Mites and other parasites - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

[LaurelC]

I do not yet have any mites. Brand "new" coop, assembled almost entirely of metal. Perches are sou shugi ban wood and the floor is plastic, but with the exception of a few parts that can easily be removed, the entire thing can be torn apart and blasted with a torch or weed burner if necessary. Our flock will be relatively large and feral, free-ranging during the day. We are working on getting an organic certification for our farm, and with that certification comes a very strict set of rules regarding what the birds can be treated with (basically, if it's very effective, it's against the rules). For a bunch of regulatory reasons, this specific flock of birds cannot ever produce certified organic eggs, but I'm managing the flock as though they were organic in an attempt to ensure it's something that I can have success with when I have that certification on the line.

As the birds will free range, and we have wildlife (including a decent-sized flock of wild turkeys) running around the farm, I'm sure that ticks, mites, and all matter of other nonsense will get tracked in. What can I do to proactively manage health and reduce the impact that creepy crawlies have on the flock?

I understand that for red mites, corrugated cardboard taped or tied under roosts can help be an indication of a larger problem, and double stick tape or vaseline on the ends of roosts will catch a small amount of them.

Leg mites are something I dealt with in my suburban flock, and I feel confident I can come up with an organic friendly "cure" for them, but what do I do to prevent them?

What about other mites? Ticks? Is there something I can offer in feed that will make the birds less attractive? Granulated garlic is pretty straightforward. I did a search but most of the information I found related to people reacting to an already present issue, versus proactively building/setting up systems to prevent them. I prefer husbandry methods to complicating things with chemicals and developing resistant parasites.

 

[Folly's place]

Here our flock has issues with mites fairly often, because, not only do they free range, but the sparrows come into their coop for feed when it's opened up. Having smaller doors into the coop for the chickens would help, or teach them to walk through plastic streamers. We haven't done either thing, but should.
Ticks are everywhere! Our dogs and cats get monthly tick meds, and I'm a lot more concerned about ticks on ME than about the chickens!
I think that pyrethrum is okay for organic flocks, look it up. Should be more effective than DE, if it's still approved.
Ticks: here in Michigan, our state veterinary path lab will test any sent for the five most common diseases they can have. The last two deer ticks attached to my delicate self ONLY carried Lyme disease! And antibiotics are my friend...
We do use permethrin here, and worm our horses, so organic certification won't be possible here. Wish I could be more helpful for your project.
Mary

 

[LaurelC]

Thanks. Our flock of sheep gets checked a few times a year and dewormed as necessary., but it's not big issue with the weekly pasture rotations. TBD if we can get lambs from birth to slaughter without deworming in KY. If not, it's still possible to run them on organic pasture and sell them as "conventional" lamb. Our dogs get monthly flea/tick preventative, and I'm absolutely a fan of vaccines and antibiotics when necessary. The majority of our animal husbandry efforts align pretty closely with organic/regenerative/pastured standards, so we are happy to get the pastures certified (which is separate from organically certified animals). First pastures must be "detoxed" and managed organically for a few years, at which point they can be certified organic. After that, animals that have been managed organically starting with gestation and/or hatching (depending on the animals and rules) can then be sold as organic. Animals managed organically that require antibiotics or deworming can still be kept in the rest of the flock, however since stringent health records are kept, you know which ones are no longer organic, and they cannot be sold as organic.

I do however think that it is doable to manage chickens organically, and if so, we can sell eggs for significantly more than conventional eggs, and if our pasture is already certified, the additional cost is minimal.

 

[Folly's place]

As I understand it, livestock worming and having those animals on a pasture is an issue for pasture certification. Is this true?
Mary

 

[LaurelC]

As I understand it, livestock worming and having those animals on a pasture is an issue for pasture certification. Is this true?
Mary

It depends significantly on the certifying body, the method and products used to deworm, and whether it's preventative or reactive deworming.

 

[Penpal]

When I picked up my rooster from a prize winning flock the lady showed me what she fed them. One of the things was garlic granules. They like the taste. Mites do not like the taste of chickens that eat garlic, so if you regularly feed the chickens garlic powder or granules they will deter mites, and ticks. You can deter raccoons and opossums by planting peppermint (which spreads like crazy), sage, and certain other plants around your perimeter. You can also plant things that are natural dewormers. The chickens will nibble on the anti parasite plant when needed. Sheep and other livestock do this, too.

 

[LaurelC]

When I picked up my rooster from a prize winning flock the lady showed me what she fed them. One of the things was garlic granules. They like the taste. Mites do not like the taste of chickens that eat garlic, so if you regularly feed the chickens garlic powder or granules they will deter mites, and ticks. You can deter raccoons and opossums by planting peppermint (which spreads like crazy), sage, and certain other plants around your perimeter. You can also plant things that are natural dewormers. The chickens will nibble on the anti parasite plant when needed. Sheep and other livestock do this, too.

We have a ton of chicory and a little sericea lezpedeza in our pastures. Unfortunately since the birds will be free ranging basically all around our farm it's not feasible to plant things specifically for them, but I'll be adding garlic granules into their feed. Thanks!

 

[Debbie292d]

For a deterrent only, we've used food grade DE (diatomaceous earth) in the coop, around the coop, around the house (keeps ants out), and before that, for 20 years in my parrot cages (for fruit flies and pantry moths). Our chickens free range under wild bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds only, as well as the chipmunks, squirrels, mice, and wild birds, so they're exposed daily to mites and lice.

They've never had mites or lice, however, that said, mine get SLM (scaly leg mites) thrice now. I'm not sure if the DE doesn't work on SLM or if I'm just not diligent enough. I sprinkle it around in there usually about twice a month.

When they get the SLM, we used vaseline the first two times, then Ivermectin this last time. Both methods worked fine, the latter less messy.

If ever I get an outbreak of any other type of mite, I'll use permethrin powder. The DE is a great preventative, but would take forever on an outbreak.