Grow Your Own Magazine

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but re drying the wood...although it only absorbs the surface water,when I scrub out I use scrunched up newspaper to dry where I've been.Still needs a good airing to get totally dry but I find it helps things along.
In the win ter you're best off doing the cleaning first thing on a hopefully dry day so it gets more time to air & dry out.

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

Ah thanks for that Sue
Also the other poster gave a good tip on no shavings under perches, I got rid of mine straight away yesterday after reading that, of course no need for it there anyway, just in nest box now
Tina
x

Yes absolutely! I'm on the case this morning. I've spread Diatom all over the floor and into corners and joins. I also spray every morning with Poultry Shield just around ends of perches and on the underside.

well, I have now removed the vast majority of wood shavings from under the perches, just left a little to soak up anything, the paper just sticks the the wood if I dont.

And a bit where the two lay off perch and in the nest box

I've been powdering for 3 days and a quick spray tonight, I havent seen any more of the blighters since tuesday, so fingers crossed.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, i'll be giving it a clean again and wash out

Well like the rest of the chicken keeping population we also have mites - I think anyone who isn't batteling these at some point isn't looking for them- there is nothing you can do they are here no matter how clean you are.

Anyways - couldn;t get the normal poultry sheild yesterday (sold out) so brought Smite instead - well all I can say is WOW! excuse the pun but brought then crawling out of the woodwork and killed them stone dead instantly, been to the runs today and no sign of them.

Now obvioulsy I am not naive enough to think that it is now dealt with but it was refereshing not to have spent all day scrubbing runs to be met with as many again the following day - cos I know we've all been there.

However - having never used this product before I have no idea how it performs in the long term, and if it gets the mite eggs too. Going to leave them today now to see how it goes and clean them out again tomorrow after the auction, If I can bring it down to every other day the product was worth it, 15 runs is a lot to scrub every day!

anyone else have any experience of thsi product - perhaps you can give me advice onhow long it lasts!

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Sounds better than Poultry shield!I gave the coop a good spray yesterday,only to go back an hour later to sort out nest box to find several escapees wandering round where I'd sprayed...and I'd actually made the mix a little stronger than recommened!
Is it new?I'd never heard of it.
Good Luck with the battle.

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

I think its quite new - probably moved it out the way for weeks to pick up the usual poultry shield - funny how we become robots and just go to the shelf and pick up the same stuff - its not until someone breaks that comfort bubble that we try soemthing new.

it is supposed to kill the eggs too and supposed to effective against other parasites, and it is to kill them not to deter them and also to disinfect at the same time.

Just been out for the lunchtime egg run and still no signs of the little sods, we will have to wait and see!

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I have purchased a pink, and its bright Kill Mites, it seems to have done the job after a thorough clean with jeyes fluid. With this pink stuff, its a case of allowing them back in after 30 minutes



How long do they have to be away with this smite?

no time - you can use it with them in the coop, overspray does not cause a problem, it is non toxic as well, sprayed myself down with it too that got rid of them off me.

saying that it is not licenced for direct application to the birds

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hi Bramble are there any details of the Smite manufacturer on the packaging, just googled it an its not coming up, checked with my local suppliers and theyve never heard of it....thanks

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The love of gardening is a seed once sown never dies ...

Smite Professional - an extremely-effective, non-toxic eliminator of RED MITE and other parasites for animal housing Got mine from local country stores But proably more likely to get it online

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click link

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http://meekle.wordpress.com

Marvellous - my food place sells it according to the company! Will be calling there on my way from the sale on Sunday! Lets have every weapon we can get to kill these little b*@@ers! I found just 1 this morning - dead now!!!

I was out at 10.30pm last night with my torch looking for red mite in the coop. (My OH thinks I have really lost the plot now with my nightly wanderings.) I have been using Diatoms for the past couple of months but this Smite sounds good. Prevention is better than cure.

If I can get it, I'll be getting some too. I noticed they mention gap filling too, so I will get some more filler after all (I've been dragging my feet a bit on that front)

An old freind of mine recomended providing an ash dustbath, I haven't had the opportunity to try it except accidently.....

Fowl Facts Information Center - Lice & Mites / Parasites
This page has some interesting info.....

An this was on a page about scaley leg and states that this is not recomended by the FDA (whoever they maybe) but someone may find it of interest.....

OTHER TREATMENTS:

The FDA does not approve this treatment.
If you decide to use it you use it at your own risk.

A treatment for dogs called “Frontline” (be very careful with this), you use 4 to 6 drops per large bird and 2 to 4 drops for bantams, it is administered to the back of the head, at the base of the neck onto the skin not the feathers, it kills all external parasites including the stick fast flea, scaly leg mite, and mites and such, withholding period is 14 days

Another unapproved treatment is Ivermectin or Moxidectin (Cydectin) cattle pour on, it is used the same as Frontline
You can buy “Ivermect” injections for your birds, the FDA approves this, each bird would need two injections to fix it, and these are administered 14 days apart

With the Moxidectin I personally prefer to use it in their water, I give it to all my birds, as it treats worms, lice and mites and including the scaly leg mites, it takes a short time for the mites to start to fall off the legs, but in severe cases it can take several months, but at least the mites are dead and not contaminating other bird

Other Treatments

Food and Drug Agency - if they don't recommend it then it's probably not safe for hens nor humans. They're the US dept that approval all drugs, chemicals and items that go into food stuffs, they're stricter than the UK counter part but it's no bad thing.

Using frontline in America on Poultry is actually against fedral law - if caught its prosicutable - they are that against you using it.

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Not got chooks yet (in the stage of house design) but thank you to you all for sharing your problems, and unfortunate heartbreaks. My heart goes out to those who've lost chooks.

It's good to know about these things before I start. I'd heard that mites can be problematic but now realise that's not strong enough a word!

Regards

Clare

Over here things may be 'not recommended' because they haven't been tested for that species, rather than because there is an actual problem. I suspect the same may apply to FDA rulings, because they do seem to have approved the same active ingredient in a different form.
I would tend to double the 'withdrawal' period though, having used Oramec (same thing, but for oral administration to sheep) which has a 28 day withdrawal period.

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Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

Has anyone tried a sulphur candle or know of any reason why I shouldn't?
I've totally lost heart with Poultry Shield,I've sprayed the coops out thoroughly twice this week,with inbetween trouble spots blasts...still they seem to be winning.
Also,which lime should you use to limewash the coop,I'm guessing with that as opposed to creocote the chooks would be able to go in that night if we did it in the morning?

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

I think somewhere - maybe this thread(?) - someone has mentioned using a sulphur candle. As far as I remember it worked well but you'd have to keep the chooks out a while and also block up all the holes while it was going (bit of a job if you use Onduline!)
Have you tried using Diatom as well in conjunction with the Poultry Shield?
Also there's Bramble's Smite. I got some today to use as in between treatment and carry on with the PS weekly.
If you can Creocote its definitely the answer. Never heard of the lime wash, sorry.

Sorry Tina...feel embarrassed now for missing your post!...How long did you leave it from the sulphur candle going out to when you let the girls back in the coop?

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

Limewash is definitely worth a try. If you can find the lime (in powder form), I can PM instructions on use (I've done cow byres, and also the old-house version which is rather different). You WILL need somewhere for the stuff to 'stand' after mixing. It takes anything from half-hour to overnight before it is ready to use, but once ready it keeps for weeks if you can prevent it drying out. You may want to do one coat a week for a while.
While lime would not be 'dry' very quickly (no quicker than washing the house), it would be chook-safe, even if they were daft enough to peck at it!

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Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

Thanks Hilary.

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

I've just finished painting the new shed/coop with Creocote. How long should I wait before letting the chooks use it? I'm hoping it can be Wednesday if all the lining/sealing/perches made etc is finished, then I can move Rowan and his gang plus the big chicks into there, releasing the growers coop for Precious to use as a broody coop and run. Oh complications!!!! We're never 100% prepared are we

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My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

prepared - hang on i'll run and get the dictionary - not sure what prepared means!!!! Chaos now I know the meaning of that word.

If all else fails mo - use the viv!

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I can't fit 1 Welsummer cockerel, 5 Welsummer pullets, 1 Jersey Giant, 1 Black Minorca and 3 Vorwerks into the viv!!! Don't be silly No, got to move the JG, BM & V's somewhere pdq. Fingers crossed for Wednesday

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My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

Could you move the adults in on Wednesday and see how they get on for a day or two? And If all's well, send the babes in, or would that present pecking order problems....

I meant as a broody coop - to give you more time to sort out the others

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Hmmmmmm if the viv wasn't in the Conservatory then that could be a possibility, but the weather is supposed to be getting warm again in the next couple of days and the temp in there goes way up .................... I'd end up with poached chicken and eggs I think I'm going to aim for moving them all late on Wednesday night, after bedtime, and as the Wellies and the chicks will all be moving to a new location, then I think the pecking order problem might be a little bit reduced. Basil and his ladies will stay in the same place, and the ex-batts (except for Precious) will be staying put too. From what I've read on here from others who've had broodies with eggs to move, it seems to be better to do it at night and early on in the sitting too. I'll switch the spare incubator on just in case though

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My girls found their way into my heart and now they nest there

I always move my broodies to either coops or if i'm out i use the indoor rabbit hutches (i've got spare of those if you need it!) Never had one yet who has gone of brood - I wait until they have sat for a few days so have settled them in the evening just before all of the others go to bed, I feed her and she usually eats drinks and poos and then settles down.

To be fair if she gets up after moving she would never have seen the job through anyways, theres two spare incubators here if you need them - not because I'm not using them but beacuse they are new, only brought on saturday.

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We ran out of Poultry Shield this week...panic!!!But to be honest,I'm quite pleased!
I've been diluting Jeyes fluid in my sprayer & using that & it's been doing a great job...really flushes the little blighters out & I then use scrunched up newspaper to wipe up the liquid/mites.The smell's nothing like as bad either!
Until I can work my magic on Andi & get him to build a nice new,crevice free coop,creocoting is tricky,so I've resigned myself that the best we'll do this year is stay one step ahead of them and from what I've found this week,Jeyes does just as good a job as Poultry Shield,for a fraction of the price!(but in a squirter...not just scrubbing!)

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx