TL;DR-- My whole flock has mites/fleas, is there a permanent solution to getting rid of them at this point?
It's been a while since I posted here, so hello again BYC.
Over the past few months our flock of 29 chickens has picked up little flea-looking pests, chicken mites? I'm not entirely sure what they are-- if anyone knows that would be appreciated. I'll provide photos.
We haven't lost any chickens because of the mites yet but I understand if left untreated they can definitely kill over time. Me and my mom have dusted our chickens with diatomaceous earth and an insecticide (made for use on poultry) and kept them at bay, but no matter what these little suckers are always stuck to our chickens.
They look sort of like fleas and I've even caught them biting me before. They bunch around our chickens' faces, mainly under or above the eyes, under their wattles, on their combs, and on their cheeks.
We've tried dusting the coop too but we probably need to do a much more thorough cleaning. With what we have we're unable to do much more than hose the inside of the coop really good, let it dry, and dust every crevice.
Is there any way to permanently get rid of these bugs? We have some chickens we want to give away, but I'm not going to give someone else a chicken with fleas or give their chickens fleas.
And does adding garlic to feed and water actually help? I've read it can deter the mites because they don't like the taste, but I'm unsure if it makes any big difference.
Here are a few pictures of what the fleas/mites look like on the chickens:
And here's the brand of poultry dust and diatomaceous earth we use:
Thank you if you've read this far. If there's any information needed that I've left out please please ask and I'll answer because I really want to get rid of these pests once and for all.
It's been a while since I posted here, so hello again BYC.
Over the past few months our flock of 29 chickens has picked up little flea-looking pests, chicken mites? I'm not entirely sure what they are-- if anyone knows that would be appreciated. I'll provide photos.
We haven't lost any chickens because of the mites yet but I understand if left untreated they can definitely kill over time. Me and my mom have dusted our chickens with diatomaceous earth and an insecticide (made for use on poultry) and kept them at bay, but no matter what these little suckers are always stuck to our chickens.
They look sort of like fleas and I've even caught them biting me before. They bunch around our chickens' faces, mainly under or above the eyes, under their wattles, on their combs, and on their cheeks.
We've tried dusting the coop too but we probably need to do a much more thorough cleaning. With what we have we're unable to do much more than hose the inside of the coop really good, let it dry, and dust every crevice.
Is there any way to permanently get rid of these bugs? We have some chickens we want to give away, but I'm not going to give someone else a chicken with fleas or give their chickens fleas.
And does adding garlic to feed and water actually help? I've read it can deter the mites because they don't like the taste, but I'm unsure if it makes any big difference.
Here are a few pictures of what the fleas/mites look like on the chickens:
And here's the brand of poultry dust and diatomaceous earth we use:
Thank you if you've read this far. If there's any information needed that I've left out please please ask and I'll answer because I really want to get rid of these pests once and for all.
