Something is wrong with trudy!

[Slike]

But with Trudy, since she seems very weak and lethargic and is having ataxia of her legs, you can *carefully* take a glove or something as a barrier between your skin and the DE, and gently make sure that DE gets all over her. In a well lit, draft-free place, work it into her feathers from her keel, between the keel and her legs, around her butt fluff, above the tail, her back, over and under sides of the wings and carefully up her neck, making sure to avoid it getting in her eyes or nostrils. The well lit and breeze or draft-free area is important because it is a lung and mucous membrane irritant for humans. The good lightning will let you see any little puffs of it in the air and avoid inhaling it.

Understand that chickens can and do ingest it without negative effect. Its all I ever used to treat Gapeworm, for example, because it was SO effective.

That being said, it needs to be PURE DE, not "pool DE". There is a very important difference. Food-grade DE is not typically far or hard to find. Any respectable livestock / pet / feed store will have it, for instance.

You don't want to be breathing it. It won't kill you, but by god, its uncomfortable if you get it in your throat, etc. Its such a fine powder that slow, deliberate movements are best, so that it doesn't get all stirred up airborne and into your face.

 

[Chelseyb123]

Ill do thAT it didn't rain today and where should I bring her in my basement? She's away from the others right now.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

The same old Diatomaceous Earth will knock out mites if your flock will just dirt bathe in earth with a liberal amount of DE tossed on the surface or mixed in. With my current adults, despite the fact that they've got a big old run to muck about in, they prefer to climb up into large pots I have filled with soil and do their dirt bathing in there.

View attachment 1172121

So if its soggy and raining and bleh outside, see if you can obtain a concrete mixing tub
(Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Walmart and many other chain stores carry them - just call ahead to make sure). That way you can place nice earth mixed with DE in it for them to bathe in, and place that inside their sheltered area of the coop. You don't want it getting rained in.

DE will not help with the mites

you need permethrin or better yet pour-on ivermectin if its mites


@Chelseyb123 can you get her to a vet?
how does her poop look
is she eating
is she drinking
has she lost weight??

 

[Slike]

If the basement is the best spot you think to do the DE dusting to Trudy, then go with what works. Just put something like newspaper, etc down unless you don't mind having the excess all over your floor or table.

If you don't have dogs or animals that would harass her afterwards, its probably better to keep her upstairs in a crate so that she hears, sees and knows you're around and that she isn't all alone. Depression from isolation is a very real thing for these birds.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

But with Trudy, since she seems very weak and lethargic and is having ataxia of her legs, you can *carefully* take a glove or something as a barrier between your skin and the DE, and gently make sure that DE gets all over her. In a well lit, draft-free place, work it into her feathers from her keel, between the keel and her legs, around her butt fluff, above the tail, her back, over and under sides of the wings and carefully up her neck, making sure to avoid it getting in her eyes or nostrils. The well lit and breeze or draft-free area is important because it is a lung and mucous membrane irritant for humans. The good lightning will let you see any little puffs of it in the air and avoid inhaling it.

Understand that chickens can and do ingest it without negative effect. Its all I ever used to treat Gapeworm, for example, because it was SO effective.

That being said, it needs to be PURE DE, not "pool DE". There is a very important difference. Food-grade DE is not typically far or hard to find. Any respectable livestock / pet / feed store will have it, for instance.

You don't want to be breathing it. It won't kill you, but by god, its uncomfortable if you get it in your throat, etc. Its such a fine powder that slow, deliberate movements are best, so that it doesn't get all stirred up airborne and into your face.

The same old Diatomaceous Earth will knock out mites if your flock will just dirt bathe in earth with a liberal amount of DE tossed on the surface or mixed in. With my current adults, despite the fact that they've got a big old run to muck about in, they prefer to climb up into large pots I have filled with soil and do their dirt bathing in there.

View attachment 1172121

So if its soggy and raining and bleh outside, see if you can obtain a concrete mixing tub
(Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Walmart and many other chain stores carry them - just call ahead to make sure). That way you can place nice earth mixed with DE in it for them to bathe in, and place that inside their sheltered area of the coop. You don't want it getting rained in.

The only thing DE is good for is irritating your chickens' lungs. I tried it on my chickens when they only had some mites, but it didn't help at all. I ended up losing a rooster due to having too much mites on him.

I suggest using permethrin dust or spray. Maybe ivermectin or Elector instead.

 

[tastyacres]

I agree I have never had DE help with mites....

 

[Slike]

DE will not help with the mites

you need permethrin or better yet pour-on ivermectin if its mites

Just a couple of months ago I retrieved a hen from a friend of mine's care. I had needed to give up my whole flock a few years back due to serious illness, as I wasn't sure I'd survive. Turns out I did, so I came back home and got a few of my old birds that I'd hatched back. The second one I retrieved was COVERED and crawling in mites. I couldn't believe how bad it was. Within seconds of touching or picking her up an army of the little bastards just started racing up my arms.

She's 100% mite free now. I only used one thing, and that thing is Diatomaceous Earth. It is NOT the cure-all everyone tries to make it out to be, just as ACV is only appropriate in specific applications. However, DE does have a place in the chicken keeper'list of remedies, because yes, actually, it DOES work in the rightly indicated instances. DE is the only thing I've ever used for mite control, and after 26 years of doing such I can say with all confidence that it does work.

Understand that the eggs laid by any mites (if mites are indeed present) will have to be dealt with in the near future as well. This is where offering them the dirt bath 24/7 with the DE in it comes in. This is how I manage my flock and have forever. My birds don't get mites on my watch.

Pyrethrin works so effectively against the majority of invertebrates because it is a neurotoxin, but not just to invertebrates. I used to use it in the past because I was ignorant of the long-term health hazards it poses. Let's have some quotes.

"To ensure long-lasting effects, the pyrethroid may be mixed with a fixative to make it stay on plants and soil longer, and other chemicals, such as piperonyl butoxide, which prevent the insects from detoxifying, and "inert ingredients". One of the problems is that manufacturers are not required to list the inert ingredients - even though they may themselves be highly toxic or cause know allergic and other reactions in organisms exposed to them - such as you, your children, and your pets."

and

"Pyrethroids, like all toxins, are indiscriminate: they affect all the organisms who come into contact with them in the air, on plants, on the ground, in the soil, and in the water. While your local grower - or you - may be applying it to deal with a specific pest, the products affect everything around it. And, since particulates are easily airborne, they travel, often great distances, from the actual point of application."

Using microscopic fossilized organisms to abrade and rupture the skin of the mites so that they bleed, dry out and die is highly preferable in my mind to spraying a man-made bastardized derivative of an already poisonous plant.

 

[Slike]

For a complete management practice which you do need to employ regardless of which method you're choosing to use against mites, you must also treat their nesting / roosting environment. If you simply dust the chickens or give them access to DE-laden dust baths and do nothing to "treat the sheets". the parasites will continue to hatch and shelter and exist in droves within your coop or housing structure.

Because its impractical to get DE all up on the roof, cover the wire with it, etc, I've found that 2-3 drops of cedar essential oil in a 2oz spray bottle filled with water, shaken up and sprayed on such surfaces works a treat. The cedar oil works because it alters the mites' pH (negatively for them), damages and dehydrates their internal tissues, topped off with eating the coating off their eggs.

Doesn't hurt the chickens. Its not poisonous to you. Care must be taken with essential oils not to get the undiluted oil on the skin, as it *is* an irritant in its hyper-concentrated form. There's tons of information online about how to use essential oils for everything from air fresheners, natural cleaning solutions to Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which is what I'm recommending this one for.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

i am not trying to start an argument with you, just trying to give advice to the OP
if the bird is that sick she needs something that will be fast acting and give relief asap
i am also not sure that mites actually are the problem, HENCE my follow up questions

 

[Slike]

i am not trying to start an argument with you, just trying to give advice to the OP
if the bird is that sick she needs something that will be fast acting and give relief asap
i am also not sure that mites actually are the problem, HENCE my follow up questions

Yes, I understand. I also want the OP to make certain the presence of mites is either confirmed positive or negative first. Since mites are such a common ailment it only makes sense to do a check for them first, and the treatments for them are simple if taken care of with haste, especially given Trudy's already poor condition.

Its also good practice to make sure the person is as informed on their various options as is possible.

A vet is not necessary if it is mites. This saves you a lot of money, stress, and stress for the chicken in question. If its not mites, given her current state, you may want to opt to take her to a vet, because there isn't a lot of time to take to further try to assess what's going on with her. But its pricey and (I can only speak for myself) my experience with vets has been consistently highly disappointing other than for critical surgeries that I could not perform myself due to lack of proper instrumentation or knowledge at the time.