Cube mk2 and WIR

[AndyRoo]

Hi guys,

I noticed about a month ago that several girls were pecking heavily at themselves and had even created some bald patches, so I assumed they might have mites or lice. I checked them out and couldn't initially see anything, but dusted them down with DE and treated with some violet spray and anti-peck to try and stop them picking themselves clean.

I was a bit surprised because every week, without fail, when cleaning the coop, I use mite powder and anti-mite spray. And the girls are always in their dust bath.

Anyways, I did a BIG clean out of everything: I cleaned the coop top to bottom, using mite powder/spray, and emptied out the entire hutch and removed all the old hemp bedding, treated the floor with Nettex and DE before adding more. And I've also been treating the hens with Ivermectin over the last few weeks; however, today when we cleaned the hutch, the OH and I came away with bugs crawling all over us (pictured) which I am assuming means they must still be on the hens too. Even the biggest bugs are only about 1mm in size.

So I've:

Dusted the hens with DE

Dusted the coop with DE

Treated the coop with mite spray

Treated the hutch with DE / Nettex

Treated the hens with Ivermectin

Any ideas what else I can try? It's like they're completely resistant to everything!

The only other thing I can think to try is to shoo all the hens into the garden pen, and treat the who area with Indorex - I am just slightly concerned about the possible effects on the hens, even though I'd obviously not let them back in for several hours after treatment.

Help!

Andy

[mullethunter]

What a nightmare!

I’m not sure how much help it would be but you could try one of the smoke bombs to really get into everywhere. If they really are resistant that’ll be no good though.

Maybe contact Clare (the Dogmother) through her website or Facebook and see if she has any ideas.

[Beantree]

Looks like a 'harvest mite' to me (known by lots of other names). Treat as a flea infection Google says. They give nasty bites that itch like crazy for days and leave a large lump in the skin. So DE and red mite spray won't work on them. They have come in on the bedding I expect, so get rid of all that.

[Luvachicken]

Ooooh, they look yucky.

I can't offer any advice though but hope you manage to get rid of them soon.

[AndyRoo]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:25 AM, Beantree said:

Looks like a 'harvest mite' to me (known by lots of other names). Treat as a flea infection Google says. They give nasty bites that itch like crazy for days and leave a large lump in the skin. So DE and red mite spray won't work on them. They have come in on the bedding I expect, so get rid of all that.

I'll have a look. They actually haven't bitten us at all, they just happened to be all over us, so we had to strip off, wash our clothes immediately - and then run straight up and have long showers to get rid of them. Maybe I will just have to nuke the whole area with Indorex then!  

[Beantree]

But destroy all the hemp bedding you have, because cleaning the coop and refilling it with the infested bedding just keeps the problem going. Switch to wood shavings I think.

They probably didn't bite you because they are full of chicken blood. If you don't get on top of this quickly you may lose your chickens.

My choice is a steam cleaner for the coop. If you have clean bedding afterwards the only issue is the harvest mite on the chickens. Big problem with cats and dogs because they breed on them so they infest your house as well.

Sounds like a horror story unfolding and  wish you the very best of luck dealing with it. Where did you get the bedding, so everyone else can avoid it?

[AndyRoo]

On 8/15/2022 at 7:34 PM, Beantree said:

But destroy all the hemp bedding you have, because cleaning the coop and refilling it with the infested bedding just keeps the problem going. Switch to wood shavings I think.

They probably didn't bite you because they are full of chicken blood. If you don't get on top of this quickly you may lose your chickens.

My choice is a steam cleaner for the coop. If you have clean bedding afterwards the only issue is the harvest mite on the chickens. Big problem with cats and dogs because they breed on them so they infest your house as well.

Sounds like a horror story unfolding and  wish you the very best of luck dealing with it. Where did you get the bedding, so everyone else can avoid it?

I've used the same bedding for years without a problem, so I'd be surprised if it is anything to do with that, but it comes from Flyte So Fancy.

I was also once told by the vet that mites and lice from poultry are rarely inter-species so were unlikely to get into the house. Although I use Indorex around the whole house every 2 months or so anyway as the cats had fleas a while back and now I take no precautions, so that should kill them off in the house. And, of course, the cats get flea treated every few months.

 

[mullethunter]

I’m just having a Google. I don’t think they’re harvest mites - it looks like they tend to be an orangey colour. Although they’re pretty good photos for something so small I can’t really positively ID them from that though. If he sees this maybe @Lewis can?

[AndyRoo]

A local vet has confirmed them as mites and suggested we use something called Dergall, followed by some predator mites. Just got to do another great big clean out and vacuum the area and spray it all down again. Joy of joys.

[The Dogmother]

Hi Andy, sorry to have missed this.

You're partly there in terms of what you're using, but you need to make some tweaks and work to some timings. here's how to do it....

You need to get the mites on 2 levels - on-bird, and in the coop

Coop: Do a good primary clean of the housing - take it apart as much as possible, and jetwash it if it's plastic. Spray all the panels (inside and joints) with Nettex's Total Mite Kill (pink) spray, shaking it first as it has a coating agent in it, which keeps the permethrin on the surface of the coop so it can kill the mites in between applications. Powder it all with their Buz Busters louse powder, then oil the screw holes before you re-assemble. After that you need to repeat just the spray and powder part of that every 3 days until the mites have gone, then revert to using those products weekly to keep them away.  Once you've cracked an initial infestation, provided you keep up the preventative part of it, you shouldn't see them again.

On-bird: treat them with the Ivermectin spot-on every quarter without fail, the dose for that is 2 drops per 500g of bird. If you stop either the housing or on-bird treatment, then the mites or lice will be back!

Your birds may well be a bit anaemic if there's an infestation, so give them a good tonic in their water and feed them neat Alpha-Conditioning Feed to get them back in condition. 

I usually only take the cube apart twice a year, just for a good thorough clean.

 

[Beantree]

Best forget the chemicals, they are an environmental disaster; just get a steam cleaner for the coop. We have never used Ivermectin or food additives, so we must be doing something very right, question is "what are we doing right that everyone else is doing wrong?"

[The Dogmother]

Obviously, what you use is up to you entirely, but while steam cleaners will get rid of an initial infestation, they won't prevent them returning... again and again. 

I have seen it happen time and again with folks using steam, cooking oil, hairspray, DE and all sorts.

 

Andy if they are settling on you, then please be very careful not to transfer them into your own house - strip off on the doorstep, put all your clothes on a hot wash and shower immediately with a dog flea shampoo containing permethrin (same prep as for head lice). I've heard of several folks this year who've needed to have their homes fumigated.

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by The Dogmother

[AndyRoo]

I always wash immediately and was the clothing. And I use Indorex around the house for the cats anyway. Although there shouldn't be a problem for me myself as red mites don't attack humans anyway. And the Indorex should kill them stone dead and lasts for significantly longer than their life-cycle.

I've put some mite traps out there to monitor the situation, but even in a week since using Indorex in the coop, the number is clearly virtually nil compared with previously. We found two large patches of red mite next to the roosting bars which have been sprayed, vacuumed, Indorexed, Durgalled, and then DE'd. If they survived that, they deserve to.

We'll be treating everything each 5 days as recommended by the vet for the next few weeks. And once they're down to a minimal level, we shall release the predator mites.

[The Dogmother]

Red mites don't live on humans, but they will bite us. They will also transfer from our clothing into our furnishings... just check it out online, there've been plenty of cases.

 

Indorex is good.