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environment, but it cannot be sprayed on the chickens. It has active ingredients that include sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium chloride and citric acid. Essentially these ingredients kill by penetrating the chitinous outer layer of the insects.
If you are not interested in using any type of spray to remove these mites from the skin of your birds, then you will need to bathe your chickens in warm, soapy water. You must pay particular attention to areas around the crest and beard or muffs of breeds with these breed-specific features.
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You should then rinse your chickens and let them dry completely. Use gentle soap flakes or ivory soap without dyes when bathing your birds. You will need to clean out and scrub the interior with warm, soapy water, allowing it to dry overnight. Then, reassemble your coop with fresh bedding and clean equipment.
• 21 breeds of ducks
• 16 breeds of geese
Protecting Your Flock
Also, if you bring in new birds and mix them with your flock, you can invite this parasite into your coop. You may examine new birds and not see mites, but you will not necessarily see mite eggs. That is why you should keep new birds in quarantine for several weeks. Lastly, one interesting route that can bring in the mites is sharing equipment with other chicken keepers. Be sure to practice good biosecurity and do not share equipment at all. If equipment must be shared, then it will need to be washed and disinfected.
Your flock looks to you for their overall health, so
do them a favor and give them an occasional onceover. You may get the heebie-jeebies about external parasites, but your flock will thank you in the long run. Keep in mind that your poultry depends on you to provide them with the level of care necessary to keep them happy and healthy.
Mite-y Prevention
To keep this creepy crawly critter from making your flock unwell, you should keep your flock well away from wild birds. Wild birds can bring this organism to your clean, healthy and happy flock. That also means locating coops away from trees where wild birds can land and drop mites off their bodies( they don’ t want the mites either).
About the Author
Dr. Brigid McCrea, PhD, is a poultry scientist who has worked with small flock owners for more than a decade. Her expertise is being utilized at Auburn University in the development of curriculum for 4-H Youth Development’ s Animal Programs.
A Family Hatchery.
Year-Round Hatching
• 21 breeds of ducks
• 16 breeds of geese
Gonzales, CA
( 800) 424-7755
Memphis, TN
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• 21 breeds of ducks
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( 800) 424-7755 metzerfarms. com
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