How to Treat Northern Fowl Mites on Chickens
by Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | Oct. 1, 2024
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Northern fowl mites are the dreaded chicken parasite of northern homesteaders. They live on a chicken’s warm body and don’t seem to mind cold weather since they have a warm, living host to feed off of. I had nearly a year-long struggle battling northern fowl mites in my flock… and then I found the one treatment that I could rely on. Learning how to diagnose and identify northern fowl mites is the first step in caring for an external parasite problem in your homestead flock. After that, you must choose the quickest, safest, and most effective treatment method. I’ve tried a lot of them, and only one treatment got a 5-star review on my homestead! Go ahead, learn from my experience with the northern fowl mite trouble I had with my homestead flock…

Disclaimer: I am not a poultry vet. All of the treatments that I mention in this post are not veterinarian approved. I used the dog and cat treatments being fully aware that they were not meant for use on poultry. All of the information provided below is from personal experience and my own research.

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Types of External Parasites

My battle with Northern Fowl mites lasted a whole year, starting in the winter and lasting throughout the spring, summer, and following fall. It was an off and on battle. I would find the little pests, treat them, they would be gone for a few weeks, then reappear.

Part of the cause of this long battle was my own fault. I did not correctly identify the mites until the end of the summer. I continued to treat them as if they were lice, not realizing they were northern fowl mites. That meant, every time I thought I treated the birds, the mites were just getting back on the birds. Mites can live for up to 3 weeks without a host. That means they can still be in the coop or enclosure if those areas are not treated at the same time as the flock.

So, to make sure you don’t encounter the same misdiagnosis with external parasites, let’s discuss the four most common external parasites that affect chickens.

Common External Parasites on Chickens:

• Northern Fowl Mites- like cooler weather, live mostly on the bird
• Red Mites- like warmer weather, live on and off the bird
• Scaly Leg Mites- live under the scales on a chicken’s feet and legs
• Lice- six legged pests that spend their entire life on the chicken

Northern fowl mites feed off of a chicken’s blood. If an infestation gets too bad, a chicken can become anemic and die from northern fowl mites. The mites can spread from bird to bird very quickly. So if you discover one of your chickens has mites, chances are the rest of the flock also has some level of infestation as well. However, mites can only be spread by direct exposure.

Chickens can become exposed to northern fowl mites by coming in contact with infested birds from another flock, from wild birds, or even from rodents.

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How to Diagnose Northern Fowl Mites

Northern fowl mites share similar symptoms with other external poultry parasites, so it can get tricky diagnosing the tiny pests based on general symptoms. However, knowing a few general symptoms of external parasites is important for recognizing the issue right away:

• dirty feathers around the vent- Northern fowl mites leave debris and lay eggs on the feather shafts around the vent. Poop will often stick to the debris, making the feathers look even dirtier.
• tiny, pin-prick size holes on the flight feathers- Hold the chicken’s wing up to a light and look for tiny holes throughout the primary and secondary feathers.
• decreased egg production- External parasites can cause stress, which as a result, will cause a drop in egg production.
• excessive preening- Parasites are annoying, so chickens will often preen their feathers (especially around the vent) excessively when being ‘bugged’ by bugs.
• egg masses & live bugs– Look for egg masses around the base of feather follicles and look for crawling, live bugs on the skin.

Once you suspect external parasites, the next step is finding and identifying them. Northern fowl mites are almost always found around the vent. However, you should also look for them under the wings and in beard, crest, and muff feathers.

I have had a lot of practice parting feathers and looking for tiny bugs! One of the easiest ways to find a patch of bare skin under all those feathers is to part the feathers about 1/2″ above the vent. In all the birds that I have examined, there has almost always been a fairly large patch of ‘bare’ skin there.

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What do Northern Fowl Mites Look Like?

Once you find a patch of skin, look very carefully for ANY movement. Northern fowl mites are often dark in color, but they can also be very pale in color if they are young or have not fed recently. They will be roundish in shape and have eight legs. In my experience, I have seen extremely tiny white mites on my birds that are hardly visible to the human eye.

In contract, red mites will be more oblong in shape and will appear dark red, especially if they have just been feeding off of the chicken’s blood. Lice are the largest of the external parasites. They will appear oblong in shape and will only have six legs. Scaly leg mites only affect the legs of a bird.

The next step is kind of tricky but is also the most effective way at diagnosing northern fowl mites. Take a piece of tape, part the feathers, and quickly stick the piece of tape onto the patch of skin. Pull back the tape and look for any bugs stuck to the tape. Once you have a bug specimen, use a magnifying glass or microscope to look at the bug. Northern fowl mites are round in appearance and have eight legs.

You can also look for northern fowl mites in the coop, although they will be a lot harder to find and capture a specimen. The mites hide in the cracks and crevices of the coop during the day. They will be the most active at night when they come out to feed on the chickens. You can try looking for them with a flashlight or sticking a thin blade into cracks and crevices to see if you can smoosh any of the bugs onto the blade.

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How to Treat Northern Fowl Mites

Once you have correctly identified northern fowl mites, now comes the ‘fun’ part: learning how to treat the bugs! Treating northern fowl mites takes persistence and patience, along with the right treatment. Throughout my 10 months of battling these mites I have tried 6 different treatments. Here is my review of each:

Diatomaceous Earth (DE)-

Diatomaceous earth is a common treatment recommended for the prevention and treatment of external parasites in poultry. It is composed of the hard exoskeletons of diatoms. When DE is sprinkled on chickens, the hard diatom exoskeletons slice the parasites and dehydrate them, eventually killing them. DE will only kill live mites, it will not kill nits (mite eggs). Treating northern fowl mites with DE did not work. I have found that DE works as a good preventive, but not as a treatment.

Be careful not to get the DE in your chicken’s eyes or face because chickens have very sensitive respiratory systems that can be damaged by the fine dust. Sprinkling DE in the chicken coop can make the coop litter very dusty. If too much DE is inhaled, it can cause respiratory distress and even lung damage from the sharp diatoms.

I cover the debate about using DE with chickens more thoroughly in my ebook Winter Chicken Keeping.

Poultry Protector by MannaPro-

Poultry Protector is an all-natural spray treatment for preventing parasites. Once again, I found this spray to be helpful for preventing parasites, but not for treating infestations. I use Poultry Protector in rotation with DE and garlic juice during my monthly parasite prevention checks on the homestead flock. I also spray it on the roosts and in the nesting boxes of the chicken coop. When using external parasite preventatives, it is important to have a rotation of treatments so that parasites don’t develop resistance to one certain treatment.

When I used Poultry Protector to try and treat the northern fowl mite infestation I found that it didn’t work for the level of infestation that I was dealing with. Poultry Protector is only effective against live mites, it will not kill mite nits.

Diluted Garlic Juice-

Garlic juice that has been diluted can be a very effective prevention method and can also be a treatment for mild parasite infestations if given enough time to work. Dilute 1 ounce of 100% garlic juice per 10 ounces of water and put it in a spray bottle. Spray the diluted solution on the birds every other day. The garlic juice may take up to three weeks of consistent application for it to work. I mostly use garlic juice as a prevention method.

When I tried to use it for treating northern fowl mites, I found that the mite infestation was too strong to treat with garlic juice. Given enough time and perseverance, it might have worked, but I didn’t stick with it long enough to test that theory. Garlic juice will only kill live mites, it will not kill the un-hatched nits.

Enforcer Flea and Tick Spray-

As I got more desperate for a treatment, I resorted to using a dog and cat flea treatment. I try to stay away from chemical treatments, so I looked for the plant-based ingredient called Pyrethrins. While still a chemical, at least it is derived from a plant and not synthetically derived.

I applied Enforcer spray to my chickens and the mites disappeared over night! At last, victory! Or so I thought. The mites did reappear though, so I had to move onto my next treatment of choice. Also, Enforcer is not approved for usage on food animals, such as chickens. Since it has not been tested on food animals, there is no known egg withdrawal period or known side effects. Use with caution! Pyrthrins will only kill live mites, it will not be effective against unhatched nits.

Zodiac Flea and Tick Dip-

Zodiac flea and tick dip was used as an emergency treatment to get rid of mites on two of my birds. I had to have them parasite-free for an event that I had scheduled in two days. They were parasite free when they went (I am 100% positive) however, I did learn a valuable lesson. Just go with a treatment that is known to work the first time. Don’t waste your money on trying different products!

The Zodiac dip worked right away for treating the mites and the birds stayed mite free for at least a week. After a week though, the tiny mites reappeared! Failure again! Just like with the Enforcer, Zodiac dip has not been approved for usage on food animals. Dips are also only helpful for treating birds, they are hard to treat the chicken coop and enclosure with.

Permethrins-

Permethrins are a common chemical treatment used to treat external parasites on poultry. While I did not use permethrins in my battle with northern fowl mites, I did have to use it as an emergency treatment for a broody hen. Her clutch was due to hatch in two days and she was covered in red mites. My Elector PSP bottle was expired and useless, so I used a permethrin spray instead. However, I generally try to stay away from using this strong chemical on my homestead flock.

Permethrin can be bought as a concentrate the must be diluted and sprayed on the birds or it can be bought in a powder form for dusting on the birds. It can be used to treat your flock and the chicken coop. Permethrin was an effective treatment for the red mites, however, it does not kill mite nits so re-treatment is necessary. Permethrin 10% is safe to use on laying hens and has no egg withdrawal period.

Elector PSP-

After much research and thought, I finally bit the bullet and bought the expensive Elector PSP that is said to treat northern fowl mites quickly and effectively. I figured I had probably spent as much money on buying all the other treatments as I would spend on buying this Elector.

Elector PSP’s main ingredient is Spinosad. It safe for using on food animals and does not have an egg or meat withdrawal period, which means you can still eat your flock’s eggs even while treating them. This little bottle may be expensive, but is effective and lasts a long time. The dilution ratio for Elector PSP is 9ml of Elector per 1 gallon of water to treat northern fowl mites. Do not save any leftover diluted solution, as it loses its effectiveness over time.

Using a spray bottle, spray the diluted Elector onto each chicken. More on that in a minute!

One tip that I found was essential to the Elector PSP working effectively was that you have to shake it very frequently. I shook my bottle after every bird to make sure the solution was well mixed. After you treat all your birds, spray down the entire coop and enclosures with the solution. What is nice about the Elector PSP is that you don’t have to remove all the litter from the coop when you treat spray down the coop. Just make sure to remove the food and water (or cover them).

You can buy Elector PSP at valleyvet.com! Another Spinosad treatment you can buy that works like Elector PSP is Fraxel PSP.

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Applying Northern Fowl Mite Treatments

Applying the treatment for northern fowl mites is usually a two person job. Have one person hold the bird slanted downwards (or at least at an angle) so that the other person can easily access the bird’s vent area. The person who is not holding the bird should then part the feathers and apply the treatment. Certain areas that you want to make sure you cover are:

• skin above the vent
• at least 3 areas below the vent
• under the wings
• beard, muffs, and crest of breeds that have them (be careful not to get the treatment in the bird’s eyes, nostrils, or ears)

If you are using a spray treatment, part the feathers in each area so that you see the chicken’s skin, and give each area 1-2 good sprays. For dusting chicken’s with DE, part the feathers and sprinkle a good dusting all over the skin. If you are using the Zodiac dip treatment, dilute the dip according to the label. Make sure you use warm water (90°F). Dip the bird’s entire hind end into the solution and massage the feathers to make sure the solution gets to the skin. Remove the bird from the dip and gently dry off its wet rear feathers. If an infestation is really bad, you may need to bath the entire bird in the dip.

When using a treatment like Elector PSP or diluted garlic juice, you will want to shake the spray bottle prior to spraying each bird. The contents often separate quickly and will affect how effectively the product works.

Re-Treatments:

For some mite treatments, you may have to re-treat the birds 5-7 days after the initial treatment. This is how long it takes for the mite’s life cycle to be completed. Any live bugs that were killed during the initial treatment will have left behind eggs (nits) that will hatch within 5-7 days. A second (and sometimes a third) treatment is then necessary to kill the newly hatched mites.

With Elector PSP, you don’t have to do any re-treatments. The treatment is so strong that it stays on the bird’s skin and will continue to kill any mites for days after being applied. Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to check your birds a week or two after treating them with Elector PSP to make sure the treatment was affective, both on the bird and in the coop.

How to Treat the Chicken Coop for Mites

Treatments for northern fowl mites will also have to be applied to the chicken coop since the mites can live off of the birds and in the cracks and crevices of the coop. This may entail removing all the litter from the coop and giving it a good scrubbing and washing with the chosen treatment solution. DE can be sprinkled in the coop, however, since it is so fine, it often makes the coop dusty and becomes a health hazard for your flock.

If using Elector PSP, you don’t have to remove any of the litter in the coop. Just remove the feed and water and lock your chickens out of the coop while you are applying the Elector. Spray the coop down from top to bottom with a liberal application of the diluted Elector PSP. Allow the coop to air dry sufficiently before allowing your flock back in and replacing the food and water.

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How to Prevent Northern Fowl Mites

To prevent further infections, you will want to put in place a regular prevention routine. I check my whole flock every two weeks for signs of mites or other external parasites. At the same time, I also treat them with a preventive treatment. Make sure you rotate your preventative treatments so that the external parasites cannot become immune to a certain preventive.

I like to rotate diluted garlic juice and Poultry Protector as my mite preventatives. Avoid using strong mite treatments, like Spinosad (Elector PSP) or permethrins, as preventative treatments. Save those mite treatments for when you are dealing with an infestation.

Here are some other ways to prevent northern fowl mites in chickens.

Mite Prevention Tips:

• Dust Bath– Make sure your flock has access to a dust bath spot and direct sunshine. Dust bathing and sun bathing are natural ways for chickens to control external parasites.
• Wild Birds & Rodents– Prevent wild birds and rodents from getting into the chicken coop or chicken coop enclosure. Don’t feed the wild birds in the area where you flock free-ranges.
• Quarantine– Any new birds who are fully-feathered and obtained from a source outside of your homestead will need to be quaratined for at least 2 weeks and thoroughly inspected for external parasites before being integrated into your homestead flock. You should also quarantine or inspect birds from your flock who were taken off your property for poultry shows or other activites where they may have come in contact with other chickens.

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Now you know how to diagnose, identify, treat, and prevent northern fowl mites! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to keeping your homestead flock parasite free. I do monthly healthy checks, apply preventives, and jump into action as soon as I identify an external parasite. You can do this too! Hopefully you should be well prepared to keep a healthy, parasite-free homestead flock!

To learn more about natural remedies for common poultry problems check out my post on Treating Chicken Diseases Naturally. Also, make sure you are a part of our modern pioneer newsletter community so you don’t miss any other helpful articles for raising a homestead flock naturally and sustainably!

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