Can anyone help? I am being bitten all over.I thought it could mites on the eggs when get them and if I go in there run I have stop the kids getting eggs. I have dusted the chickens and there house in the past (which I dont like as its not natural) what can I do? I have been told thay could be sand fleas and to try Tansy which I will. the things are round and about the size of a pin head. HELP!!! Thanks PAUL
Where do you live? I'm in Brisbane and over the last 12 months or so, we've been invaded by midges with a bite more intensely painful than a mozzie, although not as long lasting. I've been in touch with the council etimologist and they reckon there's not much you can do... Currently we're all wandering around covered in mozzie spray, but I''d love to hear of something else.
I'm on Brisbane south side. I can see little round thing moving on the eggs and me when I've been down there. I wonder if thay come from pigons as I see them in there somtimes eating there food.
Wormwood is a small grey bushy plant generally thought of as a herb. It is usually available in nurseries. Many organic gardeners have it as an insect repelling plant. You can propagate it from cuttings. Ask around your permaculture friends - someone is bound to have it. Caralyn
when you go looking for wormwood make sure you get the right type - - there's quite a few and the dodgey nurseries sometimes substitute the good stuff for something that looks the same i can't offer any of mine, cut it all back last week for the chook run
Hiya.........Without seeing a close up of any particuler bug its hard to give it a name.... Wormwod is an excellent herb to use,any kinda Mints are good, Lavender. Fennell is great stuff too.Rosemary,really ANY strongly pungunt AND NOT FORGETTING GARLIC...... Any herb will do...Thing is yourll need to use a fair amount,depends on the area of chook house..I grow lots and certain herbs are chook proof, (unedible)... They also wander and brush against the bushes wich in turn rubs into their feathers and it can be a full time eradication system after plants are established.. Herb cuttings should be sread around and underneath the perches as huge amounts of poo collect and a lot of bugs just love chook poo, including the old scaley leg mites,that can be in agues during wet damp spells.. Tezza
Lemon grass might be worth a try too if you have it growing. It contains citronella and would make good nesting material, but dry and chop the lemon grass first for nesting boxes. Also another thing to try is to keep your henhouse floor covered in hay, not only will you end up with the best mulch in the world for your garden, but you will find it easier to get rid of the poo because its on the hay and you won't have to try to scrape it off the floor. But first of all you may have to take everything out of the pen and scrub everything with bleach or the like including the perches and boxes. Then fresh hay, herbs and lemon grass on top and treat hens with a dusting powder before putting them back in. Good luck with it all.
Also just remembered ...silly me .... Chooks with ample acsses to open ground will usually "dust bathe" as this is probly their best way of "self pest control" that theyll ever have Tezza
Our chooks had mites quite a while ago (perhaps about 18 months ago) and it was horrible. They got on my arms when I picked up the eggs, etc - I was paranoid about the kids being near the chooks, hand washing, etc - we hardly went outside! So I understand what its like. We used diatomite - a form of diatomacious earth. Put heaps on the chooks and then give them some in their favourite dustbath area continuously. I know it was really hard to track down though and I ended up getting a huge bag sent from Canberra somewhere, but I'm not sure of the company name - it had just changed hands I think. Good luck! Fiona
If you live some place where camphor laurel grows,use the branches for perches and you will never have this problem.Stops leg mite as well. Camphor Laurel is a declared pest around here so it's easily available with no problems cutting it down. Batz
Our chooks have been getting mites in this wet weather too (We are on the Sunshine Coast). No place to have a dust bath. You can easily see the tiny mites (they look like little full stops) running around on the eggs. We got a dust from the Yandina feed barn that is a little less harmful than most - I also saw it yesterday in a farm barn at Mooloolah - will try to find out its name and let you know. We cleaned out all their bedding and nesting stuff (probably should burn it to ensure the mites are gone), dusted all the chooks and all the new bedding and the perches (or replace the perches with camphor laurel). Also scrubbed the perches with ecualyptus oil in warm water. You can get wormwood tincture from Greenpet to put in their food and use lots of garlic too - high in sulphur. We use wormwood once every three months on all our chooks anyway as a parasite preventative and we add water that has had a lot of crushed garlic soaking in it overnight in their water every month. We also added mugwort to their bedding as a deterent. When dusting make sure you get it under their wings and around their vent. The mites love all the warm dark areas of your chooks. You can also use derris dust. One of our chooks was so bad her comb was very pale due to anaemia - we were inexperienced and didn't know the cause at first, but she was sick and lethargic - but soon made a full recovery once we started the mite treatment in the house and bedding. You'll need to then keep dusting the birds every week or so, the perches and the bedding and changing it regularly until you break the mite breeding cycle. Once you know what to look for you can get onto it early and treat it quickly. I was covered in dozens of bites at first and thought they were midges until I spotted the mites on the eggs. Alanna Moore's book on chook care also has some good ideas for keeping them healthy too. Good luck, Sonya
Re: Chicken mites? Hello, Dealing with chicken mites for the very first (and hopefully) the very last time. Thanks so much for all the natural ways to get rid of them. I now have a lot to go on.
Re: Chicken mites? I noticed that some of my chickens had mites the other day so I made up a spray with water, a squirt of detergent, lavender and the only other essential oil blend I could find that had wintergreen in it. It did the trick. I was surprised that they died so easily. Any herb oils would do, but make sure they are good quality-thyme, rosemary, (oregano might be a bit irritating, but it is really good)
Rotten Chicken Mites Wow, so much info here. You guys are great! I have by the sounds of it the same little critters. I can barely see them, but I feel them before I see them and I need to use a magnifying glass to see them. Boy do they move, they get up my arms and all over, they come inside with me and then I panic. Can they live inside? Can they live on my dogs and will they do any harm? We should collect them and start a racing club, hehehe...........
Use DIATOMACEOUS EARTH https://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/diatomaceous_earth_prod.html If you get another infestation, buy a bag of diatomaceous earth as it lasts for quite a long time as you don't use that much. It's a natural product, wear a good face mask, gloves and nuke everything, hold the chooks by their legs upside down and throw the dust into their feathers and rub it in, I use a couple of hand fulls per chook but not in the face/eyes, the dust sticks well to wooden surfaces so rub it over everything in the chook house. everything will look grey but will be mite free in a day or two, also give the chook house a really good clean before nuking but wear old clothes as the mites will go airbourne and will stick to you and your clothes, I jump in my pool after dealing with mites, clothes and all. I hate them with a passion, I have to do mine in the next week because of all this rain, I can already feel them on me just talking about them, ahhhhhhhhhhh, oh it's an organic reg product too. Wear an old pair of gloves and clothes and don't forget and mask as you really do need it. They will get inside, in your bed, on your dogs, everywhere. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, don't let them get out of control. ehhhhhhh I hate them.