Sand in Coop and Treating for Mites/Lice

[BonnieBlue]

I have sand in my coop, and I am wondering how it should be treated when treating the coop for mites or lice. On top of spraying the inside of the coop well, and changing the nesting box material (shavings), do I also need to change the sand? I am unsure if mites and lice can live in sand.

 

[aart]

Lice and poultry mites live on the birds, roost mites live off the birds and feed at night. If you do have roost mites I'd swap out the sand.

Do your birds have lice and/or mites?
Best not to treat unless the bugs are present.
Here's some info that might be helpful:
Have you checked them over real well for mites and/or lice?

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Look fast, they will scatter quickly once the feathers are parted and the light hits them.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[BonnieBlue]

Thanks for all of the input. I knew to check the birds and roosting bars, doing the looking for the white smears on the bars. It's how I check for mites on plants. The rest is new and good info.

I don't have mites now, but if I feel like they may have them, and checks are positive, I want to have some bags of sand on hand in my garage if I need to change it out. Getting time to do a thorough cleaning is no problem. Getting to a home improvement center for a few bags of sand is much harder for me. I figured be prepared, so if needed, I am not wasting precious treatment time.

 

[Momma-Hen-Misti]

I had mites in 2022 & it was not a great experience. I've added First Saturday Lime to my nest boxes & all in the coop to help prevent an infestation again.

I bought some discarded commercial layers for $3 each & did the rookie mistake of not doing quarantine. Those "cheap" birds cost A LOT more in the long run! I won't do that again! Although, they are my friendliest birds & sweet. Which doesn't make sense with the conditions they were in when I got them.

I hope you catch yours early if that is in fact what you have. Good luck!

 

[Tankayrach]

Our chickens are always cleaning their feathers, when done there's white flakes. Any insight on this?