Pyrethrin fogger for wooden coop

[chrys64moore]

Both of my chicken coops are old wooden structures (one used to be a woodworking cabin, the other is a good-sized gardening shed), full of cracks and crevices that would be impossible to find in order to treat for mites effectively. Has anyone every used a pyrethrin fogger to kill mites in a coop? I could use a pump sprayer with a liquid insecticide to soak the inside of the coop, but the coops are pretty big so it would take a LOT of liquid and I'm not sure how long it would take to dry out enough to put bedding and chickens back in. Any other suggestions?

 

[happyhens1972]

I have used a fogger on my wooden coop but it still said to tape up holes so I used masking tape to tape as many of the gaps as possible, then when the fogger was going, I used the escaping smoke to tell me where else to plug! It was quite a palaver but it got rid of the problem.

 

[RobinFarmGirl]

I recently had a bad mite infestation mainly in the nest boxes so everyday for a week, I used a torch and burned every corner where I saw the mites. I put Seven on the bottoms of the nest boxes and I also dusted the chickens (poultry dust). No more mite infestation.

I'm curious about what type/brand fogger you used happyhens1972. Did it take long for your wooden coop to dry? (my coop is wooden too).

Thanks,
Robin

 

[happyhens1972]

sorry hon, I live in the UK so it's unlikely you'll get the same brand....it was called Chicken House Fumer by the Poultry Keeper range.

It is completely dry so it doesn't leave the house wet at all but if I rememeber rightly, I had to 'air' the house for a couple of hours after treatment. It was VERY effective though, seemed to kill everything but I followed up with a good coating of DE to keep things from coming back and treated my birds with an Ivermectin based spot-on too.

 

[chrys64moore]

Thanks for the replies---I'm going to try a fogger, although if I have to plug up all the cracks I might as well wrap the whole coop in plastic! These mites seem to have come out of nowhere, even though I know they must have been there for awhile and I just couldn't see them. Guess I'll have to get out my readers whenever I check for the little buggers from now on! What a mess! And I had just done my spring cleaning/bedding change last week. Bummer. I'm also treating for scaly leg mites. Ugh.

 

[RobinFarmGirl]

Thanks for the replies---I'm going to try a fogger, although if I have to plug up all the cracks I might as well wrap the whole coop in plastic! These mites seem to have come out of nowhere, even though I know they must have been there for awhile and I just couldn't see them. Guess I'll have to get out my readers whenever I check for the little buggers from now on! What a mess! And I had just done my spring cleaning/bedding change last week. Bummer. I'm also treating for scaly leg mites. Ugh.

chrys64moore,

Are you in the USA? What type/brand fogger will you be using? I've thought of that but had no idea what fogger to get.

I took out all bedding in my nest boxes and replaced with newspaper flat on the nest box bottoms. (Some of my birds use the nest box edges to roost, I know-bad- but I let them do it)........ They only use two of the five boxes to lay eggs and now that the infestation is over, I put bedding in the two boxes they use.

So, every morning my cleaning routine is to remove soiled newspapers and replace. At the time of infestation, I sprinkled Seven dust on bottoms of nest boxes then put newspaper on top. I think it immediately killed the mites (this along with the torching). I don't have the mites anymore. My suggestion it so try Seven in the cracks of your coop (not on the chickens tho).

 

[chrys64moore]

I'm not sure which brand of fogger I'm going to use---I have several people I can consult with, so I'll let you know what I find out...I'm leaning more towards the fogger rather than the dust, simply because the whole structure is wood and I want to make sure I get all of the surfaces covered. This looks like a multiple-mite and possibly lice combo, so I'm going to have to hit it pretty hard. I really like your torch idea, but I'm afraid the whole place will go up in a blaze of glory! : ) We are in Maine, where it seems as though every buggy pest known to mankind is having a spectacular year---the ticks are unbelievable! I have kind of a tick/lice/mite phobia, so I'm going a little bit crazy!

 

[happyhens1972]

Remeber that treating the coop won't cure the birds....the red mite will go as they do not permanently live on the birds, but in the house, however, the lice live on the birds so you need to treat them. I always use Ivermectin but I think the UK population has less resistance than those in the States.