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Here is how I get rid of poultry mites

 
Larry Fletcher
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If you have ever felt the itch of chicken mites on your skin...you KNOW. So whenever I detect mites I try to act quickly to get rid of them...I can't imagine how itchy it must get for our chickens!
 
Harmony Dybala
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Yep, this is why I just cleaned out the chicken coop and nesting boxes, and gave the birds a lot of of diatomaceous earth for bathing. Apart from regular cleaning and having DE always available and applied to the nesting boxes and coops, are there any repellents you can recommend? Maybe there's a plant oil that can be sprayed around the bedding or on the wood of the coop?

"[6] Let the people, O God, confess to Thee: let all the people give praise to Thee: [7] The earth hath yielded her fruit. May God, our God bless us, [8] May God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear Him." (Psalms 66/67)

 
Larry Fletcher
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Harmony d'Eyre wrote:... are there any repellents you can recommend? Maybe there's a plant oil that can be sprayed around the bedding or on the wood of the coop?



I don't know of anything. I'll let you know if I discover something.
 
Olga Booker
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Well, my experience is that during the day, they (the mites) tend to retreat and hide at each end of the perches, they crawl back out as soon as the chickens have gone in - for a feast.   That's when they turn from grey to red, after they've gorged on blood.  I smother each end of the perches with a thick blob of vasseline, it makes it very difficult for them to crawl out of that.  I also wipe the perches with a cloth saturated with neem oil.

Egg boxes have a similar sort of treatment.  I dilute 1 tablespoon of neem oil with a teaspoon of washing up liquid, add 1 litre of water and spray all the boxes at cleaning time.  Of course, the bedding gets a good dose of DE.

It has worked remarkably  well for me.  I do get a one litre of organic neem oil on Amazon France for less than $20 and it goes such a long way.

Love is the only resource that grows the more you use it.
David Brower

 
John C Daley
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From; neem oil facts
"Neem oil is a naturally occurring pesticide found in seeds from the neem tree.
It is yellow to brown, has a bitter taste, and a garlic/sulfur smell. It has been used for hundreds of years to control pests and diseases.
Components of neem oil can be found in many products today. These include toothpaste, cosmetics, soaps, and pet shampoos.
Neem oil is a mixture of components. Azadirachtin is the most active component for repelling and killing pests and can be extracted from neem oil.
The portion left over is called clarified hydrophobic neem oil."

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Jen Fulkerson
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I have rarely had trouble with mites. I have always mixed pine and cedar shavings.  I now know cedar can be dangerous for chickens because it can cause respiratory problems. Mine never suffered from this, maybe because my coop is very open and we'll ventilated.  I think the cedar repelled the mites.  Once I started using free wood chips, then I had to deal with mites.  Now I use pine and cedar in the coop and free chips in the chicken yard. If I notice the chickens scratching, I clean the nesting boxes and roost, and spread DE allover the chicken yard.  I also sprinkle it on the roost for good measure.  I don't put it in the boxes because DE can also cause respatory problems if I'm not careful with it.  This pretty much keeps the critters away.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

 
Anne Miller
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Harmony d'Eyre wrote:
... are there any repellents you can recommend? Maybe there's a plant oil that can be sprayed around the bedding or on the wood of the coop?



Yes, marigolds are always something I planted around the chicken house and run.

Some other suggestions to plant are nasturtiums, mint, lemon balm, and lavender.

Maybe even sprinkle dried flowers and leaves around the bedding.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Jen Fulkerson
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Ann when you said you plant around the coop and run, is there a fence separating the chickens from the flowers?  I would love to add flowers to the chicken yard, but even if the chickens don't like it (which seem to be all flowers for my chickens) they still scratch them up.  I only have one side of the fence I can plant flowers ( plan to do when I can). Other than that hanging baskets are the only other thing I can think of.  Would love other solutions.
Thanks

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

 
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