Tiny Mites, DE? Ivermectin? Help!

[kuki mom]

Trying again to see if anyone has had tiny whitish mites on chickens, they don't seem to bite but there are a ton. I had grain/mold mites infestation with their feed about a month ago, and only now I noticed mites feasting inside the chickens feathers. Some are stuck along the barbs of feathers and some crawling around their vents and skin in general. They are not red and they don't look like they are causing any harm to the chickens but I am slightly allergic to the mite dust. What could they possibly be if they are living on the chickens and are not red or brown? I saw the description of Northern Fowl Mites and pictures and what I have don't seem to be the same. All the birds have normal skin and feathers. Actually I'd say their feathers look very shiny and perfectly healthy. They must have had them for a while though because they are really infested. I dusted them with DE but I'm afraid it's causing them respiratory harm, and it didn't really work, the mites are still in the feathers, though they seem to be moving away from the skin where there is heavy DE application. Does anyone have experience with topical Ivermectin? Can I give them as preventive measure like I do on my dogs? These are pet birds, mostly roosters so I don't have to worry about egg withdrawal. I try to keep things as natural as possible but if Ivermectin is the best solution I'd do it. But if the mites are not the type that suck blood, would Ivermectin still work??? The mites are incredibly tiny, like size of house dust mites, definitely way less than 1 mm.

 

[azygous]

Do your chickens have access to dirt bathing? Dry soil outside? Or sand or peat moss inside the run? One of the valuable dividends of dirt bathing regularly is it removes many of these annoying bugs.

Ivermectin is such a heavy duty med, I'd reserves it for the parasites that can make life miserable for chickens. Permethrin garden and poultry dust is the best thing to use in your case if the dirt bathing fails to remove them.

If you have no dirt bathing area set up, you can put together a quick easy one with a cat litter box or a large shallow cardboard box and fill it with commercial garden or potting soil or dig up some dry soil from your garden. Dirt bathing is an essential chicken activity and needs to be included with basic chicken care.

 

[kuki mom]

Do your chickens have access to dirt bathing? Dry soil outside? Or sand or peat moss inside the run? One of the valuable dividends of dirt bathing regularly is it removes many of these annoying bugs.

Ivermectin is such a heavy duty med, I'd reserves it for the parasites that can make life miserable for chickens. Permethrin garden and poultry dust is the best thing to use in your case if the dirt bathing fails to remove them.

If you have no dirt bathing area set up, you can put together a quick easy one with a cat litter box or a large shallow cardboard box and fill it with commercial garden or potting soil or dig up some dry soil from your garden. Dirt bathing is an essential chicken activity and needs to be included with basic chicken care.

Great Thanks. Do you add DE to dirt bath? No problems for their respiratory system? So unless I see damage to their skin or feathers, don't give them ivermectin? permethrin is not very effective against house dust mites but maybe these are feather mites, I really don't know. So permethrin is milder than ivermectin? if in powder form what happens if chickens ingest some?

 

[ackie]

I've also got a couple of these on a bird atm

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Permethrin. Its a spray. Relatively mild, and quickly broken down by a protein reaction on the skin of all mammals, but absolutely lethal to bugs of all sorts. Ingestion at reasonable dosages will cause no issues whatsoever. No, your chickens can't drink the concentrate, and you should keep it away from their water sources (also, bad for fish if I recall correctly), but otherwise safe for your birds, safe for you.

 

[kuki mom]

Permethrin. Its a spray. Relatively mild, and quickly broken down by a protein reaction on the skin of all mammals, but absolutely lethal to bugs of all sorts. Ingestion at reasonable dosages will cause no issues whatsoever. No, your chickens can't drink the concentrate, and you should keep it away from their water sources (also, bad for fish if I recall correctly), but otherwise safe for your birds, safe for you.

great I'll look for permethrin spray. I found shampoo for dogs with permethrin, do you think bathing them with that would help?

 

[azygous]

Permethrin is a natural insecticide that is perfectly safe for chickens. It comes in spray, powder and concentrate. Just be sure to read the ingredients and avoid any product that has petroleum distillates in it as that is deadly to all living things and has no right to be in anything that living things come into contact with.

I would avoid DE as you've already concluded, it's not safe for any living thing that happens to be set up for actually breathing.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

DE also has the unfortunate habit of clumping up and becoming essentially useless in moist environments.

I use it for bug control in my barn, where things stay very dry, and in my plant shed. I do NOT use it in my hen house. More potential problems than its worth. Its also a slow kill, since it does so mechanically, rather than being a poison of some sort.

 

[kuki mom]

DE also has the unfortunate habit of clumping up and becoming essentially useless in moist environments.

I use it for bug control in my barn, where things stay very dry, and in my plant shed. I do NOT use it in my hen house. More potential problems than its worth. Its also a slow kill, since it does so mechanically, rather than being a poison of some sort.

Yeah i freaked ot seing the mites and dusted the chickens but it went all over the placewhen they shook they got it all over the face too i still have funny taste in my mouth and itchy nose the chickens are not sneezing anymore but it's scary. Didnt kill the mites

 

[ackie]

Yeah i freaked ot seing the mites and dusted the chickens but it went all over the placewhen they shook they got it all over the face too i still have funny taste in my mouth and itchy noise the chickens are not sneezing anymore but it's scary. Didnt kill the mites

Ick!