We have a complicated coop (at least I feel like it is). It is a building from the late 1800's that used to be a house with a chicken coop built within it. It is hard to explain but there is a brick and concrete chimney from an old fireplace IN the coop. It has a cement floor, wood walls, the brick chimney and a large window. In the same room but just outside the coop doors is an open stairway to the loft/attic which is unfinished/uninsulated (you can see daylight between the boards and it is built to have a draft between the top of the wall and the roof. So needless to say we have a critter problem. Mice and wild birds are in and out constantly, no matter what we do. We actually got two cats to try to help with the mice, which has become significantly better, but not gone, obviously.
So to the point: We have 17 chickens and nearly all of them have been struggling with scaly leg mites. We treat and treat and treat but there just seems no way to get rid of them for good. Is it just something we will have to live with? Rubbing 34 chicken legs 2-3 times a week with sticky oils and vaseline takes a lot of time and just doesn't seem to be doing the job.
That said, we sell some eggs (not retail, to our community/neighborhood) and it is important that our free-range chickens remain organic. We cannot use, nor do I even know if we could get here in Sweden, Permethrin, Ivermectin, or a number of the other things I have read about when googling. I also will not use anything that is harmful to breathe (no DE) or harmful to our cats, dogs, bees, or anything else in the area. I know I am being ridiculously rigid, but it is important to us and to those who buy our eggs.
We can't power-wash the coop, it would be a bit like power-washing an unfinished attic and I imagine that would be awful for the structure. I am getting rid of the built-in wood nesting boxes and replacing them with the DIY plastic tote version so we can at least remove them and spray them down. The cement floor is also not really washable in any way I know how. But even if we change out all the bedding and wash out all the nesting boxes, there is still the problem of the walls and floor. I just can't see how we will ever get them out of there. Is there anything we can do? Or are we doomed to be giving our ladies a foot and leg massage at least twice weekly for the rest of our lives?
Thanks for reading!
So to the point: We have 17 chickens and nearly all of them have been struggling with scaly leg mites. We treat and treat and treat but there just seems no way to get rid of them for good. Is it just something we will have to live with? Rubbing 34 chicken legs 2-3 times a week with sticky oils and vaseline takes a lot of time and just doesn't seem to be doing the job.
That said, we sell some eggs (not retail, to our community/neighborhood) and it is important that our free-range chickens remain organic. We cannot use, nor do I even know if we could get here in Sweden, Permethrin, Ivermectin, or a number of the other things I have read about when googling. I also will not use anything that is harmful to breathe (no DE) or harmful to our cats, dogs, bees, or anything else in the area. I know I am being ridiculously rigid, but it is important to us and to those who buy our eggs.
We can't power-wash the coop, it would be a bit like power-washing an unfinished attic and I imagine that would be awful for the structure. I am getting rid of the built-in wood nesting boxes and replacing them with the DIY plastic tote version so we can at least remove them and spray them down. The cement floor is also not really washable in any way I know how. But even if we change out all the bedding and wash out all the nesting boxes, there is still the problem of the walls and floor. I just can't see how we will ever get them out of there. Is there anything we can do? Or are we doomed to be giving our ladies a foot and leg massage at least twice weekly for the rest of our lives?
Thanks for reading!
