What symptoms do chickens with mites have?

[atkinsonfive]

One of my girls didn't come running when I brought out some treats this evening. Upon inspection, her underside is really red and sore looking, feather missing. Would I see mites or other bugs obviously. What do I look for?

 

[Yoko]

.....sounds like it could be mites by the feather loss,but thats my guess,im not sure........

 

[courtneyq]

Is it possible she's broody? I've not had a hen go broody, but I seem to recall reading that they pull out feathers on their chest or bellies to get better heat transfer to the eggs. That might also be why she didn't leave the nest. I hope someone else who knows more will chime in!

 

[atkinsonfive]

Ok, so I have been reading alot of stuff on mites. Sounds like it is a definate possibility. I feed my chickens organically. Can I treat them for mites organically? I prefer not to use pesticides. Any suggestions? I assume that the eggs will not be usable during the treatment period. How long is that? Thanks for all your help!

 

[Yoko]

i read a page on mites and it says you can treats it with wood ashes and diatomaceous earth(smother it)
and i think it says theres new natural enzyme-containing lice and mite sprays that are non toxic such as poultry protecter,but thats what i read on the page

 

[tiki244]

You should be able to see the mites/lice/bugs. Look by their vent, under the wing, by their comb. They are very small but you can see them. Some are whitish, some are reddish. They are small though.

When you look at the feathers, if they are really infested with bugs, the fluffy part of the feather closest to the skin will be gobby not fluffy. Just pull a few feathers out of the neck and body area and inspect them. Globby feathers by the skin is a sure sign of mites, but the feather will look normal when the bird is wearing it.

Wash them in liguid Castile soap, peppermint or spearmint, I can't remember. I am sure you can get the bar soap kind too and that would probably work. Wash them early enough so they don't go to bed wet. Get that at the grocery store. Then put some foodgrade peppermint oil, you get that in the cooking spice section of the grocery store, and put some drops on them strategically placed. The other alternative would be to adde the peppermint oil to the rinse water, but I would put it directly on the skin. If you dont want to wash youre chickens just put the peppermint oil on their skin, under the wings, by the butt, on the legs, on the neck.

Clean out all the old bedding. Then, find yourself some pine needles and adde liberally to their bedding. Cedar shavings in a small amount sprinkled around the coop and run will help also. Adde peppermint oil to the coop corners and roosts.

What Yoko said is good too, but get the food grade DE for sure.

 

[sammi]

it's still possible the hen is broody, and broody hens are very vulnerable to mite/lice/bug infestation...

some kinds of mites leave the birds during the day, and get back on them at night..to check for that go in the coop after dark with a flashlight..

but the wash and treatment described above wouldn't do any harm..
but don't use too much cedar shavings.

look into DE...(diatomaceous earth)..again..FOOD GRADE ONLY.

 

[atkinsonfive]

Thanks so much for all the responses. With the DE...Is it like a powder consistancy that I can just set them in a tub of it. Or do I just sprinkle it around inside the coop and outside in their fenced in area and that takes care of it. Also, I thought of borax in their nesting boxes. I know it helps with fleas, but I didn't know about mites. I found something about a study where they sprayed garlic water on the chickens over a period of time and that helped with the mites. Anyone try garlic in one form or another? I know they have castile soap in liquid form at our coop so I am going to get some of that. They have a tea tree oil one and that might help heal the skin. I wondered about putting a salve on her, but it would probably attract a lot of dirt. They do like their dirt baths, you know! How would I keep it clean? Thanks again for everything. I guess I'll figure this out somehow eventually. We have had our girls for 16 months on Saturday. On July 31, one of them died unexpectedly, from what we do not know. Maybe she overheated. She seemed to be gasping for breath and then she was gone. Then last Friday our neighbors dog attacked them. Killed one and badly damaged another - of which I posted for help. I hand feed her for 3 days before realizing she had a gaping wound on her underside that I have no idea how I missed. It was full of disease and we had to put her down. My 6 year old cried and cried. Some people would say "they are just chickens." But not to us. I felt so guilty for having let them out that day. They love to roam the yard. They come running and beg to be out. I hate to see an animal penned, even a chicken. Oh, how they cackle and talk when the door opens wide and they run out into the yard and sractch about. They are in their glory and it makes us happy to see them so happy, but now I am terrified to let them out again. We started with 26 girls. Happy to have them all survive for so long and now we are losing them and at such a fast pace. My heart is sad and I feel like I can't take losing anymore of them. I know...it is inevitable, but after they have lived a good long life it would be easier to say goodbye. And now we seem to have mites...I guess I just never realized all the stuff that could go wrong. We were so lucky for so long. Thank you all for the advice. It it deeply appreciated!

 

[LynneP]

Be sure the DE is food quality.
You can dust them using (as Miss Prissy recommends) a stocking filled with DE and possibly Sevin (or Dri-KIll) or use the DE alone. You can also mix DE into sand (5%) and let all your burds dust-bathe in it, because if one has it the others may, too!

 

[rosepetal]

If using DE for mites can you still eat the eggs?
Thanks!!