Udate!...still need a bit of direction please..

[dawg53]

Quote:
Sevin dust has DE in it. Scroll down in this link:
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=19022001

 

[Capvin]

Sevin dust may have DE in it but not nearly enough for my purposes. I usually mix several pounds of DE with about a cip of Sevin.

 

[hen-at-home]

Well, I dusted the girls with Sevin (straight with no extra DE added) yesterday. I hated doing it. It was, so far, my worst experience with owning chickens yet. I used the "grab their legs and turn 'em upside down" method. Felt terrible doing it.. and I always talked so tough about chicken ownership before I actually had them. I think I even thought I could cull one if I had too. I've come to the conclusion.... I'm a wimp.

I lost two nights of sleep just worrying about this whole ordeal before I did it!

Anyway, I dusted the perches, and the ladder that leads up to the perches, the nest boxes and the perches in front of those. I tried to get Sevin in some other places but don't feel I was able to do very well with it. It's only in the 20's here today so I hope that will slow the little buggers down for a while.

I guess I have to re-dust the girls in a week, correct?

 

[littleoak]

Glad you tried the upside down dusting. It works best that way because the feathers are away from the body and more Sevin gets to the feather shaft and body. I have never followed a dusting with another a week later. I only dust once. It takes a while to see results (such as feather growth) so I leave them alone. You can check them in a few months to see if the mites are back. Also don't forget to rub Vasaline on their legs and combs. That smothers any possible leg mites or mite eggs.

 

[citychickx6]

I am glad I found this thread. I have seen some feather loss on one of my EE. I thought perhaps she was getting plucked a bit. Today I saw similar loss on my BA. I am fairly certain we have mites now and the loss is due to scratching.

I think I shall head out to get some sevin dust and .... oh my .... make my hens mad at me.
Thank you all for the great links.

 

[hen-at-home]

Hey citychickx6,

Have you seen the mites on the hens? I was able to see the mites when I went out to the coop after dark. It's very helpful if you can inspect your girls and determine what type of mite you are dealing with. Like I said earlier. I couldn't see any mites on any of them when I did a thorough inspection during the day but had no problem (with my reading glasses on, of course!!

) seeing them at night. I had read somewhere on this forum to check a couple hours after they had gone to roost so that is what I did the first night. The second night I looked and it was only 30min to an hour after they had gone to bed and I saw them again. I looked at her face with a bright head lamp and could see them running around on the skin on her face around her eye and some on her comb. I looked at all my other girls faces and didn't see any. They all just went through a molt and I thought she was done, but the feathers around her face were just pin feathers. I still don't know if she was finishing her molt or if the feathers looked like that because of the mites. I haven't been able to read anything about feather loss yet, but it makes sense that it might happen.

I just don't want you to jump to conclusions about having mites until you know for sure. I guess some people dust with chemicals regularly but for my own personal flock I'd rather not use the stuff if I don't have to. Obviously, in this case I had to do something.

Good luck with your flock!

Thanks to all who have shared on this thread. It's nice to know there are folks willing to help!!

 

[rancher hicks]

Please allow me to offer my two cents.

1. no amount of dusting of birds will help if there is an "infestation" in the coop.

2. you must clean the coop as often as you can and dust , corners, nest boxes and anywhere these critters can hide.

3. roosts should be brushed down with either mineral oil or rubbed with Vaseline covering all nooks and crannies.

4. each bird should be hand dusted paying attention to vent and under the wing areas. Use caution when working around the face. IMO reading the label of Sevin. If it is not safe for me to breath than it's not safe for my birds. I prefer DE food grade. I use Sevin sparingly for squash borer worms, so I have read the label. ALWAYS wear a mask when working with any of these things.

5. Treat each bird with a internal and external wormer. I prefer not to use Wazine as it requires tossing of eggs and this is may be a hobby but I can not afford to throw money away.

A 50# bag of DE is or was $42 delivered to my door over a year ago and I dust the walls, nest boxes , floors and even the sand/dusting box in the run. Just put a mask on and throw the stuff everywhere.

This is what I use to worm and I've not had a mite problem in three years which is how long I've kept chickens. Remember an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thanks for listening.

 

[citychickx6]

For now I am dusting the roosts and floor with DE and Sweet PDZ to make sure everything is as dry as can be. I will inspect the birds in depth tonight.
I took all pine out of the coop and put the DE and PDZ down then added shavings sparingly. I am thinking I do have an issue since the necks of 2 birds are bare on the front. I am thinking their fluffy bottoms do not look so fluffy either. I will let you know what I find.

Hoping it is nothing.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Be sure to throw a good amount of DE into the shavings cuz the chickens will roll around in them. Mine always do.

 

[roxyblue]

yup,
After noticing one of the newer hens showing signs of feather loss I gave her a thorough inspection. I found little bugs crawling near her vent and I immediately went in and got the poultry lice and mite powder. Gave them all a good dusting, cleaned out the coop, sprinkled everything with the dust. and plan to do so again in ten days. I had this one before, with new hens, and did the exact same thing. it worked

good luck!
-Roxy