Question about mites and elector psp

[azygous]

That is a splendid question. I've heard that one treatment will kill all the mites on your premises by biological action from the residue. The Elector should continue to work for an extended period as the mites come out of their hiding places to feed. I've used Elector for lots of different applications and one treatment is all I've ever needed. Elector breaks down faster in direct sunlight, so your dark places will have a longer lasting residue.

Your infested coop will certainly put it to the acid test. I would vacuum thoroughly then really wet down the coop using a good strong garden sprayer getting into the crack and crevices as best you can.

In a week, examine your coop, looking in all the places you know they were hiding. If you see any, repeat the spraying. Your experience will be a very valuable testimonial if it works the first time and a cautionary if it requires a second treatment. We all will be waiting for you to report back.

 

[NHUH]

You don’t have to actually spray the
mite. Elector PSP will work because as the mites come out at night they will walk over the wood that has been treated and then that will kill them. Once you dip your girls, if I was you, I would just spray the inside of the coop every couple weeks until there is nothing left of them mites.

It’s like my prayers have been answered

 

[NHUH]

That is a splendid question. I've heard that one treatment will kill all the mites on your premises by biological action from the residue. The Elector should continue to work for an extended period as the mites come out of their hiding places to feed. I've used Elector for lots of different applications and one treatment is all I've ever needed. Elector breaks down faster in direct sunlight, so your dark places will have a longer lasting residue.

Your infested coop will certainly put it to the acid test. I would vacuum thoroughly then really wet down the coop using a good strong garden sprayer getting into the crack and crevices as best you can.

In a week, examine your coop, looking in all the places you know they were hiding. If you see any, repeat the spraying. Your experience will be a very valuable testimonial if it works the first time and a cautionary if it requires a second treatment. We all will be waiting for you to report back.

This sounds like the solution of my dreams. I will most certainly keep reporting. There is a lot of information on mite treatment out there and it took me days to collect data and experiences and sort through the noise.

Right now I have the chickens in a separate easy clean kennel since I am still waiting for the psp to be delivered tomorrow. Will the mites come out of hiding regardless if the chickens are in their coop or not? I kinda don’t want to use them as bate

(They didn’t want to go to bed one night and that’s when I immediately knew there is something wrong so I put them in the kennel, they don’t even attempt wanting to go back to their coop right now. They know)

 

[cmom]

Here is another question, since you guys seem very experienced and helpful: Our wooden coop is fairly small (5x5) but consists of many multiple pieces connecting to each other. I started taking some smaller pieces apart and noticed the mites (very likely northern fowl), hiding in areas where wood meets wood, screw holes, wood knots etc., even in the plastic pieces of the automatic door opener. There are so so many of these little areas and I can’t take apart all of it. Since the elector psp is water based, I am very worried that it won’t penetrate those areas and I won’t be able to get rid of them all and the problem will just start over again. At this point I am ok with getting rid of the coop and investing in a new one if I have to.

Did you guys experience mites repopulating because a 100% clean up isn’t possible? Or is the spray so good that it will magically clean them in hidden spot ?

I sprayed with permethrin concentrate that I mix in a gallon sprayer. I thoroughly spray the inside of the coop. I spray inside and outside of the nest boxes, on and under the roosts, any and all cracks and crevices where mites can hide, ceilings, walls, floors. One spraying won't kill the eggs so weekly followup spraying is a necessity. I should have taken some before and after pictures of my birds. At first I thought they were molting because it was the time of the year they start to molt, but they seemed to be getting worse not better so upon inspection discovered mites, so my spraying regimen started. At first as I mentioned before, I first gave the birds in that coop flea baths because I had flea soap and decided to give it a try. It did get rid of some but not all of the mites. It took quite awhile but the birds recovered and now are beautiful again. I just started spraying again because of the weather getting hot here. I'm initially spraying weekly for awhile but then will cut it down. I'm sure there are many other ways to get rid of the pests, but with the number of birds I have the permethrin spray was my best option.

 

[cmom]

I did clean out the coops. After I cleaned out the coops I gave them a thorough permethrin spray in the event I missed any that were hiding where I couldn't get spray. I used a power washer in the coops.

 

[NHUH]

I sprayed with permethrin concentrate that I mix in a gallon sprayer. I thoroughly spray the inside of the coop. I spray inside and outside of the nest boxes, on and under the roosts, any and all cracks and crevices where mites can hide, ceilings, walls, floors. One spraying won't kill the eggs so weekly followup spraying is a necessity. I should have taken some before and after pictures of my birds. At first I thought they were molting because it was the time of the year they start to molt, but they seemed to be getting worse not better so upon inspection discovered mites, so my spraying regimen started. At first as I mentioned before, I first gave the birds in that coop flea baths because I had flea soap and decided to give it a try. It did get rid of some but not all of the mites. It took quite awhile but the birds recovered and now are beautiful again. I just started spraying again because of the weather getting hot here. I'm initially spraying weekly for awhile but then will cut it down. I'm sure there are many other ways to get rid of the pests, but with the number of birds I have the permethrin spray was my best option.

I appreciate the advise and it sounds like it’s a good and affordable option for some people. I do have cats and one in particular is very friendly with the chickens and inspects their coops regularly. Unfortunately permethrin is very toxic to cats. That’s why I opted for the elector psp.

 

[Folly's place]

Once the permethrin is dry in the coop and on the birds, your cats should be safe. Just don't get it on them!
Mary

 

[NHUH]

I treated the chickens and the coop today with the elector psp recommended amount.
I found a great video explaining how this stuff works. For you folks that don’t just want a solution but also learn the whys and hows .

I will report back in a few days.

 

[aart]

Here is another question, since you guys seem very experienced and helpful: Our wooden coop is fairly small (5x5) but consists of many multiple pieces connecting to each other. I started taking some smaller pieces apart and noticed the mites (very likely northern fowl), hiding in areas where wood meets wood, screw holes, wood knots etc., even in the plastic pieces of the automatic door opener. There are so so many of these little areas and I can’t take apart all of it. Since the elector psp is water based, I am very worried that it won’t penetrate those areas and I won’t be able to get rid of them all and the problem will just start over again. At this point I am ok with getting rid of the coop and investing in a new one if I have to.

Did you guys experience mites repopulating because a 100% clean up isn’t possible? Or is the spray so good that it will magically clean them in hidden spot ?

If a mite can get into it the liquid will wick into it too

 

[NHUH]

Here is an update: the psp is supposed to kill the mites in 3-5 days:

-The chickens were mite and lice free after 3 days and have been since. We removed them from their coop since we discovered the outbreak.

-we treated the coop twice (full on sprayer and everywhere we can see and trying to spray into areas like joint and such where they were mostly hiding. We had a severe outbreak. We treated again on day 3 after a rain in worry that it might have washed off on the outside. We treated inside again too. Now 10 days after the first treatment there are still some mites, not nearly as many but enough to make me wanna burn down my coop.

I believe that when they hide in those little areas you can’t spray without taking the coop apart they won’t come out, especially because the chickens aren’t in their coop to attract them out and walk over the treated areas.
The internet says that northern fowl mites can’t survive without their host after 3 weeks. So I might as well treat the outside again since it rained again and just wait it out. The chickens were removed from their coop 12 days ago.
I’ll keep you posted.