Red (Black) mites

[frias]

My vet says ***** Fluid is the best defence against red mite, however although my OH scrubs the coop out weekly with it and we use Smite daily on the perches and around the coop plus Diatoms on the perches and in the dust bath, we still can't get rid of it entirely. My OH has also steamed cleaned and blow torched the coop and the girls get dusted with Red Mite powder. Unfortunately I haven't got any alternative accommodation for the girls so unable to Creocote although as the perches can be removed might try removing them and doing them early in the morning so they get time to dry as this might be the answer.
Anyone who thinks they haven't got it should visit their chooks at midnight and shine a torch on the perches. I get really really depressed when I see the little specks on the perches. They don't even appear to move but when squished the red stain tells me I haven't won yet.

[Suechooks]

I occasionally dip the ends of the perches in Creocote and do the bits of wood that support them. It seems to keep them at bay if not eradicated. The hens don't roost on the end bits. If you leave them outside on a dry day they'll be dry in no time.

[jessmorris]

I bought some DE yesterday and the salesman told me that commercial growers make it into a slurry with water and spray the whole of the inside of the coops with it! By the way, my own vet was very sniffy about ***** when I siad I had disinfected the coop with it. Its a good job we have forums like this one or we would all be following different advice! (and not all of it good).
bye for now JM

[Blueberries]

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!

[roitelet]

I know this is not conventional but I use Raid for crawling insects with no ill effects to the chooks.

We dont seem to be able to get anything to treat for red mite here. Clean the house and give it a good spray with the raid and shut the chooks out until it has dried

[nmayhew]

Hi,
I have 5 Light Sussex that roost outside and only go indoors briefly to lay.
Past week has seen one of them with dirty bum (so I wormed them) but then got a very pock marked egg twice in a row (other eggs fine) so obviously one bird has a big problem.

Have just ***** Fluid cleaned the house and perches, and will DE them too.

I have Total Poultry Solutions Nettex "Mite Kill Spray" which contains Permethrin 0.29% w/w. and piperonyl butoxide.

Can I spray this on the girls bums etc this evening as an 'extreme solution'??

Other sprays with the piperonyl butoxide are ok to spray the birds, but this spray says not to.

Kind regards,

Nick

[Suechooks]

If it says not to then don't - it's probably harmful to the skin. If you think it's red mite then treating the house is what you need to do which you've done. If you think they have lice then I'd get some Louse Powder suitable for putting on the birds. Some people (including me) use Frontline spray but it isn't licensed for poultry as it's never been tested on them. So you pays yer money and takes yer choice!

[jessmorris]

hello,
I've been reading all the tribulations ...just a quickie to let you know somehting I noticed by reading the ingredients different sorts of 'mite powder' at the feed store...its worth doing this as many products have the same ingredients at varying prices. However - check the stuff in small cardboard canisters - some only contain citrodol, which is a mite deterent only. I don't bother with this anymore as I want to kill the little blighters.

Anything which contains 'diatomaceous earth' is sprinkled into corners of the coop , is a non pesticide which works by cutting the mites to pieces. This is cheapest bought in bulk and not in 500g canisters which don't last very long at all. I also put this in their dust baths. I dont think this would be effective on its own.

Any product with permethrin in should kill them. This is the active ingredient in dog flea powder which you can dust your hens with, the big aerosol flea spray you can get from the vets (Indorex??) and the pink 'mite killer' you can get from the feed store. I haven't used PoultryShield so don't know what's in it, but folk say it is good. I have creocoted my new coops and so far so good.

There are other pesticides you can use. Some of these are very persistent chemicals and would have a long / much longer withdrawal period for eggs and meat. I looked some of these up on the net and didn't fancy them.

We all get mites, they are little horrors and there's no stigma attached to you noticing you have them! I noticed last week that one of my broodies had lice - yuk. I used dog flea powder for these, its like talcing a small, bony , feathery baby ;-)

[midnight]

i take the roof off n open door as well as cleaning and on a really nice day let the sun in they r like vamps

[baldrick]

Has anyone else noticed a red mite explosion this summer? I thoroughly scrubbed and sprayed my coop about 5 or 6 weeks ago. Yesterday I noticed one or two traces of mites just under the nest lid. I went to the farm shop for more spray and powder where the chicken aisle seemed crammed with people facing their first infestation. I had to explain to 3 people that you treat birds and house. Last night the girls were reluctant to go to bed. I couldnt sleep with guilt! 5am I was scrubbing and spraying inside and out. I have had to remove the door of the pop hole and ventilator that we never use. It looks like my last scrub and spray (interior only) left a few survivors behind said doors. They have bred like mad. I have never seen anything like it and am mortified. I wont put the doors back on as we never close them. I have also removed the droppings tray for the time being just to cut down on crevices.The poo can fall to the ground outside. The girls will be no colder than they were on the outside perch. Weather and baby permitting I will have to creocote tomorrow morning, again probably starting at 5am! The chooklets may have to go in the kennel run. Im just letting them get over the indignity of being locked away from their house while it dries and they will all be powdered. Think they would prefer mites! Thank god thank god I have the baby girls (yes they are girls after all hooray) in a seperate house, and thank god this is clear as the two newbies will be going in there too. I hate these things. They make my flesh crawl. I just cant believe how quickly they appeared. Poor girls.

[Suechooks]

Been there - done that! Just like being told your kid has nits!

[RichmondHens]

This is the perfect time/conditions for red mite. I found a load recently in one of our newish houses, silicone in all the joints etc. It had been only a week since I last cleaned them out. I noticed a few tucked into a corner under some shavings. On further exploration of the nestbox I discovered a bunch living in the actual shavings. Needless to say all swept out and creosoted, and I've not put any new shavings in, just some fresh cut hay from the field in the nestbox which I can lift easily to check under. Fortunately having then done a whistle stop tour of all the other houses didn't find any more anywhere else - phew!

[petal]

I keep on top of the redmite by a weekly disinfectant, spray of smite, diatoms on the shavings. I have now got a spare pen and house - so can creocote house by house - move them around as their house dries. We have loads of pigeons plaguing us here so red mite is just something you have to keep on top of.

[baldrick]

well aftergetting up at 5am to scrub and spray it looked ok. Not a mite in sight. It was threatening rain today so I couldnt creosote, just the tray which is not in there at the moment. Thought Id be OK for a day or two. OMG when I did the tray and went back to see how it was drying they had come out of the joins I assume. They were visible but moving. To see the extent of the problem I did a patch of the tongue and groove outside the house. Same happened.Most looked tiny and white with a few bigger ones. Assume the survivors hid and bred. Gutted now. Chooks are moving into my kennel and run in the morning so I can scrub creosote and dry the whole thing inside and out then leave open to the air. Have now decided when I build my broody coop for the Silkies (Obtaining the Silkies is another story for a day when Im less harrassed and not already feeling like the worlds stupidest chicken keeper) it will be bolt and wing nuts not screws. It will be dismantled and zapped with creocote after every use. The spare house that is going to the allotment for the meat birds will be thoroughly creocoted after every use not just scrubbed and sprayed. When my houses need replacing they will be plain boxes held together by bolts so I can dismantle and reassemble to clean and creosote. It will be quicker than bu**ering about like this. I am not going through this again.

[baldrick]

Been there - done that! Just like being told your kid has nits!

No dude its worse than being loudly told you yourself have nits in a full hairdressers full of glamorous people who make you feel grotty by their presence. Its worse than the day I found a tick on Baldricks bum and worse than the day Sonny found a hedgehog and came in to wipe the fleas off his face onto the sofa. Its actually worse than the time I carried a dog bed in from outside and a mouse jumped out of it, bounced off my shoulder closely followed (also over my shoulder) by cleo only to disappear under the fridge before escaping from all four dogs and having to be trapped eventually days later. Yuk!