Mites not so much & Lice.. a fair number

I know this has been posted before, and I have read the older posts about lice and mites.
We have no pest strips hanging in all of our houses.
We have treated with Eprinex, and I have sulfur in the dust bath as well as DE, wood ash and dirt. We have many dust areas, and I make a point of going to all of them and dumping in my mixture.
I have never done the house. Mites are really pretty scarce, but I have seen a couple, and so I know that there are literally thousands.. lice more of an issue and around the vent I can see perhaps 10 lurking there.
So.. my questions
1) Can you ever get rid of these suckers?
2) What do you clean the house with?
3) Do you have to repeat the house clean?
4) Will this be a bi-annual occurrence?

My hens are now just starting to lay again after the summer heat, and some have started to molt.
I plan on treating this weekend.
I know to repeat the Eprinex in 7 days, then again in another 7 days ( I want to erase them)
but the house...the house...
We have two houses out back and there are no sign of lice or mites back there.

I am not going to dismantle the house, but I do plan on being fastidious about getting in the cracks.
I saw a product at CT called home defense or something like that. It is pyrethrum (sp?) 25% comes with a nifty little spray nozzle (battery operated)..and I am thinking it might have some residual...
Any thoughts?

I use Frontline from the US bought through eBay.

you don't clean your house sue?

I use the triple whammy of Eprinex, Frontline and Dusting Powder.

If I had red mites, which are the ones that will live in your coop and in cracks, I would do a good cleaning. Whereas the northern fowl mite (black) live their entire lives on the bird, so you cna just treat the birds. So it depends what mites you are trying to kill.

Do you have to repeat the house treatment?

Google, or do a forum search. I haven't had to deal with red mites.

When I clean my poultry coops out, I paint all roosts and cracks with old fashioned creosote let it dry for 24 hrs then then return the birds to the coop. This has kept my pens mite free for many years.

Red Mites live in wood cracks so it makes killing them a real problem. Anywhere a bird nests or roosts, red mite will crawl onto the bird to feed. The way you tell Red Mite from Northern Fowl Mites is go into your coop at night with a flash light and investigate. Look under the wood, in between cracks. Mites will appear either dark or red after they have fed.

bigrock wrote:you don't clean your house sue?

The mice and lice are on the chickens, not in the house. Are you talking about chicken or human parasites?

I clean my house...vacuum, mop and dust every week. I don't clean the chicken house. I use deep litter

Didn't know your chickens had mice Sue. Use Frontline for that or DE.

Thanks for the help. I went out last night and wiped my glove on the under side of the roost, and came up with some blood smears, and some live red mites.
Sue...I meant your chicken house. I have the trifecta of nastiness in our chicken house and chickens. I saw lice on my birds, now red mites, and I think there were also black mites crawling up my arm, and face.. perhaps just the red mites.. now I am not sure about the northern fowl mite. in any case. Will treat the house ...birds....house and birds. 2 repeats should be enough to kill the little.......

Bob G wrote:When I clean my poultry coops out, I paint all roosts and cracks with old fashioned creosote let it dry for 24 hrs then then return the birds to the coop.  This has kept my pens mite free for many years.

Bob, where do you get creosote?

Schipperkesue wrote:I use Frontline from the US bought through eBay.

what is the dose for Frontline?

Big Rock, I get creosote from local hardware store. It is intended use is for wood preservation. When you use it on cracks in the wood you will see the mites crawl out and die . It has a very nasty aroma and will stain your clothing.

Oh for crying out loud. You have the red mite and it sounds like the northern mite too. Dusting will get rid of the lice, they live on the bird and eat dander, don't suck blood, so eprinex and frontline and ivomec will not kill lice.

Now the mites, they are sucking insects. They need to ingest the product that goes into the chicken, whatever it is that you are using. Why are you not using ivomec (pour on.... at .5 cc per bird a dose on the base of the neck at the beginning of the back area?). I have not had any mite issues for a good couple of years now and I attribute that totally and 100% to the use of the ivomec pour on for cattle. I had the most inciduous northern mite infection one could ever imagine in my coop, particularly the cochins. I do not think that eprinex is effective. Sorry to say this. I originally used that and it did nothing, I thought it did, just trusted that it did, that is how the epidemic started. Again...I HAVE NOT HAD ANY MITE (northern) ISSUES FOR OVER 2 YEARS NOW. Nor do I have lice. why are you not using ivomec pour on? That will also take care of the red mite, as the red mite have to feed and they come on to the chickens to feed, as opposed to the northern mite that live on the chicken. I think you need to get in touch with me and we will discuss this...please. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Big rock, I totally agree with Cynthia s advice!!

Eprinex is in the same family (eprinomectin) as ivomec (ivermectin), so it should be equally effective. It is effective against mites in cattle. If you have a major mite problem, you should repeat the Eprinex dosage after two weeks.

CynthiaM wrote: why are you not using ivomec pour on?  CynthiaM.

I thought Eprinex was ivomec pour on

so now...ghads does this ever end?
I have done a search regarding efficacy of Eprinex, and ivomec and the studies on mites showed increased efficacy with Eprinex.  Anyone else have experience with one or the other?  I am with authentic--they are the same; avermectins...
It appears as though I need to do a dust with carbyl?
spray the house with pyrethrin

I will get ivomec pour on if you-all think it will work better.
Anyone want to know what I am doing this weekend?

Cynthia, will try to get a hold of you tomorrow

Blah. I do not know the difference between eprinex and ivomec pour on, they are NOT in the same family, this has been discussed before, they are totally different....that is my recollection anyways, similar, but seems that eprinex is NOT in the mectin family. I could be wrong, sometimes my mind does not remember all things...but huge discussions have been about the differences. Blah. You heard what I said, right????? I used eprinex on the birds for a few doses. It did not kill those bloody northern mites. I thought it did, until I had an epidemic. Please, for the mites in our area (and I doubt if they are different in different areas, but maybe the type of climate), EPRINEX DOES NOT work if you have a heavy miteload. Just listen please....you will be sorry if you don't. I was.

Ivomec pour on for cattle. That is what DOES work for our area, trust me on that, please.....if you had seen what I saw with a mite epidemic, you would trust me on this one. I have made posts about the horrid mite epidemic (northern mite, never encounted that red sucker and hope I don't). Do a search for my posts on the mite and you will know what I am talking about. Been clear now for two years. And I attribute it 100% to ivomec pour on.

I do not spray the houses, nor do I dust my chicken houses. I believe the products that are used ON THE BIRDS are the only ones necessary. I sprayed my chicken houses 3 years ago with ectiban 20. It did nothing.

If you think about the life cycle of the mites and lice (and this is only my opinion) . Taking care of health of the birds and using the products should be enough. These mites (except red mite) live on the bird. If every mite or louse that comes on the bird dies from a product on the bird, why bother to try to kill them off bird? I don't know. I clean my hen houses two times a year and still....with no products in the henhouses sprayed or blown around, I do not have lice nor mites. Kind of picture it the same as dogs and the drops we put on the backs for flea control. The fleas bite. The fleas die. Anyways, I am lazy. I have no intention ever of putting product in my chicken houses...only on the chickens.
Big Rock, you have that dusting powder. I know that. From Dominion. Use that on the chickens that you think have them and clean the house too. As your houses are smaller than mine, it might not be such a daunting task, but I would be my bottom dollar 99% of the lice and mites (except red mites, which do not live on the bird) are on the birds....good idea to clean the houses in the fall anyways. Have fun, as I am smiling...I too will be onto the winter ready as well. Yes, give me a call sometime...I have things to say, and things to see and things to do, smiling. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.
If you want to use Ectiban 20, I have a jug of it. Well, a bottle. It can be effective I guess, but it was not for me, smiling

CynthiaM wrote:Blah.  I do not know the difference between eprinex and ivomec pour on, they are NOT in the same family, this has been discussed before, they are totally different....that is my recollection anyways, similar, but seems that eprinex is NOT in the mectin family.  I could be wrong, sometimes my mind does not remember all things...but huge discussions have been about the differences.  

Eprinomectin (Eprinex) is a derivative of ivermectin. Same family/class of drug - Macrolytic lactones. It's even manufactured by the same company - Ivomec. Other drugs within that same family are doramectin and moxidectin, although moxidectin is technically within another chemical group, but is still a macrolytic lactone.

The only (important) difference between Eprinex and Ivomec is that Eprinex has no withdrawal for on-label use (meat, dairy). I personally interpret this to mean no withdrawal for eggs, either, whereas there is a 28 day withdrawal for Ivomec for on-label use. You may interpret that differently for your own flock, after discussing with your vet, of course.

Macrolytic lactones are effective in killing external parasites such as lice, mites, and ticks in a wide variety of livestock. They have a wide safety margin (so it's hard to overdose an animal to the point of illness) and do a great job against most internal parasites, but are not effective against tapeworms or liver flukes, which is why you need to rotate dewormers at least once per year for all classes of livestock.

Autenthtic, thank you for the clarification, I have given wrong information. Have a wonderful night, day to follow. CynthiaM.