# Odd behaviour/mites... Help :(



## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

Hi.. One... Sorry I never come on here & when I did last it was with a question... Bad participation. 
But.. I am really worried & could do with some advice. 
Last night I got home late & noticed 4 of my 11 girls were roosting outside the coop,,, which is odd. So I put them in the house, which I realised was crawling In mites! Literally everywhere! We treat them occasionally & never realised we had a problem.., we have had them coming up a year. Today has been bad storms... awful hail stones & was at a wedding. But tomorrow I will completely clean the coop, every nook & crannie & then de earth it & paragon & red mite (altho no sign of red mite) just now 3 chicken were once again roosting outside when should of been in bed... Picked a chicken up & an egg dropped out of her! 
Is this just down to a serious mite problem? Or is there something else? No sign of a Any rats etc, i am in the UK so no snakes etc... 
& any tips other than paragon & DE earth?? Feel awful & worried. 
Thanks in advance xx


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## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

Ps.. But I did throw some mite stuff in there on them tonight...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

If my search pulled up the Paragon you're referring to its nothing more than DE. I am not a fan of DE for killing off and keeping mites at bay. Sand will do as much for a far cheaper price.

You will need to treat with whatever miticides are available for chickens in the UK. Here we have premise sprays that are made of permerthrins and permectrins. It can be sprayed on the building, in the building mixed at one dilution. Used on the birds mixed in another dilution. 

As to the roosting outside, it could be anything. The others might be bullying them and they've chosen to remove themselves from the drama.


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## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

Robin I always love see a reply from you as has always helped me before! Even just looking on other posts! 

So do you think the mites would not make them roost outside? Rather a different problem? 

We got a new chicken (her mate was put to sleep so rehomed her ) 
She is lovely but she had taken on the "head girl" & I still see her peck her now 2 weeks later but no one else & nether of those are roosting outside. 

Thanks for advice re DE & paragon. I will look for something else, cnt remember off hand what you said but will look back..
Hate the thought of then being stressed. So my idea tomorrow is to completely clean out & disinfect... Then coat in a paragon type... But try find something else like you said... & do every couple if days.. 
Poor babies


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## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

I will go to the pet shop tomorrow to see what mite products they have! Hopefully something better than paragon! I have taken note of the ingredients you said to look out for... 
I was thinking to make a temp nest box outside the coop but in the run so if was a case of felt couldn't go in the coop to lay then there is another option..


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Unfortunately it sounds like you can't be there in the evening at roost time to see what is going on. But its very possible the addition of the new bird, if I understood that correctly, has knocked the balance off. 

Let me do a little digging. Ivermectin used to be the go to treatment until about five years ago in the UK. That's when they found over use had made it ineffective. There is another now but off the top of my head I don't remember the name.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I looked, that new one I saw several years ago is not listed any where I looked so there must have been an issue with it.

I also saw that Ivermectin can only be obtained from a vet now. But they did list permerthrins and permectrins and pyrethrins as being available for use. Those last three are short acting with pyrethrin being the shortest acting. Once the sun hits it its effectiveness is gone. 

Do you have dips for dogs? Those very often are nothing more than permerthrins and can be mixed as a spray. I also saw Frontline mentioned but I think they might have changed the ingredients in that. Frontline spray for dogs and cats is safe to use. It will cause infertility in males for a short time. 

Frontline is not authorized for use in the UK on poultry and it sounds as though they can be quite serious if they catch you using it off label. 

And lice treatments for humans that you can buy in the store. That's pyrethrins here in the states.


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## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

I can jus not Wednesday.. This weekend I couldn't. I will watch during roost time to see what's going on... But if it has become a habit now may not see much. 
Thank you so much for looking for me, whatever you find I am happy to buy no matter what the price! 
Can not wait to get to the pet shop tomorrow & clean them deeply... Just to make me feel better xx


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## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

I didn't see your message when I replied.... 
I will get frontline tomorrow, I have a dog so shouldn't be a problem. I will put a small drop on each of them... That's prob best idea to try for fast acting. While I try to deal with the coop... Find some stuff that's good & works to use., 
Thanks so much Robin. I really appreciate it. Xx


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not the Frontline topical, although I have heard of others using. I'm talking about the Frontline spray. The topical works from within the animal, the spray is topical. The spray is quicker kill. 

You still need to get something to kill off what is living in the coop or they will just have them right away again.


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## powderhogg01 (Jun 4, 2013)

sevin5 dust can be used as an instant kill. but its no good for anything but killing bugs, even bees.. so use sparingly if thats even an option there


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I didn't mention Sevin because I wasn't certain its available in the UK. Then there's that whole off label use thing. They appear to be pretty strict about off label use.


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## ChickChick2014 (May 12, 2014)

Thanks I will look into that this morning. Yes I'm going to pet shop & they have a vet there so I will ask if sell anything strong but to be honest vets aren't great with chicken things! But I'm going to do my best this morning, firstly cleaning everything! Thanks again & hopefully I can find something for the coop! I've never heard of a frontline spray here... Only drop on but will have a look, sure we must have it! Thanks again


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