Cleaning the coop

[RichmondHens]

Am I right in thinking the Diatom can be used on the hens to rid lice as well or do you use something separately there too? I have no knowledge so need all the help I can get please.

Yes you can. Dust birds liberally around/under the vent, between legs, round neck, under wings, working into skin. Do it at night when birds are sleepy on the roost and easy to pick up. Also prevents them going straight off and getting rid of half the powder in their own dustbath! Make it a regular event, say once a fortnight, and hopefully you will stay lice free.

Personally I don't bother putting anything in our houses apart from a good lick of creosote substitute in the cracks and crevices, but our houses are designed specifically with minimal joints so are very easy to treat thus staying mite free 99% of the time. Commercially made houses seem to have so many joints therefore much more prone to getting mite in. If I do find a colony of mite in ours it is rarely bigger than a 10p.

[Suechooks]

Am I right in thinking the Diatom can be used on the hens to rid lice as well or do you use something separately there too? I have no knowledge so need all the help I can get please.

My broody Silkie is brooding in a nest full of Diatom and she has been powdered with it since she's been sitting!
My new home-made coops are made of ply as Richmond described but I have 3 commercially made ones which are the main housing at the moment. As I chose them for their solid construction I think they have a few more years life in them so have to treat and prevent!

[chris]

What do your perches rest on RH/ sue? i've just used metral brackets this time, to hopefully cut down the rough and ready grooves of the ply I've used for them to nest in.


*itches thinking about it*

Dreading when I ahve to do the same to my daughter I'll have the ***** on her too!

[VirginVegGrower]

Thanks all, yet again! I will powder the girls tonight.

Chrismarks - I spent all last night scratching and had to go and have a bath to get rid of the urge (to scratch!). All that reading made me feel lousy
Might dust my armpits too
Your poor daughter Never had the dreaded headlice with my two - might have something to do with my constant nagging tones of "don't put your heads next to anyone else at school"!

[Suechooks]

What do your perches rest on RH/ sue? i've just used metral brackets this time, to hopefully cut down the rough and ready grooves of the ply I've used for them to nest in.


*itches thinking about it*

Dreading when I ahve to do the same to my daughter I'll have the ***** on her too!

In my newer coops I've screwed small squares of ply with slot cut out perch sized. Theyve been lavishly sloshed with Creocote as are the perch ends (soaked in it actually).
The 2 older coops are resting on cross bars. Again I literally pour Creocote down behind them and make sure there's a good layer of Diatom there too.

[jessmorris]

Dear VVG,
There are a lot of treatments about for red mite. I ignore the herbal ones and buy ones with permethrin as the active ingredient. It will actually kill the mites. Diatamaceous earth (sold as a powder) looks like talc and is made from tiny sharp bits of sea animal shells that cut the mites to pieces, so you can use these two treatments together. You can also dust your birds in DE, as SC says, though I have wondered if it would block the egg pores if used on a sitting hen. No doubt she (or someone else) can put me right on that soon!
best of luck and this post is makin' me itch already,
JM

[squibbs]

Crikey - maybe it was a good job I got the ***** out then. What is the smell like as I have no idea - am almost afraid to ask? I have just been reading about Smite and Poultry Shield, neither of which I have seen for sale around me.

Its hard to describe - not a nice smell - I have heard of others who can smell them too. Looking on t'internet it appears to be mostly described as musty, I haven't got a sensitive nose at all - I cant smell gas and most perfume smells like petrol to me - but certain things like newspapers I can smell (and all the newspapers smell differently to me)