RED MITES

[RirMaster]

Would a flea bomb get rid of them? I have tried absolutely everything but nothing seems to work.

 

[ChicKat]

Would a flea bomb get rid of them? I have tried absolutely everything but nothing seems to work.

This is from Australia:


The two main external parasites of chickens are lice and mites. Red mite, in particular, seems ubiquitous in chickens and is a common cause of failure to thrive. Severe infections will kill, particularly young chickens due to anaemia and it is vital that management protocols are in place. Lice live off feather debris and cannot survive off the chicken. Mites, on the other hand, feed off body fluids and survive well in the environment. Only a small number of the mites infecting a chicken are found on the bird at any one time. Many live in the nooks and crannies around the pen. To treat lice is a simple matter. As they cannot survive off the bird, it is simply a matter of dipping all of the birds. Mites can be removed also by dipping, however, as mentioned earlier, Moxidectin can be used in the birds’ drinking water to kill mites on the bird at that time. With mite infestation, however, it is vital to also treat the pen at the same time otherwise reinfection quickly occurs. When treating the pen, it is scraped and cleaned out as normal but then an insecticide is misted onto the scraped surfaces and into the nooks and crannies. This is usually done on the morning of a warm day and when the pen is dry after a few hours, the birds are readmitted. The recommended insecticidal spray is Permethrin. This is available in a number of preparations but I find it easiest to use as a water-soluble liquid where it is diluted 10 - 20 ml/l. Permethrin is also the dip of choice in chickens. To prepare the dip, add the Permethrin at the same rate of 10 - 20 ml per litre of water and add also a wetting agent such as baby shampoo or a few shavings off a bar of soap. Ensure that the water is warm and dip the birds in the morning of a warm day so that they have a chance to dry before nightfall.

http://www.auspigeonco.com.au/melbournebirdvet/Articles/parasite_poultry.html

Have you tried Moxidectin on your chickens? Because it is absorbed (I use it on my chickens by putting approximately 1 drop per pound of chicken on the skin - by lifting the wing and finding the bare skin there)-- so a 4 pound chicken = 4 drops. I take an empty eyedropper bottle squeeze out the air and put some of the pour-on in a small (tiny) bowl ... The when I submerge the opening, it draws in the pour on. Makes it easy for just one person to treat the chicken.

Good luck with the mites.

 

[ChicKat]

Would a flea bomb get rid of them? I have tried absolutely everything but nothing seems to work.

Here is another alternative...there is a mite that will eat red mites--- biological control. It would require that you had NOT used poisions. Don't know if they are available to you in NZ. They are in Europe, UK and there are some predatory mites available in the USA as well.

Just an FYI

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/880975/red-mite-killer

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Would a flea bomb get rid of them? I have tried absolutely everything but nothing seems to work.

Red mites don't live on chickens. Red mites live on, or more to the point red mites live in the coop and in roosting poles. They only interact or feed on your chickens lifes' blood when the mites are hungry.

Mix some Pyrethrum in old, used, burnt, or discarded motor oil. Use a cheap disposable foam rubber paint brush to liberally paint the roost poles and wood joints of the coop or pen. Since Red Mites spend the daytime hiding in cracks, splits, nooks, and crannies in the wood inside your coop, this treatment will kill red mites where they live and keep on killing them as well as their eggs for a good long time and deny them a home as well.

It also will help preserve the wood and make your coops and pens last longer.

The Red Mite reminds me of the boll weevil, he just a looking for a home, he just got to have a home.

 

[acl68025]

I remember my Father using powered 7 dust in our coop and nesting boxes. I'm assuming it was for mites & lice

 

[Miss Lydia]

I use neem oil all natural too, garden centers carry it I bought on Amazon. I use a pump garden sprayer mix the neem into very warm water shake so it will mix well, then go into the coop pull the bedding away from the wall all the way around and spray from ceiling down to floor in all the cracks and crevices. then spray top and bottom of roost. This past summer I only had to spray the coop 2X no mites what so ever. I do it as a preventive now. Also feed garlic to my flock in their fermented feed.

 

[Party Pelican]

I have to say, until I dealt with red poultry mites, I thought a little neem oil, sulfur powder, or if things were bad--one blast of Elector PSP, would do the job on mites (in the past I had only dealt with black northern mites). The red poultry mites are terrible--they withstand everything. I started with the more natural options, especially sulfur powder because of the clinical studies, and have progressed to any heavy hitting poison I can get my hands on. I have several old ladies and although the rest of the flock looks fine, the old ladies are becoming anemic (diagnosed by the vet). I've tried permethrin powder, Elector PSP, sulfur, and ivermectin (I have been mindful of alternating treatments to prevent resistance). I've cleaned the coop twice, blasting it with an air compressor for hours and then puffing permethrin powder everywhere (the first time I sprayed Elector PSP everywhere). I'm online right now researching permethrin (or a mix of that and pyrethrin) foggers. My vet said I need to treat all of the chickens again, clean everything out of the coop again and let off a fogger, keep the flock out for several days. Retreat the chickens, put them back in, and retreat the chickens once a week for 3 weeks. It is the cold season here, sometimes getting below freezing. Yet the battle continues. Wish me luck.

 

[cmom]

Elector PSP works but is quite expensive. Permethrin works also and cost way less.

 

[cmom]

This is from the fact sheet for Elector PSP.