Thoughts/?'s about mites...

[Colberon]

We have been battling mites HARD here in Northern Maine, took me a long time to figure out why our chickens were going bald when they weren't old enough and it wasn't molting season. I am DETERMINED to beat them for the sake of my poor girls, please see questions and thoughts below...
1. I have 8 week old chicks who are in a separate coop, but share a run with a dividers for "see no touch" and I'm worried they will get mites; are they too young to dust with Permethrin powder?
2. I had the bright idea today about purchasing dog flee and tick shampoo; is this actually a bright idea or it would be useless? And...if it's a good idea would it be ok to bathe the babies?
3. We have been right on top of this since we finally figured out what was going on and I check the coop each day for mites and when I see even one I spray the entire coop with Permethrin, let dry and also sprinkle roost with the dust; will this be harmful to the chickens; it is usually a couple times a week.
4. We dust the birds with Permethrin, I've read to do it once a week; is it harmful to them if I do it more if they appear to still be having an issue?
Now for my thought/?...
1. I have had chickens on and off for probably 6 or 7 years and NEVER had a problems with mites (uncharted territory for me for sure) and I've been trying to figure out how/why we have such an infestations that we can't seem to get rid of and the only thing that I can think of is we had a very harsh winter and I put the stand up warmer plates in their coop; could the warm area have brought the mites to our coop??

Just an FYI: At least once a week I have been completely stripping the coop with the infestation, including the flooring and either power washing or vacuuming it completely out. I then spread the floor with Permethrin powder and put the linoleum back in the coop. I spray the entire inside of the coop with Permethrin mixed according to directions on the bottle, including cracks and crevices. I then put a limited amount of cedar shavings on the linoleum. I leave the side window the the coop to air out before letting the chickens back in and I also treat them before allowing them back in the freshly cleaned coop.

Any advice/help would be so much appreciated, I feel horrible to my girls, one is quite bald and we need to nip this before cold whether hits!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Mites don't usually cause baldness. Are you sure it isn't from feather picking?

Generally you dust birds and coop weekly for 3-4 weeks to break the life cycle. Wild birds will bring in mites so you will never be completely rid of them.

I have dusted day old chicks under a broody hen without problems.

 

[Colberon]

Mites don't usually cause baldness. Are you sure it isn't from feather picking?

Generally you dust birds and coop weekly for 3-4 weeks to break the life cycle. Wild birds will bring in mites so you will never be completely rid of them.

I have dusted day old chicks under a broody hen without problems.

Thank you for your response and yes I'm sure its mites, unfortunately they are red mites. I had tried to find out forever what was wrong and nobody could seem to help, but and finally I found pictures of chickens with a severe mite infestation and it looked like my chicks and one day about a month ago I went out and took their waterer off the door of their coop and it was LOADED with them! Since I've been treating them they are getting their feathers back, but it's a constant battle, I treat and don't see any for a few days and then I see a couple. (I have read they are horrible to try and get rid of.)

 

[cmom]

I have posted this a few times, the best product to get rid of the mites and lice in my opinion is permethrin which is very cost effective. There are other products that work well but are quite expensive. If mixed properly Permethrin works great. I had some birds that were severely infested with mites. I thought they were molting but weren't getting their feathers back in when I discovered they were loaded with the mites. The first thing I tried was DE. The birds weren't improving and still had mites. I first discovered them in only one coop but eventually found them on birds in another coop. I dusted the birds and the coops with the DE and no improvement after treating them for a couple of weeks. Next I did use some sevin dust that I had but it was almost gone but it did help. I did some research and came up with permethrin. I'm pretty sure the wild birds brought them into their coop, rodents can too. I have used the poultry dust on the birds and do use it in their nest boxes and spray inside of the coops, every crack and crevice, on and under the roosts, ceiling, walls, floors, anywhere the mites can hide. It's best to clean out the coop before you spray. I use pine shavings in my coops. I wear special clothing including a mask and gloves. I do a weekly spraying for awhile and put permethrin dust in the nest boxes. I have sprayed the birds getting under the wings and working it through their feathers with gloves which you can also do with the dust. My birds began to recover and get their feathers back in. I think if I hadn't treated with the permethrin when I did I probably would have lost some birds to the mites. The birds were in bad condition. Permethrin only kill live pests, not the pests eggs. TSC carries the poultry dust with permethrin, premixed spray bottles and the concentrate. I use the concentrate. For my initial application, I mixed it a little heavy. It did not affect the birds but I did keep them out of the coops while it dried. I spray my coops as needed and when I spray I do weekly spraying for 3 or 4 weeks then stop as I don't want the pests to develop a resistance to the permethrin. Repeated weekly spraying is necessary because again, it does not kill the mite eggs and as an added benefit is there is no egg withdrawal period. The birds are beautiful again. In my opinion the permethrin works great. Good luck...

 

[Colberon]

I have posted this a few times, the best product to get rid of the mites and lice in my opinion is permethrin which is very cost effective. There are other products that work well but are quite expensive. If mixed properly Permethrin works great. I had some birds that were severely infested with mites. I thought they were molting but weren't getting their feathers back in when I discovered they were loaded with the mites. The first thing I tried was DE. The birds weren't improving and still had mites. I first discovered them in only one coop but eventually found them on birds in another coop. I dusted the birds and the coops with the DE and no improvement after treating them for a couple of weeks. Next I did use some sevin dust that I had but it was almost gone but it did help. I did some research and came up with permethrin. I'm pretty sure the wild birds brought them into their coop, rodents can too. I have used the poultry dust on the birds and do use it in their nest boxes and spray inside of the coops, every crack and crevice, on and under the roosts, ceiling, walls, floors, anywhere the mites can hide. It's best to clean out the coop before you spray. I use pine shavings in my coops. I wear special clothing including a mask and gloves. I do a weekly spraying for awhile and put permethrin dust in the nest boxes. I have sprayed the birds getting under the wings and working it through their feathers with gloves which you can also do with the dust. My birds began to recover and get their feathers back in. I think if I hadn't treated with the permethrin when I did I probably would have lost some birds to the mites. The birds were in bad condition. Permethrin only kill live pests, not the pests eggs. TSC carries the poultry dust with permethrin, premixed spray bottles and the concentrate. I use the concentrate. For my initial application, I mixed it a little heavy. It did not affect the birds but I did keep them out of the coops while it dried. I spray my coops as needed and when I spray I do weekly spraying for 3 or 4 weeks then stop as I don't want the pests to develop a resistance to the permethrin. Repeated weekly spraying is necessary because again, it does not kill the mite eggs and as an added benefit is there is no egg withdrawal period. The birds are beautiful again. In my opinion the permethrin works great. Good luck...

Thank you for your response and yes, I've been using the Garden Poultry Dust and the Permethrin and I'm seeing improvements; I'm just looking to get some of my answers above answered so that I don't overdose and burn the chickens, etc. I mix the liquid as directed on the instructions for spraying on surfaces; would you suggest making it stronger and if yes was would you suggest as the strength? Also, I use the cedar shavings on the linoleum floor; do you think this is ok or would you recommend using something else? Thanks in advance for any help that you or anyone else can offer!

 

[AllenK RGV]

Make sure you treat the chicken roosts and nesting bedding liberally with permethrin according to the product insert. We bought the 10% concentrate from TSC and only managed to treat half of our birds. It didn't matter those mites were toast in one application. X2 to @cmom it was so disgusting having those things running up my arms and legs from either handling chicken or going in to the coops to collect eggs. I used about 1 gallon on the surface treatment part with a pump sprayer in my 8x10 coop. Then the 4x8 roosting area for the other one.

We still have a lifetime supply of the concentrate left over.

 

[Colberon]

Make sure you treat the chicken roosts and nesting bedding liberally with permethrin according to the product insert. We bought the 10% concentrate from TSC and only managed to treat half of our birds. It didn't matter those mites were toast in one application. X2 to @cmom it was so disgusting having those things running up my arms and legs from either handling chicken or going in to the coops to collect eggs. I used about 1 gallon on the surface treatment part with a pump sprayer in my 8x10 coop. Then the 4x8 roosting area for the other one.

We still have a lifetime supply of the concentrate left over.

Thanks for the response, I've heard that red mites are way more difficult to get rid of than others and that's what we have, therefore maybe that's why we're having more trouble. I do spray literally EVERYTHING inside the coop and we have even dusted the entire ground within the run. The good news is, the chickens feathers appear to be returning and they seem more comfortable.

 

[cmom]

Make sure you treat the chicken roosts and nesting bedding liberally with permethrin according to the product insert. We bought the 10% concentrate from TSC and only managed to treat half of our birds. It didn't matter those mites were toast in one application. X2 to @cmom it was so disgusting having those things running up my arms and legs from either handling chicken or going in to the coops to collect eggs. I used about 1 gallon on the surface treatment part with a pump sprayer in my 8x10 coop. Then the 4x8 roosting area for the other one.

We still have a lifetime supply of the concentrate left over.

I have several coops I have been using a backpack sprayer. I like the pump handle.

 

[cmom]

The mite infestation doesn't end overnight. It doesn't kill the mite eggs so when they hatch you will have the pests again unless you do another treatment. It may take 3 or 4 weekly treatments to completely eliminate them.

 

[Colberon]

The mite infestation doesn't end overnight. It doesn't kill the mite eggs so when they hatch you will have the pests again unless you do another treatment. It may take 3 or 4 weekly treatments to completely eliminate them.

Yes, we've been treating hard for about 3 weeks, but still seeing some, but chickens are improving thanks goodness, what I'm really looking for is answers to my questions in my original post.