Treatment Methods
Poultry Red Mites and Northern Fowl Mites can move from flock to flock via shipping crates, clothing and wild birds, making them difficult to control. Current methods for managing Poultry Red Mites lack sufficient efficacy to keep infestations under control in many poultry farms. 1
Chemical control is a common treatment method. Spraying the local environment – walls, floors, roosts, nest boxes and birds- is common, but may lead to the following complications:
- Short residual activity 2
- Inability to reach cracks and crevices where mite colonies are located
- Little or no effect on mite eggs, thus enabling regrowth of infestation burdens
- Risk of feed contamination
- High costs of labor and worker protection equipment
- Egg and meat withdrawal periods following treatment
- Mite resistance development 3