[pandora]

We have a red mite problem. A really big red mite problem. I have sealed all of the joints in the hen house(a large shed sub-divided down into 4 smaller houses,) sprinkled Diatom and mite powder in the houses and nest boxes, smeared vaseline round the ends of the perches, and been spraying Mite Kill solution (ie permethrin) in the houses daily. Oh yes - I have been though 2 litres of the stuff in just over a week (2 litres would make up to 20 litres of solution.) I've been using a power-sprayer to make sure it gets into the cracks. Our most recent measure is to paint the insides of the houses with white kitchen paint so we can see the little blighters better and also it has helped eradicate some of the nooks and crannies they try and hide in. I have had a go with a flame torch too. Yet every morning I go out to the house and there are more of them sitting there plump and red and full of chicken blood. There is nowhere for them to hide and the houses are littered with dead mites after I have sprayed, yet more appear every night. How do I get rid of the suckers for good? It is taking up good few hours a week just battling mites, and the hens are laying less, and I am starting to get a bit worried that breathing in permethrin spray for about half an hour on a daily basis is not good for me. It's driving me nuts!

[Julie in Somerset]

Hi, I know how you're feeling. I have a small coop and it has taken me 4 weeks to get on top of red mite. I got the best results with permithrin spray and used permithrin louse powder on the underneath of the birds as I thought a few may be on them during the day.

I have reduced the problem to a few now, I'm not sure you ever get rid of them altogether especially in the summer. I will repeat spray weekly now and keep on the look out.

Good luck, keep going and get a face mask to protect yourself!

[joyfull]

What type of roof is on your shed? They can hide under the roofing felt  . With our shed we removed the roof and replaced it with onduline so the mite have no room to hide there  .

[SMD66]

just keep going!  I used those methods for 4 consecutive saturdays and seem to be rid of them this week. If they have to crawl through diatom powder they die so I made sure that the perches were well covered then if any had escaped the spray they died after coming out for a feed.  good luck

[Roughlee Handled]

Try milbenex
http://www.schopf-hygiene.com/en/schopf-hygiene-neubeuern/produkte/schaedlingsbekaempfung/kriechendes-ungeziefer/milbenex.html

It has a residue effect so keeps killing them when they come back.
I have tried it and it works. Foxy uses it as well and it works for her.

You can get it from....
http://www.bowdenandknights.com/s26/Product-List.html

[Foxy]

My neigbour has an 8x6 shed, which had got completely infested, marching around in grey swarms, we have sprayed once with milbenex and they have practically gone, just need another more thorough application (we have run out of stuff!) and they will be sorted. I have 9 chicken sheds/ houses,have sprayed only twice this year and have not had one mite this year so far!( or the last 3 years) Saying that I would only use Milbenex as a last resort and have big sheds or more than one henhouse, the other formulations such as poultry shield or Duramitex plus as well as diatom  powder on a small scale should suffice.

[pandora]

I'd never heard of Milbenex, but I'm off to buy some now. Thanks for the tip. I've never had red mite before either - and I want to make sure they don't come back! Truly horrible little things!

[poultrygeist]

Hi Pandora. What joyful said abotu the felt roof is very valid. If you have any covering they could hide under, get some bitumen adhesive (for flat roofs) and paint it aroudn the edge to stick down the felt and seal any mites in or out. Otherwise it acts as a reservoir for them.

Good luck

Rob

[Debz]

I sprayed my house with neat Dettol as recommended on here.  It was the weekend when I discovered the blighters and knew that I could get some straight away.  It was very satisfying to see them crawl out and die!  I haven't found any live ones since and the girls are back up to laying again.  I may have been really lucky however and caught the beasties before infestation level.

[beulah59]

What dilution of dettol did you use?

[Roughlee Handled]

What dilution of dettol did you use?

I sprayed my house with neat Dettol ..........

I am assuming it is not the tidy version of Dettol.

[beulah59]

Sorry!! Had a bad night ...

[Roughlee Handled]

That is ok I speed read as well.