Mites suck

[Andrew Gilmartin]

I cleaned out the coop yesterday and sprayed and bleached it throughly. Mites were EVERYWHERE. Yuck. Ick. I will be bleaching it again today as there continue to be pockets of mites not yet eliminated. The good news is that I can now spy mites at twenty paces. (Like tick location, it is a skill I did not know I needed until I needed it. And now I am good at it.)

I initially sprayed down the coop's inside using a Miracle Grow feeder hose attachment. Unfortunately,, this does not produce a sufficient concentration of bleach. Allie's recommended 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. In the end I bought a manual pneumatic sprayer at Benny's and this allowed me more control over both the mixture and of targeting the spray.

When building the coop it never occurred to me to make the inside really easy to clean. The number of nooks and crannies for insects to live are numerous. I have also learned that it is a good idea to at least once a year bleach the inside.

-- Andrew

Andrew Gilmartin
and...@andrewgilmartin.com
401-789-3077

[Ruth]

How did you first discover the mites? See them crawling around the coop? Birds scratching? I've not done any sort of mite prevention but it might be good to know what to look for.

Ruth in Wakefield

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[Andrew Gilmartin]

On Jul 18, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Ruth wrote:

> How did you first discover the mites? See them crawling around the coop? Birds scratching? I've not done any sort of mite prevention but it might be good to know what to look for.

We wanted the big Rhode Island Reds to over-night outside. We were trying to determine how the smaller chickens were dying. (Another story for another day.) When the reds come down from their roost in the morning you have some 5 lbs dropping 2 to 3ft and so, we thought, it might be possible that they were landing on the smaller chickens and breaking their necks. So, that night I went out to move the reds out of the coop and into the run. All of the reds put up a fuss about the move and so there was much wing flapping which left me no choice but to hold the birds under their wings. When I came back in I found mites on my hands, arms, and face! The following day I was in the coop I brushed up against a roost and when I looked down my shirt had a thick line of mites (beginning to spread out over the whole shirt).

The first day I cleaned out the coop I looked closely at the ceiling's inside corners and where the roosts attach to the walls. What I found were lots of mites, blood red from a good meal, crowded into these spaces. Afterward, I could see the less nourished mites crawling on the walls and ceiling. These mites are harder to see as they are translucent and, against the grain of the wood, only noticeable when they move.

So, check ceiling corners and where roosts attach to walls. Stare hard at one spot in the ceiling close to a corner. If you are not squeamish, run your hand under the the roost.

I will be replacing the "rustic" natural branches that we use for roosters with wooden doweling. This will give the mites fewer places to hide and make it easier for me to clean.

[Andrea Peitsch]

Wow. I've never had them get on me before. Yikes!

[Andrea Peitsch]

I have a chick that is about a month old. His buddy disappeared and now he
follows me around chirping all day. It was cute at first but now it's a
little sad. Lea mentioned that Kyra might have a compatible chick. My other
chickens aren't nice to this one. I figured I'd email the entire group in
case anyone else has a chick about a month old that they want to part with.
Or take this one!
-Andrea

On 7/18/10 7:01 PM, "Andrew Gilmartin" <andrewg...@3roofs.com> wrote:

[Ruth]

Thanks so much for posting about your mite issue.  If not for that, I would not have checked my own situation.  Fortunately, my birds and coop appear mite free, but I did find 3-4 lice on the vent of my rooster.  At least lice spend their whole life cycle on the bird, so I won't have to treat the nestboxes etc. They are also species-specific so I didn't have to deal with bugs crawling onto me!  

 I dusted his vent with a blend of diatomaceous earth and insecticidal herbs; will check in 24 hours to see if lice are dead. If it works, will then check and dust as needed the rest of the flock.  (Family planning did not go as *I* planned this spring and sad to say my 4 hens outsmarted me and hatched out 36 chicks.  I don't want to inspect/dust 40 more birds only to find the DE/herb mix doesn't do it for lice and I have to treat everyone again with something else).  I did not find lice anywhere else on the rooster but the vent, so looks like I caught it very early thanks to your heads up.  If I'm really lucky he's the only one but we will see.

What did you end up using on your birds for the mites, and how were the results?

Ruth B in Wakefield

[Ruth]

And the results are in; lice on just one bird in the flock. Said lice very dead when I checked 8 hours after applying DE, so that was a simple, non-toxic and effective solution should anyone else need to know.

Ruth in Wakefield