We keep what most consider a small flock of chickens, 25 +/- at any given time, so we're not experts here, so take this with a grain of salt.

A big NO! on the motor oil. Oil will smother the mites and is used often on livestock, but the oil used is a food-grade oil or mineral oil. I'm not sure what it will do to the feathers on chickens.

Permethrin is wonderful stuff and works well on dogs & livestock with just one application here, and looks like it's oil-based, dosage if memory serves is 1/2oz for 100#'s. Be sure to read the label for chicken applications. We normally just use seven dust after cleaning the coop, but ours is concrete.

Was that article you read geared towards prevention or treatment? Sounds like overkill to me as far as preventing, but maybe appropriate for treatment. This of course is just my opinion.
Brendasue

Ooops. I see the article was for treatment.
Brendasue

Malathion is a questionable product. Many states have or are banning its' use near bodies of water or areas near water wells.

I would use the Sevin dust and to get into the crevices use a liquid spray form of Sevin, it is an old tried and true insecticide.

I bought that liquid truck bed-liner coating (Menards) and painted all the wooden areas with it. It is expensive but it seals all the cracks and keeps rodents from chewing through the wood. It can be power cleaned and look new each time you clean. It comes in different colors. I use medium blue, the color blue has a soothing effect on all animals including man. It's about $60 a gallon, but a gallon goes a long way. It is also available in quarts-that way you can do part of your coop each time you clean and it won't have as big of an impact on the tight budget.
Can be sprayed, brushed or rolled on. Don't buy the kit-a waste of your money.

I read that someone on here uses one of those scruncii steamers and it helps to kill mites in the coop (not on the chickens of course). I got all excited when I read that and went down in my basement to pull my sruncii out so I could steam clean my coop. I filled the thing up with water and what do you know... the friggin thing does not produce steam anymore. Heated up and all but no steam came out. I had to unplug it before it exploded. I was peeved. I took it all apart cleaned it really well, put it back together and still NOTHING. I packed it back up an put it back in the basement. I guess it is back to bleach water for my coop cleaning.

But anyway that was a sidebar thought I just *had* to share. LOL

I have one of those high pressure power washers that has a syphoning hose that allows you to use disinfectants (or what ever). It mixes as you go and when your done you have no extra mixed solutions to store.

Usually just use hot water with Tek-Trol Disinfectant-Cleaner. It is safe to use on eggs before being set for hatching. I get it by the 5 gallon bucket and syphon right out of the bucket. One bucket lasts me for 1 year and cost something like $86. Makes 1275 gallons mixed. It can be bought in smaller amounts at most poultry supply companies.

Thanks for the input! That is really great idea about the bed-liner stuff, seramas. Lori

Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

sprinkle (sift) it on the floor, nest coxes, bedding. Mix it in feed to control internal parasites and in the sand/dust box for external. Should be able to get it at the feed store and should get "food grade". all natural, no chemicals to harm meat or eggs.

Dave

When I was looking for DE I could not find food grade in any of the stores around here and I tried feed stores, health food stores and a pharmaceutical lab. The lab had some because they use it to mix in medicines but he said it was not for resale. I wound up buying it on ebay.

I, too, found it difficult to find. I bought DE for use on vegetables and assumed it is food grade. Don't really know. I'm careful using it around the chickens.

I would like to find a big bag of it for the garden as well as the chickens. It's expensive in the little 1 litre containers.

I think it's Velvet Sparrow that cleans with the steamer. I've got to get myself one of those! I'm going to keep my eyes open at garage sales this year.

I do not understand why mines is not working. I never used anything in it but water and always emptied it before putting it away. Heck I only used it about 4 times. Now that I have a good use for it I might dig it out again tonight to see if I can get it working.

They sell DE for gardens in the feed store here but it is not food grade. I put some in the chickens dusting box and they acted like they were in heaven dusting in it. So far I have not seen any insect infestations in the coop. THANKFULLY

I need to make another dusting box for them. This time it'll be big enough for several at once. I was quite surprised at the fighting over the last one. I could do that today. I still have potting soil, sand, woodash and DE. Maybe I will - no I won't. This is my only day off this weekend, so I'm resting.

Haven't had a post from Velvet Sparrow in a long time. I hope things are going well.

she probably got tired of you know what.

Yeah take the weekend off. You do quite a bit and do need to rest SOMETIMES!! You are allowed to rest you know.

I retract that about Velvet. I somehow missed her thread.

Seramas Any idea about the UV resistance on that truck bed liner?