Mites or Lice, pic included treating but still battling and loosing HELP!!

[sunnie7]

Treated entire flock and total clean out and spray down of coop with Permethrin 10 that I mixed using the 1:19 ratio (6.4oz per gallon) a week ago. I had a few that looked pretty rough but not horrible then tonight a week later when treating again they look worse! This was the first time I really saw the eggs and a couple looked like the one I have in the photo. I repeated the same strength treatment tonight. Should I switch to pour on ivermectin or any other suggestions or just keep repeating weekly? I put out a new dust bath with ashes and DE too.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Once in a while, I'll dust the girls with DE individually. I do it at night when I can pick them up off the roost, dust their bums and backs, and put them back on the roost. Don't know if that's a recommended practice, but it seems to work. I keep the coop liberally dusted with DE, also.

 

[sarahere4u]

I've been going through my fair share of bug issues as well recently. There is soo much info and many different approaches, but I believe you're doing it all correctly. Treat with permethrin, then again in a week(when the eggs hatch), possibly again next week, and you should begin to see improvement or less lice/mites.. don't get discouraged, in my experience it takes awhile before finally getting the bugs all gone.. in the meantime keep a close eye on everyone. A few of my hens became weak, anemic, and sickly because I didn't catch the problem early enough. Have the vitamins, acv, garlic and/or yogurt ready in case it's needed!

 

[Cynthia12]

I always love sharing this. DE does not work. I buy something from the pet store, yep, pet store. Inexpensive, but ..WORKS! No waiting on eggs to be ok to eat..they'll be fine. You spray their butt, on the tummy, under neck and wings, and a spot on the back does the trick. It's the spray they sell for canary and other small birds..leg mites.

 

[sunnie7]

I always love sharing this. DE does not work. I buy something from the pet store, yep, pet store. Inexpensive, but ..WORKS! No waiting on eggs to be ok to eat..they'll be fine. You spray their butt, on the tummy, under neck and wings, and a spot on the back does the trick. It's the spray they sell for canary and other small birds..leg mites. View attachment 3100272

I will try and find it at our petsmart! Can you send a picture of the ingredients in case they don’t have that particular brand and have something very similar? Also should I go ahead and retreat eveyone using this now of wait 5-7days since I treated with permethrin last night?!

 

[coach723]

Anything with permethrin will work. You have to treat at weekly intervals to get any eggs that continue to hatch, until they are all gone. You can also manually remove large nit clumps from the feathers (the nits are eggs) to reduce what is left to hatch. Alternately you can use Elector PSP, which is spinosad, which should work with one treatment, but it's much, much more expensive. Lice tend to stay on the birds more that mites do, but if you are having trouble getting rid of them then I would also clean out the coop, treat it as well, and replace all bedding and nesting materials with fresh.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[Shadrach]

Treated entire flock and total clean out and spray down of coop with Permethrin 10 that I mixed using the 1:19 ratio (6.4oz per gallon) a week ago. I had a few that looked pretty rough but not horrible then tonight a week later when treating again they look worse! This was the first time I really saw the eggs and a couple looked like the one I have in the photo. I repeated the same strength treatment tonight. Should I switch to pour on ivermectin or any other suggestions or just keep repeating weekly? I put out a new dust bath with ashes and DE too.

View attachment 3100207

Looks like feather mite/depluming mite to me.
They live on the bird like Northern Fowl mite.
Repeated treatments with Permethrin works. If you're prepared to go through her feathers and scrape the eggs off the base of the feather shafts you may speed up the process.
Ivermectin still works for feather mites last time I tried it.

 

[sunnie7]

Anything with permethrin will work. You have to treat at weekly intervals to get any eggs that continue to hatch, until they are all gone. You can also manually remove large nit clumps from the feathers (the nits are eggs) to reduce what is left to hatch. Alternately you can use Elector PSP, which is spinosad, which should work with one treatment, but it's much, much more expensive. Lice tend to stay on the birds more that mites do, but if you are having trouble getting rid of them then I would also clean out the coop, treat it as well, and replace all bedding and nesting materials with fresh.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

I completely cleaned out and replaced everything in coop last week. I’ll do a 3rd week treatment on the chickens and if I still see a lot then I’ll do another complete clean out. I did replace nesting box straw and sprayed all the pine shavings on the floor this past week too.’

 

[sunnie7]

Anyone know how long or how many treatments it takes to get rid of these things??? I’m not seeing any bug anymore but I’ve treated twice now 1 week apart, tomorrow will be the 3rd treatment and this is what one of them looked like still tonight, I’m assuming this is eggs I’m seeing still.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Permethrin Spray 10 is a good product too; have read that spraying at night when the chickens are roosting (wearing protective gear) is a good way to do the coop, roosts & under the birds roosting. Best to do in the warmer months so as not to chill the birds. Need to hit all the cracks and crevices,

DE is "recommended" although from what I've learned it's more a "preventative" than killer of mites/lice. I sprinkle in my open air Ch monthly and surrounding area monthly too. Another thing is my girls are confinded now, no more "free" range .... Wild birds are around but can't get into the CH.

Try dusting (work it into the feathers) each with Garden & Poultry Dust (permethrin) expecially the vent area, under the wings & I do behind the neck. I do this monthly plus I rotate with Sevin 5%; although no longer recommended for poultry, it was used years ago. It's a constant fight, therefore once you're rid of them, prevention is part of maintenance. The floor in my CH is dirt, I rake the shavings off to the side & sprinkle the dirt, working it in, then rake the shavings back over it & sprinkle the shavings & in the nest box.

Don't give up ... When you do your complete clean out of the coop, burn the bedding or disposes far from your coop. SPRAY the flooring with Permethrin 10, maybe save yourself some monies and not add shavings or bedding until you rid yourself of those things. Treat the chickens with the dust individually, it can be sprinkled in nest box bedding too.

Keep us posted but does take determination although a frustrating battle ... It does take several weeks of treatments.