Chicken Mites

[milkmansdaughter]

This is a great thread. As far as I know, we haven't had mites yet but there's several things we can do to prevent them. Thank you all for your experiences.

 

[lcertuche]

I have a hard plastic kiddie swimming pool that I keep sand and lime in. The chickens take dust baths in it and that keeps the lice away. I also use lime in the outside grazing area, in the chicken coop floor and in all the next boxes. I toss it in all the nooks and crannies around the coop. You can make a lime wash by adding water and paint the coop. I use it every week in all these areas, year round. I never have a problem with buggers...Spring and Fall I use diatom powder in the sandbox and next boxes, for just one week. So all that I do also keeps the smells down.

Is this a form of whitewash?

 

[MoonShadows]

Yes, that's another natural remedy.

 

[Hinotori]

If you're not worried about the chemical, Dog frontline works to knock them out. 2 drops for a bantam, 3 for a large fowl. I had to resort to it when the mites almost killed my rooster.

I give dust bath with diatomacious earth and basic potting soil. They also get wood ashes when I have them. My birds love ashes.

The potting soil is because my birds have an obcession with it and will get in my planters and dust bathe if I don't give them their own

 

[tortoise]

Pyrethrins are on the "okay" list for egg/meat. However, our barn cat digs and eats out of the chicken litter and I'm afraid of poisoning her.

I don't really have a decent dust bath for them, not that I think about this problem more. That's easy enough to correct, even though it sounds like it's more of a welfare than parasite-control measure.

Might come down to bathing them. These are NOT tame birds and the rooster is frightful, so I'm reeeeeeeeeaaaally not wanting to bathe them.

 

[Beekissed]

Pyrethrins are on the "okay" list for egg/meat. However, our barn cat digs and eats out of the chicken litter and I'm afraid of poisoning her.

I don't really have a decent dust bath for them, not that I think about this problem more. That's easy enough to correct, even though it sounds like it's more of a welfare than parasite-control measure.

Might come down to bathing them. These are NOT tame birds and the rooster is frightful, so I'm reeeeeeeeeaaaally not wanting to bathe them.

Pyrethrin, safe for cats. Permethrin, NOT safe for cats. Flea powder for cats is just pyrethrin dust, so if they lick themselves they won't get sick.

 

[tortoise]

I will ask DH about it then! I know they're different but assumed they were close enough to be equally hazardous for cats. Thanks for pointing out the difference!

 

[Beekissed]

I found out the hard way they are different. Last spring I dusted the cats with some permethrin out of desperation, as they came to me so flea infested that I could see their fur moving all over their bodies! I didn't have any flea powder for cats on hand and bathing them~three times, mind you~and using the drops on their backs did absolutely nothing.

So, I pulled out the big guns and dusted them with permethrin powder. One crawled off under the cabin where I couldn't reach him and died and one was VERY sick....I had to bathe the dust off of her right away. The other kitten didn't seem affected at all, but he got a bath too.

After that, flea powder for CATS only. Permethrin can work on dogs but it's toxic to cats like crazy.

 

[tortoise]

Haha, does that sling CATCH them for me? I'm gonna worry about THAT first!

 

[Hinotori]

Haha, does that sling CATCH them for me? I'm gonna worry about THAT first!

Yes. Picking them off the roost is easiest, but a soft trout net works well for catching them