My husband and I are new to chickens this spring and have been watching them grow and start laying. About two weeks ago he noticed that when he was done cleaning the coop he became itchy and felt like things were crawling on him. Well, then last week when I collected the eggs I noticed some little brown, moving dots on the eggs. We are assuming they are mites from what we have read (not sure what kind). This weekend we cleaned the coop and dusted the cracks with poultry dust and then dusted the floors with DE and the birds with DE. We did not want to use the poultry dust on the birds if we didn't have to. Wanted to try the natural method first. Does anyone know how long before we can see any results? When I collected the eggs today there were still a bunch of brown spots moving on the eggs and they crawl on our hands just from collecting the eggs. Will we have to treat the birds with the poultry dust too? So bummed out. No one that we talk to around us that has chickens said that they have mites. My husband has tried to do all the right things to keep the birds healthy. He gives them yogurt and ACV as a preventive and cleans the coop every day. Also, the birds look very healthy. No bare spots. We want to keep them healthy. Any advice would be appreciated.
The result when using dusting should be immediate. You need to use the poultry dust on the birds. Sevin dust is wonderful. You will see all the nasty little bugs come to the top of the feathers and start falling off within 5 mintues of putting it on. Just make sure you get it on them down to the skin.
I use food grade DE. I place it in the nest boxes, the area where they take dust baths and in the coops. Heck I even put it in their food. NO BUGS of any kind.
Since you have an active infestation, you really need to use some type of poultry dust directly on the chickens. DE won't kill an active infestation. You can use a Sevin based or Permethrin/Pyrethrin based poulty dust. You can also try Ivermectin pour on, a cattle dewormer that can also be used for chickens to take care of internal and external parasites. It seems like no matter how clean you keep things, mites can cause a problem and you have to be really proactive. I had a problem with mites on one of my chickens and it got so bad she picked a bald spot on her back and was losing weight. She's doing fine now, with all the great advice I got here on BYC, but she suffered for a while because I also thought the DE was enough. PLEASE, do a search in the forum for Mites, get all the available information and treat your birds before it gets more serious. Good luck.
I like the DE route too, but I think mimichick has hit the nail on the head. It is too late for preventative methods, which is what use of DE is. You will do well to do the 10% sevin dust on birds, AFTER cleaning out and burnig all of the litter and putting new fresh litter in that came from somewhere else off of your property. Good to wash down floor and put sevin dust on it prior to adding new litter too. When I built our home, I dusted all floors with 10% sevin before installing any cabinets or baseboards. That way if any creepy-crawlies get in there, they are dead meat. Sevin stays potent for decades if dry. Hae never seen a roach or ant in our home, exc for kitchen counter top where some sugar ants enter from out back outside somewhere NOT under the cabinet Got them too by dusting outside on patio outside of kitchen. No more of them ever.
Thank you for all the quick answers. We will be dusting the birds next. We have poultry dust that we dusted the coop with that has the permethrine in it. Should we try that or go to the Sevin that seems to be the recommended? And, even though we already cleaned the coop and dusted with the poultry dust I am assuming we need to do that again? Or just the birds? So much of what I read said the DE would take care of the mites. I guess now we know that it won't. Every day is a new day and every day we learn a little more. Thanks again to all.
So much of what I read said the DE would take care of the mites It will take care of them IF they crawl around in it. Its one of the few things DE really does The problem is it's hard to get enough of it in there to insure the mites come into contact with it. If it were mine, I'd spray the whole coop with liquid Sevin.
