Topic: Red Mite

[teresa]

I found this info on the net.

If you have a chicken house with felt on the roof and are struggling with red mite, please please get rid of the felt, mite will live under there and you can not get to them. If you have felt roofing strip it off and try a product called onduline similar to corragated sheeting. Now assuming you dont have a felt roof, we recommend using a red mite powder in the nooks and cracks and around the perches each time you clean the poultry house. This is normally a natural product, ours is diatom earth, which cuts the cuticle of the mite as it walks over it and then it dies of dehydration. If you have a big outbreak it is too far gone for this product and you will need to spray the chicken coop with mite kill spray (Not with chickens in it) this will kill all mite there at the time, you must do again in 3-5 days to kill all the young that have hatched since the first spray. After this please revert to using the powder. 

I have a small house and run which did not get creasoted so have tried many sprays and powders this year.
 Now I was recomended Insect-o-kill,  Mite-Off by a new place I get my chicken food.
Seems to be working, they import it from Germany and at nearly £10.00 for 100ml you use 20ml per litre of water and spray on had to ware a mask and still took my breath away.
their web is www.horizont.com  ( horizont group gmbh) you might find a supplier near you.

[B7jac]

Thanks for the advice, but i really think my roof is ok (even tho its felt) as I have powdered everywhere inc roof and don't have any mites anywhere but the flooring, as this is grooved.

But I may give the spray a try, thanks

[Old bird]

Hi Theresa and B7jac

I am going to have another go with what I have and also steaming/hot water and jeyes fluid spray on the house tomorrow.  I spoke to a fairly bright sounding guy in Wales who runs a poultry supplies site its name is Wells poultry supplies or something similar.  He suggested Poultry Shield as the best as it does kill the bugs - so I may get some of that next week!

What do you think of using those yellow fly trap papers wrapped tightly round the perches so that the bugs stick to the goo?  The other thing I was thinking of doing - I am like you B7jac I have a felt roof but what I thought I might attempt is to use some of that filler stuff which you put in cracks and joints in bathrooms to seal the joint?  I can't imagine they would get out of there very easily.  Your ideas would be much appreciated!

Old Bird

[teresa]

Hi B7jac and Oldbird,

I liked this write up tells you to do it 3-5 days later  to catch the ones that hatch.
I too have felt roof but with it being bad this year seriously thinking of getting some  corragated sheeting no comfort for the RM to shelter underneath and breed.
Jeyes fluid was so good years ago but I dont think it is as strong now with goverment guide lines so may be putting more of it in may help. I still use it to wash out my floors in houses.
As hens need ventalition filling in gaps may not be a good idea but very tempting. The sticky yellow things, have you had your hand on one and tried to get it off the hens feet may have the same problem. Try vasioline round the end of the perch, I read about it somewhere, works for some a good smear all round each end.

[Old bird]

Hi both!

I take your point Theresa but I have an open window vent with just wire in so ventilation is good in the house.

I have never tried the yellow sticky things so didn't realise the chickens would get stuck up too!  I will try Vaseline though.

Ho hum - up there now to wage war on the b****rs!

Old Bird

 ;D

[B7jac]

Hi all,
 
BREAKTHROUGH !!!!!

I hardly had any mites this morning ! so I am def getting there.  For a week or so (after the stronger Jeyes fluid solution scrub out, and thorough dusting with Diatoms) I havent had any sign of them on the nest boxes or perch, only on the flooring.

I clean off the flooring with a dry scrub every morning and put another thorough dusting of diatoms, cover with newspaper and more diatoms ! But I havent managed to dust the chickens every day, yesterday I did, turned them upside down and everything ! and this morning much better, think I am finally winning the battle.

I must say my chickens are looking really good lately too, very healthy and quite big, so maybe the mites were taking it out of them !

Keep going Old bird you'll get there in the end !

Jackie

PS: Why dont you steam clean your mattress? and sleep on the sofa for a couple of nights that should rid them from your bed, can't imagine how horrible that must be !

PPS: Re your other thread about the sealant, my house does have a felt roof, but as its quite new the company advertise felt roof is already sealed around edges to stop red mites, so its ok really

[shaun01]

Hi everyone  it makes me laugh when people start to panic over  mites i look at it this way if hens have mites they will take a dust bath and get rid of them the natural way hens have been around for years now who showed them if they scratch the ground they will find worms and other bugs to eat ,who trained their hens to take dust baths and who trained them to go in the nest box to lay eggs if a hen has mites it will sort out the problem its self all wild birds have mite and you will never get rid of them its just a case of living with them now for the coop if your coop is crawling with mites then it is a bad designed coop if you spay a coop at the end of each season you should be able to keep the mites under control

[teresa]

Hi Shaun01,

There is a big difference between red mites and lice. 

Yes hens will take dust baths to clean the feathers and preen to remove the lice that live on the hens and lay eggs attached to the base of the feathers around the vent.

Red mites come out of the cracks in the hen houses at night to feed on the hens blood. then by morning they go back to the cracks and breed lay eggs and in 3-5 days new ones are hatched to feed on the hens again.
Red mites weaken the hens, they stop laying to conserve energy, eat more food to make more blood which in turn feeds the hungrey red mites.
You never get rid of all mites or lice but to keep them under control takes some doing.
 Red Mites have been very bad this year. Easy option is,to burn the hen house and buy a new one, which for many is a great expence.

Hens like many animals have a inbuilt instint of what to do like taking dust baths, we teach them to lay in nest boxes by putting a false egg in but their natural instint is to scratch out a nest in the soil under a hedge so now one see's them and lay a clutch of eggs to sit on and raise baby chicks.
A hen will scratch for worms and grubs also for seeds and forage well a broody will take her chicks to forage for food as well. Its wonderfull how they dont lose the natural instint.

The difference between wild birds and hens is that the wild birds take water baths hens dont and they eat different food perhaps thats where the answer lies. Also they roost in trees not hen houses wild hens will also roost in tree's.

So perhaps the Red Mite is a man made problem of providing hen houses but the option of letting them go back to nature of living on the ground and roosting in trees well with foxes etc  there would not be to many hens around.

[B7jac]

Yes I agree with Teresa.

Shaun - its a silly idea to think you could let our hens sort out the red mites by themselves, we would be crawling alive with them ! Also as said before they feed off the hens and weaken them sometimes even resulting in death !
Yes we probably have made it easier for the lice to flourish due to hen houses etc., as wild birds would not be shut in for the night.

Any one who keeps hens has a responsibility to keep them as free from red lice as they can, we may never completely get rid, but I'll have a d**n good try !

[Robert_Brenchley]

Their wild ancestors would havve had no problems with red mites, but we put them in an artificial environment in coops which provide a perfect situation for the mites. That's the problem.

[shaun01]

i am not saying i dont spray my hen house cus i do every 8 weeks i clean out the muck and clean the roost every saturday morrning i use  a german spray called backs concentrate 15mm to a ltr of water its 10 quid for 100mm and that lasts me for the year so i dont find it a big problem i dust the nest boxes every week as well wot i was trying to say is that we make the coops so its our job to keep them clean i try not to bother my hens to much only when its ness i hope i have explained it a bit better on no acccount would i let my hens suffer and they dont they are well happy  ::)

[Old bird]

Hi All

Maybe - fingers crossed - I am winning too!  There were very few coming out of the woodwork on Saturday.  I think maybe the boiling water helped! 

When I went home I wasn't crawling either!!!!

I will keep very much on the case this week.  I have given them shredded paper in their nest boxes and am replacing it every other day.  I will "steam clean" again at the weekend again - and hopefully that should nearly be it!  Here's hoping. 

I have also made the girls a dustbath.  There wasn't anywhere in their run really where they could dustbathe as some of it was hard ground and had no "give" in it.  I have basically made a wooden surround around about a metre square and then filled that with compost - as it was looser than the earth and less likely to "clog".

So far a few have decided it is a good place to hang around in so hopefully the rest will join in!

Some of my chickens are really looking "small" and I thought it was just me imagining this - but I am sure it must be something to do with the mites.  Also they are looking a bit scruffy and threadbare on the tops of their heads.

Anyway - Hopefully I have sorted out my chickens and myself - none in my bed over the weekend!

Will keep in touch!

Ann

[hennipenni]

I have also had a nightmare with red mite this year. I tried everything and spent a fortune on all sorts of remedies but nothing worked for me. In the end I went and bought some of the old fashioned creosote and my hen housese with that and it killed the red mite instantly :)
It's proper smelly stuff and meant rehoming the birds for a couple of nights while their houses aired but it was deffinately worth it. I now have happy red mite free chickens *touch wood* lol

[manicscousers]

hiya, hennipenni, welcome to the site..we're new to chickens(our plot holders) so we've plenty of questions for all you experienced people  ;D

[hennipenni]

Thanks for the welcome manicscousers :)

I have learnt all I  know about chickens as I have gone on. No matter how much you read about chickens something will always pop up that you haven't seen before or read about before.
I love nothing more than spending time with my chickens, they are so relaxing and a great way to de-stress after a hard day :)

Hope you enjoy your chickens, and when people say chicken keeping is addictive   they're not lying lol 3 is just never enough :)

[teresa]

Welcome hennipenni.
The old fashioned creosote is hard to get but is well worth it, it does work.
Hens are addictive and a lovely way to de-stress, mine keeps our grandson amused for ages ( thank goodness) he's nearly 2 and it takes some doing.
When our other grandson comes nearly 5 hes in the door and out the back to feed the hens. They are worth their weight in gold just for keeping them happy.
Red mite seems to get worse every year, I dont remember it years ago, but when you have it you know about it.
A woman in our pet shop said to me (I have baby spiders in the hen house) their lovely. When I mentioned Red Mite, her face was a picture, I did feel sorry for her but this is how we all learn from each other.
I think everyone should have hens a few in the garden/allotments, the taste of fresh eggs from hen to plate oh , and in cakes and pastries is out of this world.