Sick chicken now has mites??

[MshVT]

I have had a chicken in quarantine for a couple of weeks now due to an illness and possible infection. She was treated for coccidia and also given amoxicillin (today is her last dose). She was very lethargic and not eating for most of this time and definitely not laying she has turned a corner this week. She is finally up and walking around and foraging in the grass. She does not seem interested in her feed yet and her stool is still very runny. When putting her up for the night the other day I saw TINY little bugs on her legs. And I mean tiny. And if I touched her they would crawl on me. I changed all bedding and dusted the new bedding with first saturday lime (it's what I have right now), yesterday I made her a dust bath and held her in it and rubbed it all in her feathers. She hasn't been doing this herself since being sick. I looked at my other chickens and I don't currently see any signs of mites so I think it is just her since she has not had access to them for a couple weeks. This is my first time dealing with mites. I have no idea what kind they are. They are not red in color and they are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. What is the best treatment for this? I have been reading about Ivermectin Pour on as an option. And once treated how do I prevent it? All the healthy chickens dust themselves in the yard regularly. Thank you for your help!

 

[6BeachChicks]

@azygous @Wyorp Rock @Eggcessive

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Permethrin dust and spray can be found at TSC. You can either dust or spray her in 7 day intervals.
It would be wise to treat the housing/coop as well as you other birds too.

 

[MshVT]

Permethrin dust and spray can be found at TSC. You can either dust or spray her in 7 day intervals.
It would be wise to treat the housing/coop as well as you other birds too.

Thank you. How long do you typically have to treat for? Do you have to toss eggs? And I’m assuming it’s ok if they ingest the dust?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you. How long do you typically have to treat for? Do you have to toss eggs? And I’m assuming it’s ok if they ingest the dust?

You can either dust or spray her in 7 day intervals.
It would be wise to treat the housing/coop as well as you other birds too.

Treat in 7 day intervals to rid of the critters.
No egg withdrawal for Permethrin.
They really shouldn't be ingesting much dust, if they are, then your using too much.

 

[MshVT]

Treat in 7 day intervals to rid of the critters.
No egg withdrawal for Permethrin.
They really shouldn't be ingesting much dust, if they are, then your using too much.

So I used spray and dust (not both on the chicken) and I’m watching the mites crawl over both as if there’s nothing there. Is there something more effective? I was also elbow deep in bedding in the main coop and there are no mites. It’s just this one. I’m literally burning the small coop she was using now and am using a plastic bin for her.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What product do you have?

 

[MshVT]

What product do you have?

The name says pro zap. The store said it’s what I need and the canister says for control of northern fowl mites. The dust is 0.25% permitherin and the spray is 0.5%. Numbers appear slightly less today but they are definitely still there. I reached out to my vet but she still hasn’t bothered to get back to me.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Are you ruffling her feathers to get the permethrin dust to make contact? Just asking. When I dust my birds, I put the dust in a sock, then I methodically move feathers, tap the sock onto the bird to get a fine dust, rub it in and repeat.

I'm sorry you're struggling, parasites can be a nightmare.

 

[Banana01]

I don't think you have to worry too much if your main chicken house is not infested. Yes clean and burn the second house bedding. Glad she has recovered, thats always a food feeling.

Mites are devastating to babies, but the adults can take care and clean themselves. You may have to help her initially as she has been ill, but as she recovers she will hopefully start to bathe herself. You just need to make sure your chickens have adequate place to bathe.

The way I handle the babies infestation involves medicine and cleaning, because mites are a death sentence to the small ones. You can buy an anti-parasite medicine that says on the label "for use with internal and external parasites", for example i have a bottle of ivermectin that says this. So far you have done everything necessary to get rid of them. Just keep them out of the main house and away from the babies. Yes they crawl on your skin, but we humans can feel them itch and scratch them off, chickens have lots of places on their body they can't get them off if they get settled especially on the head and under wings, but if you dont see the red clusters then you caught them in time. Red clustsers are the infestations where they are sucking the blood and that is a pain the deal with. Only ever happens to my babies, never had problem with adults and i live in a parasite hell.