We’ve got a coop with a million of these live or mites?

[aart]

Sorry you have them, but great pics.

Here are some close up photos of our pests.

 

[joojy]

my daughter wont let me use any chemicals, so they treated for 3 months last year, but I have chickens with poop on their butts, and turkey who has difficulty walking? leg mites? I bought some organic stuff, but I don't think it works

 

[aart]

my daughter wont let me use any chemicals, so they treated for 3 months last year, but I have chickens with poop on their butts, and turkey who has difficulty walking? leg mites? I bought some organic stuff, but I don't think it works

Would be best to start a new thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures.10/create-thread
with pics of the turkeys legs.

 

[jlwquilter]

...I use a blow torch to clean my coops to avoid using chemicals. It may not be practicable for you but it works and kills the eggs as well.

Please explain how you use a blow torch to clean. Your coops.

 

[aart]

Please explain how you use a blow torch to clean. Your coops.

Veeeerrrryyyyy carefully!

 

[jlwquilter]

Veeeerrrryyyyy carefully!

I bet! I’d seriously like to know how someone does it although I’d be afraid to tell DH. I think he’d get way to big a kick out of using the blow torch.

Hmmm. Maybe not. We just built the darn thing over many weekends and DH did such a great job. To have it burn down would probably be the death of him - lol!

 

[Shadrach]

Please explain how you use a blow torch to clean. Your coops.

I think the easiest way to do this is for you to look at the coops I have. This will help you decide whether of not this method is practicable for your coop/s.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/shadrach’s-multi-coops.74344/
Mites tend to concentrate on perch ends, wood end grain and construction seams. The fewer of these you have the less places for mites to hid. Mites do not like daylight.
The blue tip of a flame from a canister powered blow torch is around 400 degrees centigrade. Just a touch from this flame tip kills mites.
I strip out the coop (all my nest boxes and roost bars are removable) leaving a bare interior. I scrape the poop off the surfaces with a decorators paint scraper and brush the dust out. I then run the tip of the blowtorch flame over the roost bar ends, any internal seams and the nest box seams. If I'm having problems with scaly leg mite I go over the floor as well. I do this every fourth clean on average.
It is advisable for a beginner to have a water spray or water based fire extinguisher handy.
You can find more information about blow torch cleaning on a number of bee keeping sites.

https://www.cotswoldbees.co.uk/the-blow-torch-a-beekeepers-best-friend/

 

[Cryss]

About those broodies, what did you do with the eggs? Did you candle them? I was just wondering if they were about 2 weeks into incubation under mamas.

 

[Cryss]

Someone needs to do a YouTube video of doing a safe blowtorch cleaning. None for chicken coops that I could find.

 

[Shadrach]

Someone needs to do a YouTube video of doing a safe blowtorch cleaning. None for chicken coops that I could find.

It really isn't very difficult.
If you consider that beehives are highly flammable because of the wax and the propolis then with some care and intelligence a chicken coop is fairly straightforward.
If one is not concerned about using chemicals and can get hold of them easily then until the mites and lice develop a resistance to them they are probably the better choice for most.
I can't see mites ever developing a tolerance for a 400 degree centigrade flame and there are few environmental concerns regarding chemical residues.
I've got 7 coops and I haven't burnt one down yet.