[MR C CHICKS]

 :New to the chat room. Have kept chickens for a few years and have never had red mite but have got it now and carnt get rid of it  !!! Can anybody help please .  Have tried red mite powder and jeyes fluid. But still there .  Any help please

[Rivereden]

Hi Mr Chick

I was the same as you until last year and someone told me about dettol. You put about 1 litre of neat dettol in to a 5 litre garden spray bottle and spray in to every nook and cranny twice once in the morning and once late afternoon. This way you dont have to worry about putting the birds back in at night as they have no effects to the dettol.

Once the mites are dead i then sprayed it one more time just for luck and then let the coop dry out throughly before putting in fresh shavings. On top of the shavings i then put diatom powder.

Since this i have not seen another red mite.

If you can put the birds elswhere creosote is a good killer but the fumes mean that you must house the birds elaswhere for a few days. Not the new stuff though called several things like the original (creocote)

I think overal the diatom powder is the secret once you have got rid of them as it dries them out and kills them trying to get to the birds.

Good luck as i know i suffered for a few weeks until i got it right.

[mumsy]

Wish you had seen my posts on the b*****s, I ended up spending about £100 over three weeks !!! In the end I used cimetrol from Bowden & Knights, they had run out of Milbenex, still see a couple in the coop, but we were rife with them.  I deep clean every week now with the cimetrol, when dry, dust with Diatom, changed to shavings in the nest box as they live in the hollow straw.  Have heard of most things but not Dettol, thanks for the tip. Hopefully, now, prevention is the key !!

[Rivereden]

Good point Mumsy we also changed from straw to shavings and i thinks that helped too.

[Yorkie]

Firstly Mr C Chick, welcome to the forum 

Did you mean to introduce a poll?  I'm a little confused 

I think that many experienced poultry keepers will recommend poultry Shield as a product on the shed, and diatom on the birds - but I'll let those who know for sure confirm this  .

If you can put the birds elswhere creosote is a good killer but the fumes mean that you must house the birds elaswhere for a few days. Not the new stuff though called several things like the original (creocote)

Rivereden, the original Creosote is banned for amateur use and can only be used by professionals for re-treatment as of 2003.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/biocides/copr/creosote.htm#a4

and was originally banned in this EU Directive - page 20
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1976L0769:20071003:EN:PDF

It is therefore not legal to use and we cannot allow it to be recommended for use.

[mumsy]

Whoops, forgot, once rid, use poultry shield & don't forget to dust the birds.  I put diatom
wherever they are dust bathing, too.  Another thing to remember is that they can live for up to 9 months without a feed.  My chicken compost was riddled too, so that has had to be burnt  Just keep on it but I think once you have had them, they will always be there!!

[MR C CHICKS]

Hi Yorkie cheers for the reply.

No didnt mean to start a poll ,thought i was on just normal message board. will get hang of it soon tho.  have got red mite in 3 different sheds so carnt move them out anywhere. How long must they be out of the shed when using  Milbenex or Poultry sheild. ?  Does red mite affect eggs in anyway.?

[joyfull]

only until dry, but treat regularly to stay on top of things