Gross, ugly, disgusting, nasty mites. Let me show you what I am talking about.
Perhaps, now you are thinking.. 'That's it? It's not so bad.'
Perhaps you need a more detailed photograph.
SICK.
Those repulsive and foul creatures have infested my poor birdies.
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Anywho, we lost little Myrtle yesterday and noticed that the coop was covered in those vomitous little creatures.
Poor little Myrtle.
It was time for a little defensive action. Mike did some research and we decided to try putting garlic in their water to make the chickies less desirable to the little bastards, as well as, sprinkling some diatomaceous earth in their feathers, roosts, coop, and dust bathing areas.
I bought this at Aslin-Finch. It was pretty pricey, but since I am in a bind, I didn't mind.
The chickies have taken over this area in front of the living room window to use for their hygiene facilities. They dust bath here, and I am hoping they will dust themselves with this beautifully fine powder meant to kill those little jerks by cutting them up and drying them out. Take that, you stupid mites! BRING IT ON!
Update 12/2/11:
The D-earth worked very well.
All of the mites were gone in 2 weeks.
We did two separate dustings, 7 days apart.
There has been no sign of the mites since then.
If anyone out there tells you that this stuff doesn't work, don't listen. There is no reason to use harsh chemicals on your hens when this works just as well. Just don't forget to wear a mask. The dust can irritate your lungs due to the sharp edges on the little dust particles.
We now use D-earth each time we clean out the coop as a preventative solution. Azurestandard.com has the best deal on D-earth. 20 bucks for 50pounds.
Hope this helps those out there with the same problem. Feel free to comment and ask us questions about it.
5 comments:
Ew! I've been meaning to pick up some of that stuff to (hopefully) prevent mites. It's moved up on my to do list now! Hope it works for you.
Azure standard has the best deal. 50lbs for under 20 dollars. Just have to coordinate a pick up site close to you. Apparently from what we have been reading, 50lbs doesn't go far when you use it everytime you clean out the coop.
Wood ash is also supposed to help.
We use DE as well. We've had a 50 pound bag and it's lasted us for 7 months. We also use on the garden to get rid of potato bugs and any other annoying critters eating out stuff. We got it from our local farm supply.
How did you apply the DE? In the Coop and Dusting areas? Did you apply any directly to the birds?
We used the DE liberally. We applies it to every surface in the coop, the dusting areas, and to each bird. The birds we especially well coated around their vents and under the wings. Just make sure to use a mask!
Hope that helps.
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