Topic: Help! Red mites!

[Old bird]

I am still scratching!

Does anyone know of a largish quantity of powdered or sprayed insecticide to get rid of these ghastly things!

I bought some from a pet shop but it was only 500 grams or whatever - so I managed to clean out the house last night but I haven't enough to dust all my girls.  I have looked on ebay but they all seem to be small quantities.

Does derris dust do anything to these mites?  Some threads I have read speak of painting on creosote - does this work?  Any input will be much appreciated as I am itching at the thought of what I am going to have to do again tonight or within the next few days.Yuk Yuk Yuk

Old Bird  :o

[jonny211]

The flavour of the month on Practical Poultry seems to be Domestos - I'm not sure whether this was applied neat or not (to the house not the chooks!).

Jon

[Kingfisher]

I have been told that giving them a spray of very diluted tee tree oil does the trick, and to spary every few weeks or so to keep them away

[teresa]

the old farmers creasote works painted inside the hen house and nest boxes as well as roosting perches.
does take a few days to dry.
This is also good
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IVERMECTIN-DROPS-0-8-10ml-SPOT-ON-TREATMENT-OF-MITES_W0QQitemZ180263165145QQihZ008QQcategoryZ3211QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247
you can get a milder version from same seller. cheaper thinks it kills them so they cannot reproduce?
Only good thing they cannot live on humane blood but still make you scratch.

[GodfreyRob]

Duramitex is watered down and kills the b*&^%!**s.
One bottle will do about 2 sheds. Its about £7.50 on ebay.
It seems to last for several weeks too. Worked for me.

[Old bird]

I am still scratching!!

I tried Jeyes fluid inside the house and all these horrid things came - literally - out of the woodwork!  There were thousands of them - problem was they kept going!  They did not appear to die so I zapped them with a brush and must have killed thousands.  Dusted birds with very expensive liquid stuff designed for proper farms (has tea tree in it Kingfisher).

During the week - I failed to shower after coming back from lottie.  That night I was bitten by thousands of bugs - yep you guessed it mites!!! YUK!  I have washed sheets hoovered bed every night and think I have got my infestation under control now!

Did the chooks again yesterday - again with jeyes fluid - when again it looked like as many came out of the woodwork again.  (There were some on the eggs in the middle of the week)  Got some ant and crawly insect spray which I thought may stop them - but again resorted to beating them up with a brush.

Sprayed the birds again.

GodfreyRob I will see what reaction I get but will try the Duramitex if not.  Theresa - creosote is not available any more but also I could not house the chooks in the meantime but thanks for the suggestion.  Jonny 211 Thanks for the suggestion - certainly cheaper than the other options. 

Thanks again for the helpful replies - will keep you posted!

Old Bird

[betula]

For some reason this thread is very wide,or is it just me?

Tell me If I am being daft but is it the wood that is the problem?Can you house hens in Plastic?It would be much more hygienic easier to clean and nowhere for the mites to hide. :)

[kenkew]

Years ago I inherited a dozen hens and a lopsided shed. Trying to clean it out and get rid of the millions of mites was impossible....I ended up burning it down. Trouble was, it was so dry and impregnated with tar and creosote it went up like a the Bejing Olympic torch and set fire to an ajoining fence and a neighbours shed... :-\

[ipt8]

If you get a catalogue from the Domestic Fowl Trust tehy have a few suitable things to use, such as, Poultry Sield, Diatom, Super Red Mite powder, Duramitex, Louse powder, rid ite powder.
There web sit is:  www.domesticfowltrust.co.uk.
Hope that helps

[betula]

What is happening re your mite problem old Bird,itch,itch :)

[Old bird]

Still itching Denise!

They were on the eggs yesterday!  I have been told of another product which attacks the mites by parasite or something - so am going to have a go at that!

To be honest it really makes me itchy to even think about it!!

Ho Hum!

Ann

[B7jac]

How is it going ?

I have had the same problem, just cant seem to get rid of them completely.

I scrubbed every nook and cranny two weeks ago with Jeyes fluid (what a stink!) it all dried out in the very rare days we had of sun. Then I purchased a huge bucket of Diatoms which I read was very good (cost a fortune!) I have dusted everywhere even the hens, yet still this morning I see them walking about in the powder !!!!

I know there is not as many but still they are there, might try the Get rid as mentioned earlier.

I have also taken to using shredded paper for nesting rather than straw as this sometimes contains the horrible little things.

Can they live on humans? as I have seen them on me after treating the coup, so I always strip off, clothes in washing machine and shower immediately now !!
But I would hate to think of them in my house !!

[B7jac]

Arrrghh ! apparently they can and do live on humans ! and 'Get Rid' by gold label is diatoms which I use already, This is supposed to be the best but why then havent they gone?   The website below describes diatoms and red mites its very informative.  I will have to have another scrub out and powder again.

What do we do if they do get on us? powder ourselves ??

http://www.worldwidepoultry.co.uk/diatoms.php

[labrat]

I does take several weeks in my experience to get on top of a mite outbreak unless you're prepared to get medieval on the blighters. So don't sweat it. The important thing is to make mite control a regular feature of your chickens hygiene regime. I spray Ecomite powder (another diatomaceous earth product) on to every surface inside my sheds - I only do this once a year after my yearly sterilisation of the sheds. However every time I clean out the bedding I reapply some to the wood that supports the bedding and the perches. Every six weeks I also dust my chickens with Barrier Louse powder or Red mite powder (if I see red mite which is rare). You just have to do it and keep doing it even if you don't see any mites. I rarely ever see lice and mites now.

[Old bird]

What do lice look like?  I have seen the red mites and the pale ones before they eat blood but not sure what a lice is?

Also when dusting your birds you hold them upside holding their legs so I can do under and round their rings and bums but how do you dust round their neck and shoulder area?  As it is just me doing it would a second pair of hands be useful or not?  I hate asking anyone to help me as it is a lousy job - literally.

B7jac

They have not only been in my house they have been in bed with me!!!!  How horrendous is that?

As I have said I am going to try boiling water in my sprayer in the house with Jeyes Fluid for good measure.  As I have no electricity up the lottie I am going to have to clean out the house - powder the chickens and put them out to play in their larger run - with no access to the house - then belt home boil loads of water and run up the lottie before it gets cold!

Worth a try though.  I haven't got that Get Rid powder yet still got the one with tree tree and whatever else in it although it does not give ingredients.

OB

 ;)

[B7jac]

Oh no !!!!

They are horrid things !,   I seem to be getting on top of mine I have eliminated them from everywhere in the coup bar the actual floor! with the diatoms powder you leave it on all the time and will stop them returning apparently, I cleaned the whole house with Jeyes fluid let it dry(as diatoms dosent work if wet!) then dusted the whole house! however now each morning when I clean them out there is not a sign of any anywhere else except the floor, which luckily lifts out, so I then scrub them all off with newspaper and dust the powder all over again.  The coup now looks like some kind of haunted house !  They look like tiny spiders I think, but are usually in a little mass together generally around or under the poo, or in crevices, usually a red mass if they have fed, sometimes I see the little black ones too, I'm not sure if they are alive or dead in the mornings unless they move obviously, but I do feel like they are diminishing! I think that they live in the tiny cracks in the wood so any scrubbing and washing will only kill the ones you can see ! 

As for the chickens I read that its best to do them at night just before they retire, at the moment I do it by myself cos as you say its a bit of a horrible job, and quite embarrassing ! I just get one on my lap and dust all around their necks and under wings,but I havent held them upside down I will have to give that a try as perhaps I havent put enough on them.  I always use rubber gloves now too as this stops them getting on my hands !!   But I do worry about my head/hair ! I will have to wear a shower cap !!

Good luck OB and keep me informed on how you are getting on and I will too !!

Jackie

[PHILMT]

I did have a realy bad time with mites earlier in year and tried loads of stuff. The Get Rid stuff worked really well for me and ant seen any for weeks now, I just dust the house after cleaning each week.  I hope you sort your problems soon.