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Hi everyone,

Ever come across black mites? I was shutting the girls up last nite and noticed a few little black mites on the outside of the coop. Invested in some new batteries and had a check tonight and it seems that they're all over the inside walls too. I've squashed a few and no blood appears to be coming out of them but it's the start of the evening not the end so it doesn't mean very much.

I'm going to clean the girls out tomorrow and frontline inside and outside of coop. I've also got a jetwash and some of that disenfectant thats very popular, for horses (can't remember) and comes in a sachet and will use that too.

(I feel just awful leaving the girls in there over night with those gross mites but don't know what else to do)

Also, one of my Brown hens has stopped laying and tonight I noticed she's got a runny / bubbley beak. They keep getting drenched and I think she has a cold, what can I do

Red mite does not live outside the coop, only inside. It maybe something else not harmful to hens so inspect in the morning in the (hopefully) sunshine and see what's around. Red mite will be hiding tucked down in cracks and crevices within the house. Different insects have their own particular time of year for breeding, and at the moment (at least up here) it is earwig time. Every crevice in every coop, house etc is stuffed with earwigs! The hens go mad when I open up the doors as the earwigs fall into the coops etc and there is a scrum to gobble them all up.

Sorry forgot to say, about the one with a cold, keep an eye on her, if she seems too poorly it's best to isolate if you have the facilities, but most birds get over a simple cold within 2 or 3 days.

Thanks RichmondHens, I keep an eye on the coldy hen and have another look tomorrow at the coop.

They're tiny little dots of black and were cramming into the outside crevices but all over the internal walls. I've been using red mite & lousy powder on a regular basis so was very surprised to see them to be honest. Gross little yucks!

If it is mites,be prepared to do a few treatments before you get on top of the problem!
After Marigold had been sat incubating eggs & mites for a while,our coop was horribly infested...so bad that some were on the outside of the coop,mainly trying to hide under the padlock latch.They only turn red after a meal.
I was totally ashamed that we had them,but like you thought we'd taken enough preventative measures to avoid them...don't feel bad about them,apparently because of how warm it "was"()it's been a pretty bad year for them.I've come across loads of peeps that have had a problem this year.
We used Poultry Shield & it probably took a good three sprays to get on top of them and you then need to repeat after three weeks to get rid of the newly hatched ones...I think it doesn't kill the eggs.
Also if you smear the ends of the perches with vaseline they will stick to it on their nightly journey to the chooks!
Try not to worry about tonight,they'll be fine,just think of how much they'll appreciate their hopefully itchy free coop tomorrow!
Good Luck with them!xx

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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

Thanks for your kind words - it did make me a feel a bit better. Until I started tackling the wee monsters and then it was gross. The coop is really a rabbit hutch with perches stuck in for good measure (ebay purchase) and so it's not the best design I'm sure.

I took perches out and masses of mites were there, a lot of them were bright red so obviously had eaten very recently. There's blood smears on the perches, door and walls where they've obviously been squashed by the hens.

I'm so cross with my self for not noticing sooner. I did mention them to OH today but I can't blame him for not saying anything, how was he to know - he thought he was doing me a favour by closing them up at night and I clean them out once a week!!

When I brought the hutch I went around the inside with wood filler and filled in as many cracks as possible but these little sh+ts ARE living outside (it's a sort of tounge and groove construction) in the big gaps and grooves and coming in via the pop hole and door to the chooks at night. I watched them doing it in broad day light today, so will also be filling holes on the outside too.

Anyway, I've jet washed inside and out. Then scrub inside and out with a stiff brush and disenfectant. I haven't killed them all, but have dramtically reduced numbers so the chooks will be more comfortable till I get some Poultry Shield on Friday.

Thanks again guys, appreciate your kind words

Hope you get on top of this problem Lizzy. If nothing else it reminded me to go and check the coop late at night to look for these beasties.
How's the one with a cold doing?

The cold has gone, or at least appears to as her breathing is back to normal.

I checked again tonight on the mites and they're swarming again. The mite powder I put in the bottom of the coop seems to be doing a big fat nothing. The girls are seriously suffering - 1 egg today and I'm worried they're going to die before I on top of the situation

OHs going to track some poultry shield down for me. I was going to order some off the web, but decided to get it from our local WGC cos it'd be the same timing with post etc but am worried they wont have any!!

Another forum I read (Poultrychat) seems to be very keen on FicamW. I've not tried it but they all go on about it.
I use Poultry Shield and Diatom and have just used creosote substitute on an empty hut. I found the worst area was inside the nest boxes - they were plywood cubes and the mites were gathering in the angles. I've chucked them out and replaced with mop buckets and cardboard boxes. Also give the hens garlic powder every day.
I'm not sure what the red mite powder does but I've been putting it on the hens at bedtime just in case.
I also spray the undersides of perches with Poultry shield most mornings when I poop pick.
This is the first time in 5 years I've had any sign of mites. I think the dry hot spell (remember that!!!) caused a population explosion.
Hope it all works for you.

You'll get there Lizzy!{{x}}If you were a carp chook carer you'd not be bothering to try & get rid of them,so please stop beating yourself up about them!
My theory is that mites are still a bit of a taboo subject,none of us like to admit we've got/had a problem with them and therefore as newbie chook owners we're not totally aware of just how nasty they are because nobody really chats about them.
I swear our coop had got really bad,being an old walk in shed we had the joy of a mite shower to let us know how bad the situation was!
We were in a lucky situation that we'd just got another shed all prepared for the expected chicks to move into...plans changed & Andi knocked up a smaller broody type coop for the Mums & chicks & the other girls moved into the new shed whilst we tackled the mite one.I sprayed it three days on the trot,left the door wide open to let some sun in,then painted it with watered down emulsion.The day they were due to move back in I noticed they were back,I assume this was the hatchings of eggs that the poultry shield doesn't kill.One more spray & I can say we are on top of the problem.We still come across the odd few & I don't think we'll ever be totally free of them.As I spot them I zap them & fortnightly I spray the whole coop.
You're possibly in for a couple of weeks of despair that they won't ever be gone...at one point I was in tears telling Andi the only answer was to torch the coop & get a new one!But they're not immortal,the Poultry Shield WILL get the buggars!
(BTW...the only reason we did the painting was because we hadn't been as good as you filling in all the cracks & crevices,just in case I'd put you in panic mode that you need to do the same!)
Good Luck.xxx

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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

Someone from the vine gave me this tip as we can't get anything for red mite out here, it's a banned substance.

Spray the inside of the coop with hot vinegar, don't get it on your hands though 'cos it don't half burn. After this if the infestation is bad I go over all the cracks with a hot air gun and fry the b******s. Don't do it the other way gound or all you will do is blow them around. Just lately as a control, I have sprayed the house with Raid for crawling insects. Don't know if this is a recommended treatment but the chooks seem none the worse for it. I don't do it very often though and I let the house air throughly before letting the chooks back in

Best of luck

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

I also understand that if you can keep your chooks out of the house for a few nights (maybe in a cardboard box in a quite place), it breaks the feeding cycle, and that will put a dent in the mite population and give you chance to really clean the house out.

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Thanks everyone, can't tell you how much I appreciate your words of encouragement and advice. It's strangely comforting to know we're in it together and I've taken all the advice on board. I suspect the mite subject might be slightly taboo too, but boy, it would have been great to know a lot more about them before they appeared in their squillions - I would have sprayed every 6 months just as a precaution had I known.

Also, I think it might be a good idea to stop calling them red mites for newbies. I now know I saw mites as long ago as 3 months ago but because they were the odd 1 or 2, and not red, I ignored them (I was more concerned about the red mites on our patio which turned out to be harmless red brick mites )

Anyway OH got me some generic Mite killer stuff yesterday and I have to say, after 2 sprays yesterday there are a lot of dead bodies this morning. OH did the whole coop yesterday PM and then I did just the outside at dusk after the girls had gone to bed.

SueC: I think I'll fill the corners of their box. The mites didn't appear to be very interested in the box but better safe than sorry me thinks. And I'll be investing in some garlic powder too.

andi&di: LOL setting fire to the coop. And I thought I was extreme!!! You're right though, they're not immortal creatures and I will get them! Mmmmmwwahwahwaaaaah (evil laugh just in case you're wondering). Just reading about your mite shower made me want to vomit. I have an almost phobia about bugs that suck blood (ticks in particular make my skin crawl) so I really feel for you

roitelet: Poor you for not having being able to get hold the chemicals. Makes me wonder about the chemicals even more than normal. Have to say though, I think turning a blow torch on them is quite appealing if not very Karmic - tehehe.

Becki: I did wonder about removing the girls, if only to give them a break from the mites so if I'm still not happy, I'll do that next week once I've got me hands on a nice big box.

Finally: Do I fill the outside cracks and crevices?

OH says no - I'm not sure. I know I won't get all the hiding places but surely making it as hard as possible is a good idea?

You can put creosote substitute in the outside cracks and crevices - it WILL kill them, believe me. We have had 100% success with it killing red mite. We use it inside too, but have to keep the birds out until dry and not fumey, so only possible if you have alternative housing.

When you say creosote substitute, which type do you mean exactly? Perhaps a PM with the details if you're not aloud to say it out loud

I was settling for being pleased if I got the mite population down to 3 or 4 sqillion. All dead will be fab. X

I got some stuff called Creosote Substitute! Probably builders merchants rather than DIY stores. "proper" creosote is no longer available - carcinogenic. DIY places seemed to have something that smelled much like creosote but not sure if its as good as the C-Subs. With the Poultry Shield and Diatom then followed up by stripping the hut out and creosoting it then left empty for a week now to dry out and de-fume there don't seem to be any lurking about. I did however pour the stuff in the bigger gaps! Read somewhere that someone had creosoted the inside of the hut and the beggars all came out thro the cracks to the outside waving white flags! Good luck!

Hi Lizzy - The creosote substitute we use is called (I think, without running out to the shed) CreoCoat. Probably available from any hardware/DIY places. I think we got ours from B & Q.
As Sue says, the proper stuff is no longer sold, but the replacement looks, smells and acts the same!
If using it inside a house/coop, just be sure it is thoroughly dry before re-introducing birds (may take a few days), and if doing perches, we tend to just paint the underneath and not the part the birds sit on. This is enough to deter/kill the mites.
We are confident enough in the product to say that we have not had a major infestation since starting using the stuff. I check every time I clean out the houses, and at the first sign (usually a small clump of mites at the end of a perch or just underneath) we treat again. Seems to only be once a year though.
Good luck!

That's handy to know abot the creasote sub, after reading this thread yesterday I went and seriously attacked the foaling box with jeyes and a liberal dousing of red mite powder poor girls spent the night there smelling like a disinfectant factory

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Think I'll be taking a trip to B&Q on Wednesday (discount day!!) and get some of that! I haven't actually seen any mites, but that doesn't mean they're not there does it, I'd rather paint all the coops with the stuff than be sorry later

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

The one in B&Q is called Creocote.
I was amazed when I started looking for the blighters - there were some behind the perch support which was screwed to the wall by the manufacturer! I also tried a plastic carrying box as a nest box and they got into the holes where the pegs go to keep top and bottom together!

Yep it is Creocote ( I spelt it wrong earlier) and yep, the little b ********s will hide everywhere.

We've been to a smallholders show today and several people had displays of their chicken housing there. The way most of them are constructed are just shouting for red mite to inhabit them - overlapping weatherboard, roofing felt, all sorts of nooks and crannies. It seems chicken housing is created to look pretty to humans, when the chickens couldn't care less what it looks like. And some of them were really heavy to move too.

Someone mentioned spraying with poultry shield only every few weeks.

Spray every DAY for at least 10 days! Yes, that is a lot of spraying and yes it will cost. The alternative, that I now have to live with, is a dead hen! Killed because I thought that weekly cleaning and the occasional jet wash would keep the problem under control. It won't.

I have resorted to buying a new hen house so that I can disassemble the old one and really clean, paint and kill the mites.

The advice on daily spraying comes from Forsham arks who are in direct contact with the inventor of poultry shield.

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The weeks and the years are fine. It's the days I can't cope with!

how do I know if I have mites. I picked up some of the super mite powder....because the guy told me it was a natural remedy. I plan to puff this into the house every week...

I havent seen any mites, how will I know if I have any and will a couple of puffs of this stuff be enugh

When you clean the hen house out, take out the perches (if they are not lift out-able, then make them so, then the weekly chore is not so bad) and look in all the cracks and crevices inside the house and underneath perches too. If you run your finger around all the cracks and they come up with a blood smear then this is probably red mite. When the mites are squashed they feel sticky to the touch (and DO squash everyone you see).

In a bad infestation the hens will a) probably refuse to go in the house to roost b) start laying less/not at all c) look unwell with pale combs (they are literally having the blood sucked out of them at night). If you inspect the hens at night on the roost you may see mites on them - check the legs and "drumsticks".

Most powders are produced to apply direct to the bird. I would go for the belt and braces approach - powder the birds (as you would for lice) and spray/paint the inside of your house with a product designed to penetrate the joints/cracks in the wood. I personally have never found powder puffers particularly effective in treating the houses.

Anyway, you may not even have any red mite, but treating the house as a precaution is always sensible.

The powder we use on our girls,to my knowledge,doesn't actually kill the mites.They just don't like it,so will stay clear of going near it.
Whereas Poultry Shield will actually kill them.
I took our wooden nest box out & gave it a spray & then left out in the sunshine the other day.Once dried I sprinkled some mite powder in the crevices & was amazed to see loads of the little horrors come scuttling out cos they didn't like it...then had immense pleasure in squishing them!
I guess I hadn't got enough spray into the crevices to kill them all?
OUt of interest,when does everyone else spray...I tend to do it in the day so that I can then leave the coop open to air before the girls got to bed,but I read on another site that it's best done in the evening as that's when the mites are coming out of their hiding places?How harmful is Poultry Shield for chooks to inhale...I know it really gets to the back of my throat!

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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

Good question. The packaging says not to get it on the birds but the info I was given via Forsham was that it wouldn't cause a major problem.

I personally think that the risk of an airway infection from locking the hens into a damp house is LESS preferable that spraying in the morning and allowing the house to dry. You won't get all the pests on a first spray and I was horrified when I sprayed on day two to find so many monsters still in residence! The mites will run into daylight to avoid being sprayed and the spray is a direct contact killer - I think it melts their waxy 'skin' so that they shrivel. So you will need to spray both the inside AND the outside to catch as many as possible. The point about ten consecutive days has to do with the life cycle length of the mites as the spray only kills adult mites not the eggs, you have to keep spraying to 'catch' the young mites as they hatch.

The cynic in me says that even this will not erradicate the mites totally - but it might keep your birds alive and the problem back under control to the point where weekly spraying is sufficient.

Red Mites can lie dormant for half a year and are most active in summer when the air is drier and warmer, and I have been told that red mites can travel up to 300m (!) in a night.

Since red mite are a naturally occuring parasite and can probably be found in most wild birds nests (and probably on most wild birds) the problem will almost certaintly reoccur and unfortunately it is our habit of keeping the birds in the same accomodation every night that allows it to get out of hand in the first place. Wild birds move their roosts on a regular basis.

Hope this doesn't sound like a lecture!

Terry

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The weeks and the years are fine. It's the days I can't cope with!

Not at all Terry!
Having come incredibly close to losing one of our girls to mites a few months ago,any advice is welcomed with open arms!
Before we had our major problem I thought they were just a bit of a nuisance & the weekly scrub out would keep them at bay...like you we learnt the hard way!Marigold had been sat on eggs for almost three weeks & we put her ever paling comb down to the fact that she was eating less & not going outside much...turned out the blighters had been sucking her blood...possibly 24/7 for eighteen days.
Lizzy I think you've started a great thread...takes a lot of balls to admit to our downfalls,but as you can see,many of us have suffered from the same problem!xx

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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 only admitted a problem (pride goes out the window when I'm panicking about something) so it's thanks to you all for such positive and constructive advice and help, perhaps we can save others a bit of heart ache further along the long.

I checked the girls yesterday after my double blitz and much like you guys was amazed (horrified) at how many where still coming out at night. Luckily the majority I squashed were already dead but others were not, and red too.

I've decided to bring a big box home tomorrow and the girls will go in there for the night in the downstairs loo and I'm going back to the coop dusk time and spraying inside and outside as I've found this the more effective time.

The little brutes are nocturnal so will be about anyway and as they won't be bunched in the corners etc I figure the spray will have an easier job getting into the far reaching hideyholes.

The Vaseline (in my case old hairwax) trick is excellent. I did this and it caught loads of them so will be doing this as new step when cleaning the girls out.

A PUFF OF POWDER WILL NOT WORK - I'VE BEEN DOING THIS ALL SUMMER EVERY WEEK AND IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE.

Good luck sorting this problem, you'll find the hens recover quite quickly once the mites are dealt with. Apart from the girl I lost mine are all fine and laying again.

Terry

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The weeks and the years are fine. It's the days I can't cope with!

I can honestly say without hesitation, that having dealt with red mite infestations in the (fortunately) distant past, that since using creosote substitute, we have not had a major infestation, as some of you describe. We have used Poultry Shield, which does "flush" the mites out, but to definitely kill them all, we have found the Creocote to work best for us.

At this time of year, red mite seems to strike most, but on checking the broody coops that we creocoted even a couple of years ago, there is no sign of mite, and they have been in use since early Spring.

I have found a couple of small (less than 1 cm) clumps underneath perches in our LF layers house within the last month, and we instantly creocoted again, and since then no sign at all.

Don't mean to bang on, but it REALLY works for us.

I'm buying some on Wednesday - I think a little bird mentioned on this very thread it's cheaper day on Wednesdays at B&Q.

The girls have already gone back to laying an egg a day each (bless them) but I can't bear the thought of having them going through this again so spraying, smearing and painting the mites to death (might even get the blow torch out too). XX

Only if you're old enough to have a Diamond Card (or you take your mum or grandma with you)

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

So,having learned the hard way,this time before sitting Dandelion on her eggs we took all precautions!
Sat her in the clean coop...sprayed it with Poultry Shield as a precautionary.Dusted her down more than a chook has probably been dusted down before,made her a nest from a new cardboard box...lined first with a liberal dusting of mite powder,topped with newspaper,a little more mite powder & then Hemcore.Dusted the floor of the coop also.
This morning,whilst checking on her,slightly lifted the box...she was in it & really didn't appreciate me messing with her...several little raspberry like patches both on the floor & underside of the box....squished what I could,but we all know that would only be a minute fraction of what's there!
Other than curl up in a tight ball & have a good cry...what now???(desparate smiley!)
I'm starting to think the mite powder has no effect...she really had such a covering,only just a week ago,yet judging by the colour & masses of the bloody things,they've obviously been feasting on her!

Just as soon as we can,ALL coops will be creocoted,but obviously I can't do the one she's in whilst she's sat on eggs!

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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

Have you got a big cardboard box or dog crate you could put her in? Then put her in a safe place - maybe garage at home or something?
The mite powder only deters them as far as I can see rather than killing the little b@$!@*$?
On another forum they all use FicamW - mentioned this earlier but I don't know anything about it. Maybe someone else will comment? It's supposed to be nasty stuff but effective and leaves a residue which kills off any strays or new hatches.
You must be really fed-up! Do hope everything comes right. <<<<big hug>>>>>

Oh Di!!!!!!! That is just pants! Apart from as you say moving her to a brand new coop complete with a coating of louse/red mite treatment on her, I can't think of anything else to do. I'm keeping my fingers well and truly crossed that somebody can come up with a solution for you {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{hugs hun }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

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