[SurreyLass]

My 2 little boys bought me my first 2 hens for Mothers Day - they are lovely basic brown girls, and I am totally head over heels with them! A chicken friend long-term loaned me a small ark (Frosham is it??) saying it was plenty big enough for 2 hens, however once I go the girls and moved them in, I wasnt happy with the amount of outside space (cant free-range them as my garden opens into a wood!!). A nieghbour offerred me the loan of his big Frosham Ark, but it needed lots of tidying etc.

The girls are still in the small ark, whilst we work on the bigger one. My husband has done the repairs, I have treated the external wood, and we thought we were ready to go, until I discoverred the beasties - everywhere! I was worried they were un-fed Red Mite, and bought some poultry shield. After 4 full overnight treatments, the things were still there - not as many, but still there. Friend No.1 came and had a look, and said they werent Red Mite (phew) but were lice, and told me to buy a garden bug killer. 2 overnight treatments of that, and they are still there (again, smaller numbers but still there!). I have also now jet washed it, and today used Jeyes Fluid followed by another hosing down.

THEY ARE STILL THERE .................. not too many, but still there.

What on earth can I do now? I dont want to move the girls in until I know we are bug free, but I am running out of patience.

ANY advice greatly accepted - these are my first ever hens, and I want to do the right thing.

Thanks

[bantam novice]

Hello SurryLass and welcome to the wacky world of henaholics  .  We are a friendly bunch here and you will get loads of advice.

The advice I read on this forum is to use a Diatom slurry.  If you type that into the search box in the top right hand corner you will find loads of information.

Two hens are good but it may be better to get a third to join them as you will not get one on its own if one of them dies.  Hens are flock animals and need company.  Most people find they want to increase thier flock once they have started  .  It does become addictive 

In the meatime Good Luck with your hens and keep us posted.  We do like to see pictures in this forum so if you can post some pictures of your hens that would be great 

[ManicMum]

I'd be tempted to stick with the smaller 'clean' house & put up a bigger run around it - electric fence or panels of weldmesh ot whatever.

If it's been that hard to get rid of the hungry sitting tenants, it might be a constant battle.

[evie2]

I agree, if they're still there after all those treatments a small clean ark with a secure run would be better

Isn't chicken keeping fun, bet you get more soon

[GrannieAnnie]

Are you sure its lice?  Red mite live in the wood of the coops, so there will be loads in the cracks and cranny's, but lice usually live on the birds, so I wouldn't have thought the big ark would have had many in it if it was lice.  Lice ae nearly as big as human lice, but red mite are little pin points which are grey or black until they start to feed off the chooks.

When my layers house had a really bad infestation, after I'd done all the poultry shield and hemexsan (like Diatom!), then I borrowed hubby's blow torch and torched all the nooks and the perches.  Managed not to burn the coop down!!   

And the other thing is, steam cleaning is good.  So far I've only used it on removable perches, but the very hot water kills the little so and so's!  Whereas a pressure washer will only wash them onto the ground and they can crawl back into the ark.

I wish you luck!!!

[SurreyLass]

My friend, who had Red Mites came and looked and said they werent - ? They are teeny tiny, and white / v pale. They are in the cracks and stuff but clearly moving about in the bright daylight / direct sunlight. The little tikes are putting up one hell of a fight. There are no visible eggs or anything now - I think they might have been old / something else. I am a bit gutted to be honest, I so desperately want the girls to have more space.

[ManicMum]

Chickens don't need an awful lot of space indoors: 12" (or 30cm if you're younger than I am) of perch each, plus a nestbox - 1 between 3 hens is fine.  So the ark should be big enough for nights - you just need to sort out extra daytime space.

Then you can sort out the bigger ark and have time to do a thorough job. 

I like the idea of a steam cleaner to blast the little whatsits into the middle of next week!

[Casey76]

In the big ark you can try dusting it with a permethrin based ant powder (usually available in a £ shop )

[GrannieAnnie]

My friend, who had Red Mites came and looked and said they werent - ? They are teeny tiny, and white / v pale. They are in the cracks and stuff but clearly moving about in the bright daylight / direct sunlight. The little tikes are putting up one hell of a fight. There are no visible eggs or anything now - I think they might have been old / something else. I am a bit gutted to be honest, I so desperately want the girls to have more space.

I'm sorry Surreylass, but chicken lice are not teeny tiny!  perhaps your friend only saw the red mites when they were red?  lice are bigger.  Not that I've ever had any, but sometimes people bring chickens or turkeys here for my Brian to cull and dress them, and occasionally some have had lice.

If the big ark hadn't been used for a while, there wouldn't be any red ones there.  but they can live without food for 38 weeks, so would be very pale and small!

But whatever they are, they need to be GONE!  Nasty things feeding on poor innocent chickens!   

[SurreyLass]

They have bitten us a few times too ............ the little toads were all over my husbands shoes and tools yesterday.

Oh god - I dont know what to do for the best. My other concern about the big ark is that its one of those with a full length upstairs (Forsham Cottage Ark) where the whole length side lifts off - IF I do get rid of these vile beasts, its one hell of a space to keep bug free. That said, we were trying not to spend a ton until we knew how we got on with the girls (and they with us and our noisy children). My husband isnt overly keen on trying to build a run extension, having spent a whole week working on the big ark, but wont the girls be cold up there, with just the 2 of them??

Any other ideas to get shot of these little blighters?

[Kym503]

Hi.  All I can say is that having had a really bad infestation last year I speak from experience when I say for get the idea of the ark.  I think you will be fighting a loosing battle with it.  It took me some time to identify my 'problem' as red mite as what I was finding was tiny liitle things that were pale in colour but they did indeed turn out to be hungry red mite.The only thing that worked for me was Ficam W but not everyone approves of its use as it is for industrial use only and difficult to get hold of.

Hillfooter is a regular contributor to these pages and his advice is always excellent.  Prehaps he will be along to add his thoughts.


Good luck

Kym

[joyfull]

Hillfooter uses Ficam W which he gets from Bowden Knights, if you give them a call they should be able to help you - they also sell hemexen (which Grannie Annie uses) which is the same as DE but costs a lot less.
I have given up with wooden coops and just ordered my second giant plastic ark so will only have 2 wooden arks left (1 for the broodies/injured and the other for the sabelpoots) and these will get replaced in due course.

Here is a link to Bowden and Knights website and you will find their telephone number on there:-

http://www.bowdenandknights.com/

[Sassy]

You mention that you can't free range them because your garden opens into a wood. Is the wood yours or would the wood owner mind free ranging hens? Your hens would be very very happy in a wood. You would have to consider fox attack of course.

[SurreyLass]

No, we couldnt let them into the wood - the other side of the wood is school playing fields, and then a golf course, none of it fenced, just a few ditches here and there.

We also get lots of foxes here, so I couldnt bear it. I would love to, but no, not possible.

[adamgodfrey]

I too had major problems with red mite.  They do appear very pale when they haven't consumed any blood for a while, so I think you may have them, rather than lice (that are much larger).

I used a variety of chemicals, including poultry shield, anti red mite spray, jeyes fluid, ant powder containing permethrin, smoke bombs.  It was a constant battle that went on for weeks.

In the end I bought a plastic green frog chicken house , and I'm very happy, haven't had any red mite since.  

Good luck with everything.

Adam