Tea Tree oil for treating Mites?

[keaniebeanie]

I was out in the coop doing some work today and after coming in the house was itching like crazy. I saw very small insects crawling on the back of my wrists. Jumped in the shower and then started researching this site. I am wondering if anyone has tried treating their chickens and coops with Tea Tree oil?

I plan to pick up some Seving and also some DE tomorrow. I also need to get them some sand to dust bathe in. I have not seen them doing so outside.

Thank you all in advance for the advice.

 

[speckledhen]

Be careful putting tea tree on birds. It can be fatal, especially if they accidentally ingest it. It must be diluted to use on the birds. I have oiled my roosts after re-sanding with a mixture of veg oil with a few drops of tea tree oil mixed in to repel bugs.

 

[keaniebeanie]

I was thinking more along the lines of using Tea Tree shampoo. Or adding a few drops to shampoo. I will use a few drops in oil to put on the roosts after I treat them. I was just curious if it has ever been used as a natural remedy in treating mite infestations.

 

[ivan3]

Here is a bit of actual research on kill times of various agents on a human ectoparasite (seen one blood sucking arthropod, ya seen `em all):

Studies in vitro on the relative efficacy of current acaricides for Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Volume 94, Issue 1, Pages 92-96
S.Walton, M.Myerscough, B.Currie

Resistance of Sarcoptes scabiei to various topical therapies has been described, but clinical assessment of treatment failure is problematic and in-vitro assays are generally not available. We describe a simple in-vitro analysis used to evaluate the relative efficacy of a range of topical, oral, and herbal treatments available in Australia for the treatment of scabies. S. scabiei var. hominis mites were collected from skin scrapings obtained from 7 crusted scabies patients over a period of 2 years (1997 and 1998). Larvae, nymphal instars, and adult mites were tested within 3 h of collection and continuously exposed to selected commercially available treatment products until death, with the elapsed time recorded. Neem was the only product to show little acaricidal activity. Survival curves indicated that, of the other agents, 5% permethrin (Lyclear) had the slowest killing time, with 35% of mites still alive after 3 h, and 4% still alive after 18–22 h of constant exposure. In contrast, no mites were alive after 3 h exposure to 25% benzyl benzoate (Ascabiol), 1 % lindane (Quellada), 5% tea tree oil and 100–8000 ng/g of ivermectin (Equimec). Despite the slower killing time with 5% permethrin, there was no evidence of any mite tolerance in vivo or treatment failure in any patients or contact cases.

As the Tea Tree Oil can be toxic to chooks (hard to know just what combination of chook sensitivity/concentration of oil will result in a chook gone `legs up'), I'd stick with the Ivermectin. But if you do try, please post your results (will keep fingers crossed in meantime).​

 

[keaniebeanie]

I plan to use a dust specific for chickens/parasites. I was just curious if it was possible to use tea tree products for this problem. I am getting ready to head out to the farm supply to get my supplies now. I will let you know how it goes!!!

 

[Bridget399]

I am in social work and use the tea tree oil in my shampoo has a prevention to lice. Just a few drops in a full bottle is all it takes... I am, however, too scared to use it on my chickens. I like to use the dust for them.

 

[Tweets]

Safe2use.com has lots of good stuff for all kinds of bugs. Scabies, Lice etc., The guy who runs it was a termite inspector and did not like the chemicals so made up his own.
We get their Enzyme cleaner for cleaning and bathing the dogs. I will have to ask if it is okay for birds as one of their products was not but anyway it is worth checking out.

 

[rararanch]

Just wanted to add this link that talks about a study on tea tree and other oils to treat red mite on poultry
https://www.fwi.co.uk/poultry/new-strategies-for-dealing-with-red-mites-on-the-way

 

[MushroomFairy]

I am super confused about tea tree oil on chickens since I ran across this.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...y-production/49E3676378F39F5F94C3D009DF8EC70E