using, I am very careful that no one, me or the birds, breathes the stuff. Not good to inhale and definitely not meant for consumption! Wow, that lady must have been a real nutjob! Her poor animals.

BTW - I do not use it unless I discover a heavy infestation that needs to be knocked down quickly. I prefer to use other, less toxic methods whenever possible. I do however like to put Sevin as the bottom "layer" when I do a complete cleanout of the coop floor, the shavings in catch board under roost and nestboxes. I do Sevin, lightly, then DE then my bedding.

 

[CraftyChicky]

While I appreciate the concern over Sevin use as lice/mite control on poultry and danger to bees, I don't see it as a problem. There are no blooming plants in my coop area, nor inside my coop, so I don't anticipate using Sevin for external parasite control having a negative effect on bees. I do have 2 hives, and would never use powdered sevin in my garden, but on the chickens...I will use it there. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[Dee Dee 2]

You don't have to have flowers in your coop or chicken area for bees to 'visit' there. I personally hate Sevin dust. The older I get the more I realize we MUST start finding more natural means to deal with parasites. There is too much conclusive evidence we are poisoning our environment for a quick fix to a problem. I find no need to make Monsanto and other big chemical company rich. There are alternatives.

 

[dawg53]

You don't have to have flowers in your coop or chicken area for bees to 'visit' there. I personally hate Sevin dust. The older I get the more I realize we MUST start finding more natural means to deal with parasites. There is too much conclusive evidence we are poisoning our environment for a quick fix to a problem. I find no need to make Monsanto and other big chemical company rich. There are alternatives.

Do you know what sevin dust contains?

 

[seminolewind]

I like Sevin. My grandfather used it to dust his tomatoes. There's also poultry dust, but I don't buy it. I go in the coop at night and give everyone a sprinkle and "fluff" it in. I also sprinkle some in nests and "fluff" it in. Works great for me. I am really not sure about it working on leg mites, maybe someone can enlighten me.

 

[chickisoup]

Just did a bit of "spring cleaning". Upended one of my girls and what I'm confident were lice egg clusters soooooo, everybody got the ol' shake and bake!

Well, everybody but Max, my big Aussie roo. He is just too big so he just had to put up with the humiliation of being upended. Boy, was he so not thrilled but he knows better than give me a hard time, I love him but I'm still clearly top roo!

Then it was tear the coop apart, out with the old, in with a nice layer of Sevin, DE and then woodships in the nestboxes and catchboard under the roost. Too cold here yet (supposed to snow again tonight) to do a good Oxine scrub down but that's coming ASAP.

Oh, and about my previous comment about heavy infestation? Sorry, but to me ANY lice is too heavy, YUCK!!! and never found anything that works better than Sevin on lice. I too try my best to be environmentally responsible whenever possible (my gardens are certified organic, no kidding) but I am in a real predator zone so free range is not an option, tho they do have more than one nice fenced grass area they are rotated thru in the SUMMER, which is a little over 3 months here if we're lucky so they also spend a lot of greenhouse time in the winter.

 

[TheDens]

I'm new to chickens, but not to pesticides. Short term exposure to carbaryl isn't dangerous to humans, dogs, or birds, however, it can be toxic if ingested. Cats are much more sensitive to exposure than many other animals. Regular exposure over one's lifetime has been shown to increase cancer risk, so it's not something I'd use more often than necessary. It is VERY toxic to beneficial insects and a lot of other animals, though, including bees, earthworms, fish, crustaceans, etc, and it does not break down quickly in water, so I wouldn't recommend using it in an area prone to runoff.

 

[chickisoup]

I'm new to chickens, but not to pesticides. Short term exposure to carbaryl isn't dangerous to humans, dogs, or birds, however, it can be toxic if ingested. Cats are much more sensitive to exposure than many other animals. Regular exposure over one's lifetime has been shown to increase cancer risk, so it's not something I'd use more often than necessary. It is VERY toxic to beneficial insects and a lot of other animals, though, including bees, earthworms, fish, crustaceans, etc, and it does not break down quickly in water, so I wouldn't recommend using it in an area prone to runoff.

Hi TheDens!
totally agree about taking care to not over use or inhale Sevin. I only use it under bedding, etc. when I know I am dealing with a problem otherwise I use DE judiciously. I had one hen somehow get a bad case of lice (and she generously shared before I caught it) in the late fall and I thought I had knocked it out till now. I am careful that nobody, including me, inhales the stuff. I also don't like putting it in their dust baths for the same reason. I use wood ash and DE instead.