FINCHforum

Yesterday I went to remove a nest from a cage, and when I took the cap off I discovered mites. Quite alarmed I started cleaning and looking elsewhere for signs, and found little spots on the wall behind the cages where mites also existed. And then inspecting further I've found little black specks on some of the cages in some of the clasps.

What's the best way to deal with this? It seems like a daunting task to eradicate them all, especially with so many birds to house/move around. What are the best cleaners? I have a couple of canary hens sitting on eggs, are the eggs a lost cause or should I leave them be?

I have SCATT that I will use to treat all of the birds, but I don't have enough spare cages to quarantine them all while I clean the cages (from what I understand, bleach is best but the cage needs to air out after).

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Order AIL (Avian Insect Liquidator) ASAP. It is safe to spray birds with, and cage too.

I use scatt on birds directly. One or two drops on meaty thigh or close to it. Repeat in two weeks and your good for a few months.
I use Avian Insect Liquidator as well. Follow directions on bottle. Easy to use. At first I didn't think it would work. Three days later my bird room and other parts of the house I sprayed, were littered with dead or dying bugs. Especially ladybugs. Stuff works incredible and effective for many weeks on a single spray. Spray cage, birds, window screens, along wall and floor and any crevices. Amazing where bugs hide and come out to die. Obviously give your room and nice cleaning and remove anything that will attract bugs. I did this and after 2 months you'd be lucky to find a bug or fly. Just keep a clean room, avoid long exposure of sugary matter such as apples. Anything that attracts. I've never had obvious signs of mites but would use both products. Bleach will clean but not solve the underlying problem. You can bleach and bugs, mites will return. Scatt and Avian Insect Liquidator. It's money very well spent imo. Good luck. We can all use it.

canary3000 wilkifam

Thanks for the replies. Trying to find a local source now.

Rob wrote: canary3000 wilkifam

Thanks for the replies. Trying to find a local source now.

Try a veterinary supply store

Does anyone know if this product is safe on plants?

why in the wild , bird haven't this issue , mainly fringillidea (canaries and gold singer etc... family) cause they make their nest with leaf pine or in pine trees , this advise was given to me by a friend mites do not like pine smell and essence try to put some pine leaf in the nes or cover that part of the cage within .

It might be interesting to spray with straight Hydrogen Peroxide, as you get from a druggist. Very cheap, and effective. I've used it to control aphids and scales in my little greenhouse.

Hydrogen Peroxide doesn't have any residual activity, so it would take frequent applications over a period of a few weeks. Add a tiny bit of dish soap to it, so that it doesn't sit on the cage as water droplets. The soap helps it flow into the cracks and crevices.

I haven't tried this on mites, just on typical greenhouse insects.

haroun Dave

Thanks for the tips!! Very interesting about the pine.

haroun
Who says wild birds don’t have parasites?!?!
They have tons of them....
From where I come from is allowed caging wild birds and as kids we used to trap different types of singing finches.
Most of the time they have parasites on them....but their immune system and diet allows them to survive even with parasites

Key to a parasite free aviary is the regular use of anti parasites and strict quarantine for new birds

Rob
Scatt will do it. Catch every bird including nesting females and treat with scatt (repeat 2weejs later to get rid of any eggs that hatched. Try to do a decent disinfection of the cages with bleach or anything you have in hand. For the existing nests get some flea and tick dog collar, cut a piece and hide it under the nest
Good luck