Bad, bad day coming....

chickenista · #1 07/27/09, 10:44 AM

This year the mites are bad.
I have 200 birds and a 10,000 sq ft barn.
Today I have to do something about it all.
I am going to have to get chemical.
Sevin dust is not what I usually do, but I ahve no choice.
I may get crazy and do Ivermectin or something too.
I see lots of raking.
Lots of shaking.
Lots of rebedding.
Lots of painting with Sevin whitewash.
And tonight.. gathering the birds and dusting them one by one by one by one by one by one by one...

:bawling:

I am tired and sweaty and unhappy already.
Looking for the love, looking for the pity.

Cheryl aka JM · #2 07/27/09, 11:27 AM

I'm sorry! Lots of pity for you!

gone-a-milkin · #3 07/27/09, 11:52 AM

Gack! Here is another big lump of pity for you!

Stay strong.

Wisconsin Ann · #4 07/27/09, 11:58 AM

Okay!! PITY PARTY!!

I'd give ya a big ol group hug, but if you're sweaty and nasty I don wanna!

That's sure one thing I'm not missing about the chickens. The mites. On the other hand,it's about the ONLY thing I don't miss.

Itsme · #5 07/27/09, 12:00 PM

ugghhh!!
What a drag. If I were close I'd help ya.

Earthbound · #6 07/27/09, 01:13 PM

the mites here are out of hand as well.....its the heat and the crazy weather.... i too, am power washing and dusting with dry kill today. i just came in for a 'break" as my motivation is lacking. keep strong , keep strong......
corry

Cyngbaeld · #7 07/27/09, 01:31 PM

Don't give Ivermectin as you can kill the birds easily with it.

Get some yellow dusting sulfur from the feedstore and dust the birds and the barn with it. It stinks, but won't hurt them.

chickenista · #8 07/27/09, 01:39 PM

I have gotten a spray (mix with water) of permethrin for $4.95 and it is enough to easily spray all of the roosts and support beams.
No ivermectin.. but Sevin dust for the birds tonight and new straw etc..
I got this straw from a closed trailer.. the last stuff I got came from an open shed. I think there lies the trouble. I think I imported extra mites. Great.
I plan on raking back the bedding and spreading Sevin on the ground and addding new bedding and the sprinkling more Sevin. I may even give the straw a spritz when I do the beams and roosts and nest boxes.
I bought a higher protein feed and some liver to perk them back up and I will dust them ALL tonight and do some VetRx on the legs of the ones that look like they could use it.
I am cooking dinner now so I don't ahve to worry about coming in out of the barn once I get in.
I may henna my hair while I do it.. I have waaaay too much white right now.
As you can see.. I am trying to 'positive' myself into it... get pumped up!!

belladulcinea · #9 07/27/09, 02:04 PM

Time for

and :banana02: after the work is done! I don't envy you at all, I only have 2 birds!

mooman · #10 07/27/09, 03:06 PM

Good luck Jen, does sound like a bummer of a chore.

chickenista · #11 07/27/09, 07:33 PM

I wimped out.
I was just not in the right frame of mind at all today.
Since waking I have been short tempered and nasty grumpy and knew that it was just not the day for a long barn job in the heat.
So, I moved the sheep fence instead.

Jesse L · #12 07/27/09, 07:50 PM

Ugh - mites. I know what you mean, ive got them too.

Im using the ivermectin on the barskin - im sure you have read the thread. Its alot easier than anything else.

I suggest putting lime underneath the bedding. So far it has worked great for me and keeps everything clean. When i stopped using it the mites got the birds...

Good luck - and have fun!

Callieslamb · #13 07/28/09, 09:23 AM

I know how I would feel if it was my job to do. Wish I could come and help.....

chickenista · #14 07/28/09, 12:34 PM

First half of the task is complete!!
I am loving the liquid permethrin stuff too. I got it in the horse/fly section of TSC for $4.99. You mix it with water in a pump sprayer and have at.

My main problem was just one roost. It is a roost that is heavily barked adn when I oiled it earlier this summer the oil just couldn't go through all the nooks and crannies. It was CRAWLING with mites.. not anymore.

I did have to spray/soak several times, but the last time I sprayed I only saw two pitifully weak little mites crawling around. I yanked off some of the loose bark and shot stuff under the other parts.
I did the nest boxes and beams too. I am thinking my ifestation wasn't as bad as I thought and just the Americaunas whose roost was crawling had the worst of it.

I am going to finish the sheep fence and then after the sun cools a bit head out and do the Sevin in the pens. I may hold off on the dust on the birds and just do a little DE on the Ameracaunas. I dusted everyone else not long ago.
Woo Hoo... death!!

tailwagging · #15 07/28/09, 01:32 PM

I wish I had seen this yesterday, I would have volunteered to help.

Jesse L · #16 07/28/09, 02:16 PM

So - what exactly did you use on the birds? The stuff that you got at TSC? Can you spray it right on the birds?

Dose dri-kill work at all for mites? I have lots of that on hand right now.

chickenista · #17 07/28/09, 02:36 PM

I am too chicken to use anything liquid on my birds. You can use that stuff..the permethrin liquid.. and it has instruction on the label foldy=tapey thing, but I just used it on surfaces.
I usually only dust my birds with DE... but I might hit them with some Sevin dust later on.
The only birds that are bad are the Ameracaunas at the moment and everyone is dust bathing since it is dry as a bone here.
I will hit the dust bath sites with Sevin and DE, though it usually means they move on. Silly birds don't want to bathe in the DE...still I will try.
Luckily the4y ahve bathe sites inside the barn so I don't have to worry about wasting IF it happens to EVER rain again.

tailwagging · #18 07/28/09, 09:20 PM

wow! you're not getting rain We have been getting hit often here. in fact it is raining right now.

chickenista · #19 07/28/09, 09:25 PM

I live in the Isothermal Belt. That is a fancy word for "it don't rain" It will go 2 miles to any given side of me, but not hit my yard.
2 summers ago I went 3 MONTHS!! without a single DROP! of rain. I could smell the rain, see the lightning and hear the thunder and could drive 2 miles up the road and stand in the rain, but not a drop here.
And all of these days with the thunderstorms rolling by... same thing. I watch the radar and watch the storms split right before they get to us. So, I can see teh lightning, feel the wind and hear the thunder.... nada.
We are also a couple of degrees colder in the winter and hotter in the summer...
we love it here...... not.
That being said.. we did catch a tail of two thunderstorms today and got a few sprinkles.. woo hoo!!!!!!

Kim_NC · #20 07/29/09, 07:08 AM

Mites....gosh, what a mess. Hope the treatment goes well and one go-around cures the problem.