Doh! When we placed our hives, we didn't ever consider that we'd have to treat for mites! I need to treat my 6 hens for mites, but my beehives are only about 20 feet away from the chicken-run. Any suggestions for me? I've been studying up on Sevin 5% dust, Sevin spray (XLR Plus), Permethrin, and Ivermectin pour-on. I'm guessing the sevin dust would be the most risky for the bees due to it floating around in the air. And does anyone remember the ratio of linseed oil to kerosene (for the underside of the roost)? Thank you kindly.
I would use sevin and I hear you can use front line next to the vent. A drop to 3. You would have to read up on it but I heard it works great.
Thanks. I found a couple of things in the Chicken Health Handbook: The ivermectin is a cattle wormer, and the author says you should not eat the eggs after administering it orally. Sounds a little too gnarly for me. The mixture for the underside of the roost is one part kerosene to two parts linseed oil (p. 70).
I dusted the girls last night with permethrin. I decided on that one because it had a lower toxicity to honeybees than the carbaryl (sevin). I do appreciate the suggestions for DE, but I chose the more harsh option, because I noticed the girls being affected by the mites. They've been kind of subdued over the past week. Bawky-Sioux, my little chatterbox barred rock has been almost silent, and is standing around, feathers puffed up. It was pretty still out yesterday, and I dusted the girls in the front yard, well away from the hives. I also cleaned all the pine shavings out of the henhouse, sprinkled the tiniest amount of permethrin around the perimeter, and put down new pine shavings. Oh my goodness the whole process took 5 hours! I guess this is the non-glamorous part of owning chickens. I will check them tonight to see if I used enough powder to kill those little blood-suckers.
Ivermectin can and is used on humans, although not normally in the US. I continue to use their eggs with no withdrawal. There are some types of mites that bees get, you might try to find out what kind of mite control bee-keepers typically use; chances are that it would be effective on mites that affect poultry. Note that mites, unlike lice, are not particularly species specific. DE is not very effective as parasite control. Sevin is particularly toxic to bees, so I would be inclined to avoid using it in your situation,
I agree 100%. If your fowl do not show signs of scaley leg mites, I wouldn't bother with the roost........Pop
Dusted on Sunday, checked them on Wednesday (day 3 - no mites), and then waited (too long) until Sunday (day 8) to check and the mites were back. I'm pretty sure they've got northern fowl mites, and I found out the lifecyle for them is only 5-7 days! That's a shorter cycle than the red mites. http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/8162-54225.pdf I dusted them on Sunday night and I'll dust again on Thurs. (day 4) or Friday (day 5) to try and break the egg cycle this time. Just wanted to share my learning experience w/ y'all. Honeybees are still alive. Yay!
