[3FatHens]

We just found red mite in the hen house and one of the chickens had sat in the dog bed and we noticed a mite in the dog bed so we put the dog bed in the bin, can red mites live on my dog or humans? Please help as the dog sleep in our bed at night sometimes!

[joyfull]

no, your dog will be fine as will you, however the coop needs treating well and the treatment will need repeating weekly until they are gone. Do this treatment on hard standing so that they don't end up crawling back into the coop.

[3FatHens]

Thank you so much, we are treating the hen house, as we found a mite in the dog bed (which as you know the dog bed is in the bin)  will our home be ok?

[joyfull]

they can live for many months without feeding but they do feed on poultry not humans. If you see any then squish them.

[3FatHens]

We put the hens in a mite free house tonight and we are going to wash out the mite cage tomorrow and spray, clean, powder all of it. Hope it works... 

[orchardlady]

You have put your birds in a mite free house tonight...that's fine but don't forget to treat that house also for red mite.

The best method I've found for getting rid/controlling red mite is to empty the hen house of all bedding. Try not to dribble it around. Put it in black bin bags and dispose of away from your property. Scrub out he hen house with Poultry shield. Allow to dry. Totally paint the interior of the house with DE slurry. Diatomaceous Earth, poultry shield and a good slug of washing up liquid, mix until it is the consistency of gloss paint or thick pouring custard. Pay particular attention to the ends of the perches and any joints.

 I also treat/paint the entire perches with the old fashioned fence and wood preservative that starts with C but I believe this is now no longer available easily due to H&S and please do not take it as a direct recommendation. I have two sets of perches and allow the ends of them to soak in this fence preservative for several days. I then leave these preserved/painted perches outside in the elements for 6 weeks or so. This stage can of course be skipped but I personally find that it is of great benefit.

Put a light sprinkling of bedding back into the hen house or shredded newspaper. Don't put a great deal in as you are going to do the whole process all over again every 5 days! This is to break the cycle of eggs hatching and maturing. It's a great deal of work but needs to be done if you intend to get on top of the problem. Red mite are the one thing that has in the past made me think seriously about not keeping hens any more.

If you have a felt roof STRIP IT OFF you will be horrified by the amount of red mite hiding under it. Re roof with Onduline or a similar corrugated roofing material.

Best of luck and you will soon have happy red combed hens that will start to lay again in profusion.

Orchardlady.

[3FatHens]

Thank you joyfull and orchardlady you both have put a lot of helpful infomation and im going to try all tomorrow. Cant wait to get this problem sorted out.

[joyfull]

I hate red mite - so have changed most of my coops to plastic ones (just got two left to change when finances allow).

[Brambles]

Oh my... I feel sooooooo sorry for you...  I had a huge infestation last year, I felt "unclean" for weeks... But if you follow the advice given you will get rid! 
I seriously thought about giving up my girls last June, but thankfully I didn't...  There IS life after red mite!!!   Then if you regularly treat your house and girls and you should be mite free with a lot of luck!!!   
I also changed my girls bedding to Hemcore, red mite like wood and hopefully the Hemcore (plant material) will not house the mite as easily as the dust extracted wood chip that I used to use!   It is all part of the learning curve but red mite is one of the worst lessons we have to learn

[joyfull]

sorry to dissapoint you there but I have used hemcore for years and still got redmite 

[3FatHens]

Do you think an Eglu Cube without the run would work? THey are plastic but cost alot and i dont want to buy it then, only to get red mite again.

[Brambles]

Oh nooooo Joyfull!!!   I know that anyone can get red mite... but I did hope that Hemcore would help!!!   Even so.... I do prefer it to wood chip!   I dream that one day I might get an Eglu, though I bet the little critters can find their way in there too!

[joyfull]

you can still get redmite in plastic coops but they are so easy to wash out or steam clean and then just dry with a towel that the dreaded little red mite critters are soon sent packing.
However always remember to clean all coops with redmite well away from where they stand preferably clean them on hard standing and do not put any bedding in your compost bin - either burn it or double bag it for your bin men to take away..

[kimmcb]

try painting the house with creocote - the replacement to creosote. Good luck!

[leon-dom]

Hi,
just got rid off red mite with a clever little smoke bomb that i got from my feed stockist
poultry sheild did not work for me four applications and they were still running around like it was some kind off holiday camp for em i too and the wife were pullin our hair out thinkin wat we can do i mean you would have thought four treatments good scrubbing and a hose down would have shifted them but anyways little smoke bomb and lincoln powder and no more mites i also only use wood chips hope this helps you and good luck as somone else said there is life after red mites and all the other little sucky nasty things