Northern Fowl Mite! Beware!

I have discovered mites on some of my birds here. From what I have read they can be a tricky critter to eradicate. In the past I have done regular treatments on my birds using Eprinex but apparently Eprinex has little power over mites. I have been told about a medication out of the states but I do not feel confident suggesting it as I have not yet tried it.

Silly me, I thought if I isolated my new birds, and wormed them I would be safe.

I am not sure when I contracted these mites or how many birds are affected since I have bought birds from many sources at different times over the past year, but if you have birds from me, keep them isolated and treat them. I will try out my new drug when it arrives and let you know how it goes.

I am sorry if I have inadvertently sent you more animals than you have bargained for!

Where did you hear that Eprinex doesn't work with mites?

I've found that it works very well, but it takes time (like any systemic), because each individual mite has to feed before it is killed, so any eggs that are around will have to go through the cycle before they are done in.

ipf wrote:Where did you hear that Eprinex doesn't work with mites?

I've found that it works very well, but it takes time (like any systemic), because each individual mite has to feed before it is killed, so any eggs that are around will have to go through the cycle before they are done in.

I have heard this from others who have tried to use it and found it did not work. Your news is good news. What kind of an Eprinex regimen do you follow? How often and how much dose?

All my birds receive Eprinex 4x a year. Three drops on a bantam, five on a large fowl. I drop in the bare area under the wing... I call it the 'wingpit'. I understood it was effective for 3 months.

If you read the box of eprinex it states that for horn flies (since this is a cattle product) it is effective for 14 days. We have been using it on our dairy cow so we can use her milk for us and by 14 days the flies are terrible on her again, the first week is awesome, second week some flies, and now the 3rd week she is swatting and shaking again. It says to reapply every 30 days so not sure what to do till then? We have started dusting her now and that works, so we are going to do the eprinex once a month and dust in the mean time between doses.
I would suggest people do this with their birds as well.

I would say three months is about right, but since the mites aren't too bad in fall and winter I tend to do only once or twice a year, and then use no-pest strips in between.

I like to be fairly precise, so use a hypodermic syringe (sans needle; free at any pharmacy), the little one that only goes to 1 cc. I use about 0.3 cc for a bantam, 0.6 for a hen, and a bit more for those big roos; and apply it between the shoulder blades, folding the feathers up so it goes straight onto bare skin. If you do it in the dark, with someone holding the flashlight, you don't even have to take them off the roosts. Chooks have even worse night vision than we do!

It helps to pour some into a disposable cup first, so you can see what you're sucking up into the hypodermic. I use a plastic drink cup, cut back to about 2" high.

I remember the first time I used it, going out the next day and expecting no mites, and being disappointed, and reapeating the experience for quite a few days after that. Then, suddenly, all the eggs had hatched, and fed, and they were ALL GONE!

In my experience Eprinex does not work on mites. I treated my entire flock 1 week apart for 4 weeks with a syringe dose of 0.7ml down to about 0.3 ml per bird on the basis of weight from large fowl roosters to bantams applied directly to the skin on the back of the neck. The Eprinex did not kill mites of any stage (adults, nymphs, or eggs) as far as I could tell. There was not even a temporary drop in the population.

Interesting. It sure works for me. No idea why your birds would be resistant? Or maybe your Eprinex had been compromised somehow?

Perhaps the difference in results stems for a difference in mites. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have been told there are at least two kinds of mites that affect chickens. The Northern Fowl Mite lives on the bird. The Red Mite lives on the roosts and bedding and comes out at night to eat. Do they both suck blood? Could the difference in lifestyles make a difference in how they are treated and what med to use?

I beleive my birds had northern fowl mites although I have yet to study them under a microscope to condfirm.

The Eprinex was stored in the original container in a color dark place in the house. I pour some into a small cup from the bottle just before using it to treat so the bottle is not contaminated etc. It is not expired and was only purchased about a year ago.

I wish it worked, it would be a very easy treatment comparatively.

I find the Eprinex works beautifully on those lice that lay their eggs in a cluster around the feather shafts. Knocks them out and fast. I have been told that Ivomec is more effective on mites.

As I understand it poultry lice stay on the birds all the time and all mites hide in day and come out at night to feed and yes all mites feed on blood so if the medication / poison is in the blood it should work. I have not had the problem for about 12 or 13 years when someone was kind enough to share them with me but your birds can get them from Magpies and other wild birds. I always dust my coops each time I clean them and I use a whole tall container on each 8x10 coop. I dust all the cracks and corners and roosts and nests and floor. I also use those No Pest Strips but have to admit that I don't change them as often as I should. I also have Eprinex that I purchased about a year ago but I have never used it yet. For me it is hard to know if it works when I don't have the problem to test it. But I would rather not know and not have the problem.

Some of you know my story, so I won't bore you with it again but I believe I could write the book on treating for mites.

I had a heavy infestation of the Red mite this year. It was so gruelling and upsetting.

I started by treating all birds orally with Ivomec, 3 times, 7 days apart and had a worse infestation than when I started.

I then tried Eprinexing them, 1cc topically, about an inch below their vent, twice, 10 days apart. It knocked them back but they were all still infested but not heavily.

I then tried Dusting Powder by Dominion Vet Laboratories. I generously (and I mean generously) sprinkled it around the vent area, concentrating mostly about 4 inches below the vent and worked the powder in, wearing latex gloves, to be sure the powder sifted down onto the skin between the quills. I then repeated this 5 days later.

Four weeks later I checked the birds and found one bird from each flock mildly infested, so dusted the entire flock a third time but did NOT repeat 5 days later this time, just the once. I then checked four weeks later (3 nights ago) and I am happy to say I am mite free. In my experience, it was also the only product that said on the label it would kill Red mites and Norther Fowl mites.

I would not waste my time with any other product if I had an infestation (although coopslave knows of a product that I would try in the future - the name escapes me at the moment - it is good not to use the same product year after year, allowing the mite to develop a resistance to it.

Anyways, here is a link to the dusting powder: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Well I used the dusting powder on the barn birds and a product called Sendran spray on the tractor birds. On Monday I will inspect and try again. And yes, I used the powder heavily. It sure is time consuming to catch and dust EVERY bird.

I would like to use this product in my dust bath boxes and in my nesting boxes. Unfortunately it says do not use birds for slaughter within a week of use. Will it affect eggs? I am tossing them all right now.

We did not eat the eggs for 10 days after dusting. Now don't quote me on this but I don't believe it works systemically and they didn't ingest it so I am hoping any exposure is to the eggshell as it's being laid and coming out of the vent. Are you reading this ipf?

What is interesting is that I had to powder a couple of brooding bantams sitting on real eggs at the time and all chicks hatched......

Anyways, you know how it's hard to get accurate information on the egg withdrawal topic and I'm hesitant to trust the 'experts' based on my experience with them which included them telling me I may have to depopulate along with giving me a completely ineffective dose with the Ivomec......so I came up with the 10 day withdrawal.

Good luck Schipperke!

[quote="Schipperkesue" It sure is time consuming to catch and dust EVERY bird.[/quote]

Sue, I had to treat 60 birds individually, with one product or another, including orally, EIGHT TIMES! And had to strip, clean out and spray 4 coops 3 times with nasty insecticides. It was unbelievable. The Red mite is worse than the northern fowl mite because of its ability to live so long without food (its host), whereas the NF mite can live up to 3 weeks only without food.

This is why it is important to know for sure which mite you are dealing with. Don't go by its behaviour. Look at it under a microscope or take it to the vet. My vet charged me $15 to tell me which one it was.

So that dusting powder is the same as Sevin 5% powder. So you could use that if you cannot find the other. I was doing some reading today and the Ag Bc website recommended the ingredient in Sevin (carbaryl) or pymrethrins as treatment for chicken mite or northern fowl mite. The mite that causes scaly leg is totally different and responds to Ivermectin ( eprinex topically or Ivomec orally).

Most interesting!

Hi Anne,

I know it is the same to the extent that both contain 5% carbaryl which I believe, is the active ingredient. I just don't know if the amount of carbaryl is the same in each product. If you can get the official Dusting Powder I would. If not, try Sevin and be sure to reapply (generously both times) 5 days apart as I mentioned above.

You can get Dusting Powder through your vet and it's relatively inexpensive or from any farm supply store that has an agriculture license. For instance our Farmer's supply store doesn't have that license but 'Freemans' a business that sells farm products, near Rock Creek, does. Easiest way is to go through your vet.

Chicory, the product was Cydectin, the active ingredient is moxidectin. I used Cydectin because it is a cattle product and we would have it, but any product with moxidectin as the active ingredient works fine.
Moxidectin is used in the caged bird world down in Aus to a great extent. It is a great product and I don't know why more people don't use it here. They like it for cattle down there because it does not impact the lifecycle of the dung beetle.

Here is a bit of info from Canada:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

If I had mites or lice of any sort I would be getting a moxidectin product.

Coopslave, do you know of any Canadian products off hand that contain Moxidectin?

I think someone, it may have been Chicory, found some in Ont. Maybe pm her. I think I remember something about it in her 'mite' thread.

I am not sure how small you can get the Cydectin containers. There is an injectable form as well that I believe may be able to be used orally, but please do not quote me on that because I am not sure about it.

coopslave wrote:I think someone, it may have been Chicory, found some in Ont. Maybe pm her. I think I remember something about it in her 'mite' thread.

I am not sure how small you can get the Cydectin containers. There is an injectable form as well that I believe may be able to be used orally, but please do not quote me on that because I am not sure about it.

Thanks for the reminder Coop. It was Toybarons, I believe, who found a source for Cydectin.

When applying Eprinex, you need to put it where it has the best chance of being absorbed, and the least chance of being groomed off - i.e. directly on the skin, and where the bird can't reach it.

Eprinex has no withdrawal time for either meat or milk, so I assume eggs are fine.

IGNORE THE FOLLOWING - IT'S OLD INFO (BUT I'LL LEAVE IT IN TO AVOID CONFUSION)SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS.
Cydectin comes with the following warnings:
"1. Treated animals must not be slaughtered for use in food for at least 36 days after the latest treatment with this drug.
2. Do not treat non-lactating dairy cattle with this drug for at least 60 days prior to calving.
3. Do not use in lactating dairy cows."

Now that is why I like Eprinex. Expensive yet safe. When I examine my birds on Monday I will give them a dose. IPF, have you heard about possible liver damage through the excess use of Eprinex?

CF, I think those powders and sprays work mostly by contact with, and/or being ingested by the bug, not systemically; they are metabolised and/or excreted from vertebrates pretty quickly.

In ay case, the active chemicals in the two named in this discussion don't seem to be highly toxic to people - I don't think I'd sell eggs for a week or so, but I'd certainly eat them myself, feed them to pets, etc.

The only liver damage I've read of was for those breeds of dogs (Collies and Australian Shepherds, I believe)that are acutely sensitive to Eprinomectin, the active ingredient.

The good thing about Eprinomectin is that there's a very large safety margin - the amount needed to damage the treated animal is WAY more than the amount needed for effective parasite control.