My CHickens have mites . Any organic ways of getting rid of them?

-- becky (Joel681@webtv.net), February 26, 2000

Answers

This isn't very scientific but it's cheap . We always give the chickens wood ashes. They LOVE to dust in it(them?) and they seem to eat it too. In 14 years we've never had mites even though there are lots of wild birds around their feed. It's the only thing I can think of that might have kept the mites away.

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), February 26, 2000.

Thanks for the tip! We have lots of wood ash! Last year we had a problem with the mites, so we'll try it. How do you use it, though?

-- jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), February 26, 2000.

Nothing fancy, Jean. I just find a place to dump a pile where I won't walk in it and where it won't get wet. I hope it helps. My husband says you could put it in a box or dig a shallow hole to dump it in if you wanted to contain it but I like it scattered around-good for the soil probably.

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), February 26, 2000.

I'll double the suggestion of wood ashes. Does anyone know if coal ash would also work ?

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), February 27, 2000.

Patty, coal ashes are something entirely different. I wouldn't use them for the chickens. A little bit of fine clean sand mixed into the ashes also helps. If you don't have wood ashes, sand alone will be of some help. It is very important to clean your coop including nest boxes a couple of times to help remove any mites that may be in the bedding. If you can, leave the nest boxes unbedded for a bit and keep cleaning them out, even vacuuming the cracks if you can. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), February 27, 2000.

I don't have experience with this, but I have read that D.E. (diamotaceous earth) as a dust bath is effective. Don't know if it should be entirely D.E. or just D.E. added to the dust bath.

-- J.E.Froelich (firefly@nnex.net), February 27, 2000.

We had trouble with chicken mites a couple years ago. I used the wood ashes for them to dust in, but I also bought a cheap bottle of vegetable oil & used an old paint brush to coat their roosts. I poured a small amount in an old cookie sheet & set it where they had to walk through it to get inside the chicken house. About every other time I clean I coat the roosts again. It's working for me. Good Luck!

-- Kaye Reno (klreno@irtc.net), February 28, 2000.

Since the wood ash idea seems to work I would try it and put some DE in it. We use DE for a lot of different kind of bug problems and it works great. We always buy food grade that way we don't have to store two different kinds or worry about getting them mixed up and food grade will always be safer than garden grade.

-- Kathy (DavidWH6@juno.com), February 29, 2000.

We also had mite problems with our chickens. We solved the problem by raising the roost to waist level and putting a wire floor. It took about two weeks for the mites to disappear completely but they did and have stayed gone for 5-6 years now. I think that the mites are active at night and if they fall off and can't back on quickly, they expire. Anyway, it worked for us and make the job of cleaning up the droppings a lot easier.

-- John and Pat James (jjames@n-jcenter.com), February 29, 2000.

do the mites infect humans too? we are just trying to get rid of them off our chickens and I'm worried that they will bite us too - I dont fancy rolling in ash :)

-- Dragonfly (Dragonfly.w@lineone.net), August 05, 2001.