Red mites all over the diatom!

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Gobsheen

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Red mites all over the diatom!
« on: November 09, 2014, 11:23 »
Hi,
I've cleaned out the coop and sprayed diluted Vanodine V18 all over the place i.e. everything inside was that orangey colour.  I made up diatom slurry using V18 and a squirt of washing up liquid.  Once the original V18 had a chance to soak in a bit, I started with the slurry.  It's all over the place with the perches getting a really good covering.  When that had pretty much dried, I put more diatom powder over the perches so they were getting extra, that wasn't diluted in any way.

Now, I know that the mites can bury into tiny cracks and I was never going to be surprised to see them but they were all over the perches that night.........walking all over the diatom!

I had assumed they would stay away from the diatom as it kills them.  Obviously, I was wrong.  Does the diatom not bother them while they're in contact with it but they die later?  If that's how it works then fine but I'm worried that it's not doing anything!

Can someone help me understand please?!

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GrannieAnnie

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Re: Red mites all over the diatom!
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2014, 11:29 »
Red mites are covered in a jelly like substance, and underneath that they have a very hard exoskeleton.  So it does take the diatom a few days to break that all down and kill the little blighters.  And doing what you have done with the vanodine, which I used more for discinfecting than killing, that should stop any eggs from hatching, or if they do, the baby mites won't last long.  I used poultryshield with the diatom rather than vanodine.

Vanodine was for disinfecting the feeders and drinkers and when cleaning the hen houses down.

Hope you get rid of them soon!  Horrid things!

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Gobsheen

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Re: Red mites all over the diatom!
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2014, 11:38 »
Thanks Grannie!  That's put my mind at ease a bit.  I'll keep going with the plan.

Glad you mentioned using V18 on the drinker and feeders as I wasn't sure if it was a good idea.  Sounds like an upcoming job!

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GrannieAnnie

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Re: Red mites all over the diatom!
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2014, 19:59 »
You are very welcome Gobsheen!  We have used many things to get rid of them.  Paraffin on the perch ends was used by one of our old members, Richie rich, I've done that, then on another occasion, a blow torch (but not on the same perches that had paraffin on them!   :lol: :lol:)

Then I bought a small steam cleaner, and that worked a treat on the perches, which were removable, but I never got to use it on the henhouses, as they were too far away from the electric outlet!

This is what SPR say about the Vanodine, which worked well on cleaning and disinfecting the feeders and drinkers, with no problems to the chickens.

http://www.sprcentre.com/Online-Shop-Categories/Stable-and-Yard-Hygiene-Products/Vanodine-V18-1-litre

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Chickencoo

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Re: Red mites all over the diatom!
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2014, 16:26 »
I had an attack of the mite and apart from all the usual treatments I had some warm water in a spray with a good dollop of washing up liquid, my theory being it would cut through the outer coat of the thing, between that and for about a week going in and squishing got rid of the awful things   :blush:

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Gobsheen

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Re: Red mites all over the diatom!
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2014, 17:29 »
The vanodine, diatom slurry and extra powder seems to have done the job. No mites on perches and happier hens now. I'm sure they're still about so I'll continue to treat but the panic is over for now.

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joyfull

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Re: Red mites all over the diatom!
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2014, 21:03 »
glad you are winning the battle  :)
Staffies are softer than you think.



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