So fed up!!! Ivermectin time?

[DellaMyDarling]

Northern Fowl Mites are driving me insane.
I never see lice, but I see tons of eggs (inform me, could previous Permethrin baths have taken care of the lice? Do eggs ever die as is? How come these egg clusters never go away?!)
And, my older hens are doing not as lively as I would like to see.
Not enough eggs.
Yucky bums on some hens.
They're all stuck in a run, hanging out with their droppings instead of ranging around over varied terrain.
Never wormed the flock.

It sounds like I can use Ivermectin to treat internal AND external?
How?
What kind of Ivermectin?

 

[Folly's place]

Ivermectin is easy to use and covers many parasites, BUT it's not approved for poultry, especially laying hens, because it will be in their egg yolks for a long time. It is a lovely product...
Have you had fecals run at the veterinarian's? Find out if there are intestinal parasites, and what kind. Fenbendazole is the approved drug for many types of intestinal worms, but no one drug treats everything!
Mites are a real pain!!! Wild birds bring them in, repeatedly, at least here. Permethrin does work very well, with no egg withdrawal, and the spray is easy to use. Bedding needs to be changed, and every inch of the coop sprayed.
Mary

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Do you have mites and lice at the same time? Mites spend most of their time off the chickens, so to eradicate them, you’d have to thoroughly clean and spray down the coop as well.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

We don't have a vet or extra money.

My primary concern is the mites and lice that Permethrin is NOT killing.
Several birds are withering away to nothing, as the mites are out of control.

I can either find a way to run fecals or I can just buy medicine to fix the known problem, but I can't afford to do both right now.
Bonus if medicine also takes care of internal parasites, as there's some signs my flock might need help there too. The mites however, ARE killing them.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Do you have mites and lice at the same time? Mites spend most of their time off the chickens, so to eradicate them, you’d have to thoroughly clean and spray down the coop as well.

Yes, some hens have both, many have one or the other.

We are dealing with Northern Fowl Mites, that only live on the birds.
Not coop mites, thankfully, because there's literally no way to fix that in my situation.

 

[cmom]

Permethrin works. I had a severe infestation of mites primarily in one coop which I attribute to wild birds that had tried to build nests in the coop. My birds were ugly. I thought they were molting but they didn't seem to be getting their feathers back in so upon closer inspection I discovered they were covered with mites. I used a fine toothed comb and took off some eggs I found on one bird. I did spray the birds, as well as their nest boxes, ceilings, walls, floors, on and under the roosts, any crack and crevices with a gallon sprayer so I could reach the hard to reach areas with the wand and repeat weekly for awhile because it doesn't kill the pests eggs. I use permethrin dust on my birds and in their nest boxes. If you have a TSC they carry the permethrin powder, premixed spray bottles and the concentrate. No egg withdrawal period. I bathed the infected birds using flea shampoo. It did help get rid of some of the pests but not all. The birds actually relaxed and seemed to enjoy being bathed. Since treating the coop and birds, no more mites and the birds are beautiful again.

 

[cmom]

Every over-the-counter (OTC) treatment of head lice contains either pyrethrins (Rid or Triple X) or permethrin (Nix). Both are effective treatment. Both only kill live pests, not eggs.