The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: BML on September 23, 2015, 11:19:43 pm
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I spotted Chicken Mites on an egg that I picked up from a nesting box so I shut the Hen in her run, stripped the nesting area of nesting material and sprayed it with a recognised mite spray. I knew that some of the mites had jumped onto me when I picked the chicken up to spray it with a recognised mite dust so I stripped all my clothes of and put them in the washing machine but now I see there are mites in the nesting box again and the chicken is showing a bare patch where she has been scratching so I would like some advise especially as to how I stop the dam things jumping onto me when I dust the poor bird again.
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Read ivermectin in poultry section, I have used it in the past. As you will read , some people don't use it , you will need to decide. Google harkers for pigeons or get from vet. Diactomactious earth is fab for the shed. I make up a paste by adding water to some powder and paint it on affected areas. Then sprinkle on to fresh bedding.
Also if you have ash from fire this is good for the birds to have a dust bath in.
Good luck
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Depends on what mites you are treating? With bare patches it sounds like lice. What you are likely to encounter are Northern Fowl mite, which are very tiny, eat under the skin leaving red scabby areas and we treat with Frontline Spray (unlicensed for poultry) from the vet at a maximum dose of 1.5mL per Kg bodyweight. It stays in the skin for up to 3 months. Red mite and our preference is a steam cleaner on the coop, creosote on the perch ends to trap any getting off the chickens and potash in the soil bath to kill them, but there are loads of chemical or drug based alternatives. For lice we use Barrier Louse powder and in extreme cases one squirt of Johnsons dog or cat flea spray (unlicensed for poultry) as any lice passing through the spray area will be killed, coupled again with potash in the soil bath (not too much or the chickens will get respiratory problems).