Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: KathyH on July 08, 2008, 14:56
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Hi all,
its happened - we have red mites :(
Last night the girlies didn't want to go into the coop. Had a good look this morning and clusters of the little b-s are in the coop.
So we have cleaned out the hen house totally and scrubbed all perches and all around and put the red mite powder around where the mites were (ends of perches where they fitted into the walls).
The powder we used is Agil's Mitex Super Red Mite powder.
Question - is that it or do we do something to the chickens too? It may be a daft question but we haven't had this before and I am thinking "flea powder" equivalents or something?
Oh yes and hubby Chris stuck his head in the coop last night to check there wasn't a rat or something in there got hair full of what we thought were midges - but they must have been red mites! So should we scrub his head with Jeyes fluid too? :shock: He shampoed his hair straight away!
All help appreciated
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got hair full of what we thought were midges - but they must have been red mites!
Iiiiitchyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
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Indeed ! :o
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making my head itch just reading it !
What did you use to clean out the house ?
You might be better off getting some diatom or equivalent. that will kill any leftovers and eggs and can be sprinkled onto the chooks i think, or at least put into their dust bath to get any itinerants.
Good luck.
Rob :)
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We just scrubbed it with water as a first response and then squirted the powder on the places where we saw the mites and in any other likely looking spots.
We have now sent for some Diatom as you recommended. Our Countrywide store nearby doesn't stock it so this was the fastest way to get it. We ordered it next day delivery to make sure we can do it asap.
Lets just hope the torrential rain we are promised tomorrow waits until we can get the job done without getting drenched :(
It may be all in his imagination - but poor Chris is still itchy!
Thanks for telliong us about Diatom :)
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Poultry Shield is what you need Kathy.
http://www.sprcentre.co.uk/diatomandpoultryshield.htm
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Hmm I am certain the Mitex (by Agil) you have is made of diatoms and does kill the mites its what I use as apposed to the barrier red mite powder. However, it will not kill instantly because its made from fossilised silica called "diatoms" which works by dessicating the outer shell of the mite.
What may be advisable is to use a product callled "Poultry Shield" which you dilute in water and is best use in some form of sprayer to make sure it gets in all the nooks and crannies, really drench the coop! Poultry Shield will kill the mites more or less instantly. Apply the powder everywhere after as you have done so. A few days later do the whole thing again, then weekly particulary during the warm damp months of summer. Check with a torch at night to see if you have got them all. If the birds look out of condition due to mites pop a little poultry spice or poultry boost into their water.
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oops Auntie should have read your post first! :lol:
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You said it so much better than me though Foxy. Red mite is something I have never seen and hope I never will :wink:
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Many thanks Foxy and Aunt Sally.
When the farmers shop opens tomorrow I will see if they stock it.
I will also get some poultry spice for them. They are looking scrappy as two of the three are moulting so its hard to tell what is mite and what is just feather replacement - but the spice will be good for them either way. Other than that they appear to be well. eating fine and doing all the right chicken things.
One is off lay though and I had put that down to the moult as she is eating fine and still pushing her weight around with the others! (She is Queen Chicken!)
(Can I spray Chris with it too do you think? He still feels itchy!!)
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I heard that putting some tea tree oil on the scalp/hair is good for keeping away head lice etc so maybe give this a go for a while on Chris? I am a hairdresser and this is what we advise ... certainly won't cause any harm. You can pick it up fairly cheaply from chemists or wilkinsons etc
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one of mine died the other day from red mites (didn't realise until it was way too late) so I got rid of all of the bedding and litter from the henhouse, and after rubbing the perch and ledge with diluted jeyes fluid i sprayed EVERY nook and crannie with the diluted poultry shield with a pump sprayer (£2.99 from wilkos), and then went on to dust the 2 remaining chooks with pyretrhrum (sp?) as advised to me by the animal feeds store and various websites.
The two remaining ones haven't shown any signs of mites, so I don't know if they are selective in which hen they pick on but I just wish I'd spotted it much earlier and could have saved her :cry:
Good luck with getting rid of them... now that you've had them once it's advisable to give their henhouse a deep clean like this at least every 3 months like this as they can come back :shock:
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Sorry to hear about your chicken SnooziSuzi.
I hadn't realised that it could be fatal :(
We will do all that we can with chemicals and elbow grease tomorrow.
The chooks have elected to spend another night out on top of the coop. They obviously don't trust that we have cleared the problem yet.
We have let them stay out - they are in a totally netting enclosed area and nice and high off the ground on the coop roof. They could go in ifthey felt like it - or if the rain gets nasty overnight.
They did use the coop to lay their eggs today after it was cleaned - so hopefully they won't build up to much of an aversion to it.
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Sorry to hear about your chicken SnooziSuzi.
I hadn't realised that it could be fatal :(
Thanks; I blame myself but it's a hard lesson to learn.
It can be fatal because basically the chook is sucked to death and unable to bounce back because they take more from the hen than the hen can replace quick enough.
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Sorry to hear about your chicken SnooziSuzi.
I hadn't realised that it could be fatal :(
Thanks; I blame myself but it's a hard lesson to learn.
It can be fatal because basically the chook is sucked to death and unable to bounce back because they take more from the hen than the hen can replace quick enough.
Snoozi dont blame yourself -by sharing your experiences you are helping prevent it happening to someone elses hen. It is difficult to appreciate how such a such a small mite can cause absolute havoc to hens. :(
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Oh yes and hubby Chris stuck his head in the coop last night to check there wasn't a rat or something in there got hair full of what we thought were midges - but they must have been red mites! So should we scrub his head with Jeyes fluid too? :shock: He shampoed his hair straight away!
All help appreciated
Poor Chris!
(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/MSN_Emoticons/MSN-Emoticon-skin-rash-084.gif)
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lol! Love the animation!
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ok - torrential rain all day - how helpful :(
Went to our chicken supplier - the most UNhelpful manager woman was asked for advice and said with a shrug - "use whatever you like - its up to you" when asked about products to use directly on the chooks.
They sold the Poultry Shield and a sprayer bottle for cleaning the coop so we got that. Also got some poultry drink to boost their iron supplies.
We got some Johnson's Kil-Pest powder for dusting the chooks and some spray Johnson's "Anti-mite extra" which is a fluid spray.
The indifferent woman said "use both at once if you want <shrug>" but this sounds dangerously like overdoing it.
What does the "team" think? I am thinking use the spray tonight as its a fluid and they are very wet from the rain. The powder would just turn into sludge I think.
One (Henna) is ravenously hungry and off lay - another (Doris) is looking very depressed but is still laying. The third (Jet) is looking normal - just wet!
They are all still feeding but Doris is less eager than the others - although she always is as she is lowest pecking order chicken.
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Right.
Sprayed Poultry shield all over the coop inside and out. Took the roof off so we got to all the nooks and crannies.
Sprayed the anti-mite spray on under-carriage of chooks. Doris - the droopiest had nasty crusty white stuff that I assume was mite eggs and detritus all along her tum. Now sprayed.
We will probably allow them another night on top of the coop as they are reluctant to go in and it probably smells chemically (although we did let it air with the back down for a good hour.)
So we have stretched a tarp over the whole area so they are at least a bit sheltered from rain and wind.
I also shifted some of the flooring of the run around to let them get at the worms and slugs under there - and they did that, even poorly Doris got a slug :) I figured the protein would perk them up.
The poultry drink is in their water too.
So I think that is all we can do this evening.
Now all that remains is to wash the mites off of us :(
We both have them on us - in our hair mostly despite wearing hats :(
I found some Tea Tree Shampoo in the cupboard - so we shall both smell quite antiseptic
:oops:
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You're troopers ! :)
Don't envy you the task. No idea if you'll be free of them since, thankfully, never seen one, but fingers crossed for your chickens and for you.
I'd sit in a bath of dettol for an hour :?
Rob 8)
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Well the plan is Rob that we check them again tomorrow and try to wash the crusty bits off of poor Doris's tummy. Then re-apply the spray on her.
Hopefully a lot of them will be dying off now and if we get down to her skin proper we can get the rest.
We will have another look at the coop and see if it needs another going over.
We are both scratching - but I think its mostly in our minds now! We are both extremely clean right now!
The dog is scratching too - oh dear :(
We have had the chooks for exactly a year now and all has been plain sailing until now. I guess we were getting complacent :( I will swear the mites weren't there a week ago though - not on the chooks anyway as we were purple spraying Doris as the others had been pecking her. Maybe they were there in very small numbers - but I am sure we would have seen the numbers we have now when cleaning them out. They were very visible.
One of the books says they can suddenly multiply dramatically given the right weather conditions and I wonder if we did have a few and the suddenly did that this week.
Well its a sobering lesson - and an itchy one!
:roll:
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A lesson to us all. I think you have the right idea in keeping at it for a while. Apologies for sending you out for diatom when you already had it under another name :oops:
We must get some for ourselves. It does sounds a wonder product.
We've had ours for about 6 months and I check the nest box and perches every time I clean out (which isn't that often, OH does it mostly) and have never seen so much as a mite anywhere. But as you say, it wouldn't take long.
I think everyone reading this is itching. Unavoidable. :?
Rob 8)
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i'm itching, now it's not just about finding fleas on cat's and dog's or lice on horses it's mites too.
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Kathy - are you sure your chooks have mites?
I'm a beginner, so no expert by any means, but the way I understood it, mites live in the coop not on the chook.
Could the white crusty stuff on the chooks be lice, or lice eggs?
There's piccys on this site (somewhere - navigation isn't my thing!) of lice eggs, and they definately sound more like your chooks problem. Search for the pics and see what you think.
I can't help with a treatment I'm afraid, but I know people here do know what to do - I think they use frontline drops, but wait for someone to tell you what and when.
The mites in the coop look like tiny, almost black, dots. If you disturb them they run away. If you touch them they squash and leave a blooming streak on the woodwork.
Lice live on he chook, make them itch, and generally bring them down fairly quickly.
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won't red mite powder kill lice too?
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I truely don't know. Maybe, but you'd have to deal with the eggs too.
They make you itch just to think about them don't they :?
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I think the diatom (or equivalent!) should kill them over a couple fo days because it works by scouring the waxy outer coating and they dehydrate, but whether you'd need to apply directly onto the affected areas, I don't know, or maybe they move about and get scratched to bits.
Frontline does get a lot of mentions so maybe that's the right stuff. You don't want to be buying anything else until you're sure what you want ! :)
Rob 8)
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I had a tip from an 'old boy' last week which was to blast the perches, door way and removable bits with boiling water before the scrubbing starts cause it kills them on contact :shock: . On that train of thought I suppose one of those portable steam cleaners would work a treat to blast them away... and then poultry shield, etc ?? I think that a company called Shark make them? Hmmmm my hubby will do almost anything for a new tool, so must make it sound Macho and not a girly cleaning device :lol:
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Thanks for all the input folks. At least we don't feel alone in this!
Well as we sort of knew, the mites are still there today as the Poultry Clean and powder stuff doesn#'t kill immediately (although I sort of hoped that all the activity would have done something).
When I opened up this morning the mites were crawling around under the door clips :(
So as it isn't raining yet :roll: we have put the hens on the lawn in a temporary netted area and spent the last few hours with Chris blowtorching the corners, cracks and edges and me giving it all another Jeyes Fluid scrub.
Chris is now filling all cracks and gaps and rough bits with plastic wood (a very fast setting one) so that lurking space is limited. Then we spray again and when that is dry we posder again.
The birds will have another good spraying tonight before roosting.
The spray for the birds also does lice so all eventualities are covered - we hope.
We have also gently washed Doris's crusty tum with a baby sponge and some sebocalm dog shampoo (for sensitive dogs!) and she looks a bit happier. They have all had a nice sleep and peck on the lawn and seemed relieved to be out of their area.
Long term review of quarters now under way.
Oh yeah - and we smell bad again!!!
:oops:
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I have used Poultry Shield and is OK - with a serious infestation I would reccomend Milbenex it is superior to Poultry Shield. I have recently had an infestation in a new broody house, used Milbenex and it completely knocked them out plus it prevents them coming back. I use this stuff in the sheds and since using have never had a single mite in nearly 2 years despite having the 2 broody houses infested (bought one from a supplier reduced as second hand, the other broody house was right next to it and the rest is history!)
you can buy it here hope it helps it is serious stuff mind! :shock:
http://www.bowdenandknights.com/
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Does it have residual effect Foxy, or do you have to reapply regularly ?
Rob :)
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It has a residual effect. I had sprayed the big sheds in the spring and when the 2 broody houses got infested (I hadn't thought to spray them)
the sheds weren't touched with mite which surprised me, so very impressed. I dont think many people know of it though. Its made up in a similar fashion to Poultry Shield which I used to use but whereas they seemed to always be a few this stuff completely eliminated them.
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Thanks Foxy - I will check it out.
At this point in the process we are seriously thinking of lashing out on an Eglu cube.
Pricey but they seem to hold their secondhand value. The idea of a seamless and easily washed coop seems VERY attractive right now :?
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Well.........I got home from work tonight and went out in the rain to great the girls only to find an egg on the floor of the run which I thought was strange!!!!
I cleaned them out as usual but had a bit of a closer inspection and think I have found some red mite!! Luckily I bought some colombine spray last weekend so I am going to wait for a gap in the rain to clean out the run fully and spray it and the girls’ from head to toe.
Now I'm sat here itching all over.......I didn't know humans could get them until I read this.......I think I might go and have a shower!!
I think I will keep spraying the house and hens every week until they have gone......is that the best thing to do?
I do empathise with anyone who has these beasties in their run………and the poor girls!
Sorry one last thing…..can they jump???
Andy
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Commiserations Andy - maybe its Red Mite season or something. Ours certainly weren't there last week in the numbers they are now. So they have had a massive population explosion in that time :(
So I would say clean it all out thoroughly and spray, spray, spray. Try to get rid of them before you get the population boom ours had.
Can they jump? Yep you bet they can - like Olympic athletes :shock:
We have been bitten loads. The Tea Tree shampoo helped get them out of our hair. We even got bitten today on day three of our "mite offensive" and the numbers are well down on previous days.
Our girls are in a temporary house that Chris built them this afternoon out of some spare boards and an old wooden box. They took a bit of time going into it but eventually did. Their coop will have to be rubbed down and painted tomorrow and there are still too many mites to put them back in tonight.
But even after a thorough scrubbing with jeyes fluid three times now nd spraying with Poultry spray - we can still see them on the wood. Not nearly as many but given that they have a 7 day cycle from egg to adult we want to get rid of as many as possible before the chooks go back.
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Get some diatom and dust it in the nooks and crannies. That will mop up stragglers !
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itching just reading this thread!!
When I had them in a broody house I had bought ( :evil: ) they must have got them on my clothes and to my horror even saw them crawling over my computer screen!!!!!!!I was horrified.... :shock:
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You must all be bored with these updates by now - but here is another one!
Today there were far fewer mites - but still a few.
Their night in the "odd box" on the lawn was uneventful except the noodles chose to sleep in the small egg laying boxed area instead of on the perch inside. D'oh!
I'll bet they were saying "not a bad hotel but rather cramped"!
So today despite the heavy showers we managed to paint the inside of their coop, having sanded down the wood filler. Its fast drying low odour paint so its dry now and we have powdered it again and relined it with fresh bedding.
We also went to our local woodyard and got some more bark chippings for their run area and spread that all over the quagmire. So its all renewed and clean now.
After three days of scrubbing, filling, sanding , blow torching, painting and anti-mite dusting that must be about the cleanest coop in Britain!
The Diatom still hasn't arrived despite us asking for express delivery but we used the Poultry Shield and the other mite powder we had so that should hold it until it arrives.
Doris had a very subdued day - at one point going into the "odd box" on her own and staying in there for about an hour. Frankly we wondered if she went in there to die :( She is by far the droopiest of them all. But when we took them up and transferred them back "home" she perked up and is now scratching around looking interested.
Frankly we feel that is about all we can do really. The Poultry drink is in the water and she is drinking ok. They are getting extra rations of corn and she is having some. I have put greens in for them and all have had a go - admittedly she it taking less than the others but she is still interested at least.
We shall just have to wait and see if she now picks up. Bless her she is still laying. She is a Speckledy and her eggs are wonderful. One a day and always aroung the 68g - 75g mark. She is a year old and has hardly missed a day of laying since she started.
Anyway - fingers crossed for her. :?
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Sorry Kathy, I've not kept up with this topic too closely :oops:
If your hens are poorly because of the red mites making them anaemic from sucking their blood I would give them something high in iron for a week or two just as you would for humans. :D
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Would that be spinach type of thing Aunt Sally?
They get that a couple of times a week but I could make it an every day thing.
They have the Battles Poultry drink in their water now - that seems to have iron. Any other foods? watercress?
They are all still with us this morning but Doris is still the quietest and slowest.
Those blasted mites are still evident on their perch :(
Not many - but still a red smear when squished so still attacking :( At least now the coop is white inside we can see them easier.
I wish that Diatrom stuff would get here :( But I think someone said it took a few days to work - so hens still under attack despite all efforts :(
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Hi Kathy
How are your hens looking? You said before about white stuff under their feathers. has that gone now?
You are having a time of it aren't you?
Hope they're picking up.
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Looking ok-ish today thanks Dawn.
Well Doris is still subdued and hanging back while the others dive for food - but she is still scratching around and eating/drinking. So that is good.
There were still a few mites visible on the night perch and this morning the Diatrom finally arrived so that has been applied to the coop.
We have just fed them some spinach leaves and that has gone down well :D
Doris still has a bit of the white crusty deposit that has reformed on her tum. She is bare there where the others plucked her. The feathers are growing back but I think that gave the mites a good clear access to her skin at nights so that may be why she got the worst of it all. We sprayed her with the anti mite (which also does lice) last night and had a good look over her generally. No sign of skin problems in other areas.
I think we will leave her in peace today and see how she looks tomorrow and bathe her again then. I don't want to keep washing off the mite spray and also don't want to stress her tooo much.
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If it is lice I have heard that there is a product that they sell in pet shops with a budgie on the front which is great for this. You just spray under the wings.
I hope they are ok soon.
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Would that be spinach type of thing Aunt Sally?
They get that a couple of times a week but I could make it an every day thing.
Spinach is good but I'd give them a little bit of chopped liver (just a teaspoonful each every couple of days for a week or so) :shock:
I would :!: it's not just for normal nutrition but to cure anaemia caused by the red mite
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Hi kathy
I'm glad your diatom has arrived - it's magic stuff!!
We were told by our poultry man, to use a paintbrush to apply it, that way you can wedge it into all the nooks and crannies, and brush some along the perches. He also said to throw a scoop into their bedding - ours sleep in their egg box! That way, when they sleep, if anything bothers them, they'll fluff up their feathers and scatter more dust around.
We literally had a flying visit from the mites, sprayed with poultry sheild and dusted with diatom, and -touch wood- haven't seen them since.
We also threw a bit in their dust bath. We over did it first time, and the poor chooks were realy dusty for a week or so! It didn't do them any harm though.
I hope now that you've got the good stuff, you're problems are pretty much over.
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Well I disinfected the run yesterday with some Virkon S which was really good stuff.......and it smelt nice.........the shop I bought it from recommended it over Jayes fluid.
Sprayed the run from top to bottom and the bird and used red mite powder to dust in all the nooks and crannies. I also sanded down the perch to hopefully destroy any eggs etc.
Fingers crossed I will just have to hope that will do the job, I don't think we had a major infestation but I guess one or two will lay eggs and grow in no time at all!!
Thanks for everyone’s help, lets hope the hens are happier now!
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hope it does the job for you Andy :D
as for my two remaining chooks I checked them today for mites and lice and they are happilly free of either but I will keep up my hen house hygiene more rigourously from now on.
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Still finding mites in the coop. Not as many - but still red from their feed on the poor chooks :(
Chickens looking a bit brighter though - so we must be making some headway.
Cleared out all we could see and re-applied Diatom powder. Thanks for the suggestion about using a paintbrush Dawn :)
I will get some liver tomorrow Aunt Sally. I guess you mean it to be well chopped up and raw?
As its a small amount daily I will chop up a lump and freeze it in teaspoon sized bits. Then I can defrost and give it alternate days without it going off.
Doris has been more interested in getting into the food today - she even gave a good show at getting her share of the spinach leaves - so that must be a good sign. She still laid a nice egg too - bless her!
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Feeding raw chopped liver to your chickens is a sure fire way of loosing an arm!
Wow! Did they ever LIKE THAT!!!
Still finding a few mites but it seems to be fewer each day. Doris still droopy but a little bit better. Henna still not laying - but looking perky.
We soldier on!
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I thought they might have your fingers off Kathy.
I should think daily would be a bit too often, a couple of portions per week should be enough. Stop feeding it when they get their lovely red combs back !
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Thanks Aunt Sally.
Actually their combs aren't too bad in colour - its just the listlessness in Doris, the over eating in Henna and the fact that their laying is all haywire - oh yes and Henna and Doris have lots of bald patches.
They still don't like spending the night inside their coop and try to spend the night on top of its roof. So far Chris has put them in each night by picking them up and putting them in the pop hole!
Tonight he only got to do that to two of them and the third, Jet, went in on her own. maybe they will get back into the habit soon.
Actually Jet is the best of the trio in all this. She is a Black Rock (Jet - get it?) and hasn't lost any feathers or any condition. There is no sign that the mites have bothered her and she was still happy to go in the coop - until the others persuaded her otherwise.
Maybe the Black Rock feathers are denser and protected her a bit.
Anyone any theories about this? Do different breeds react differently to red mite?
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Just a rather sad update on our red mite problem.
We have been dusting and cleaning and still finding a few mites each day. we have also been giving the chooks spinach and occasional chopped liver as well as Battles Poultry drink in their water.
Egg laying still a bit erratic.
But sadly, last night Doris died :cry:
Poor girl just kept laying huge eggs all the time and I think it must have depleted her reserves. The others became occasional layers but Doris kept pumping them out daily and it must have all been too much for her.
She was very sleepy and just quietly slipped away
:cry:
We did try our best but it did feel like a loosing battle.
<sigh>
ah well - we learn. NEVER stop routine Diatrom dusting - even if you can't see the little b*ggers.
Kathy
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Sorry to hear your news Kathy, you couldn't have tried any harder :cry:
xxxxxx Hugs to both of you
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Oh mumsy how sad -I really suggest the milbenex now. I use 2 or 3 times now only a year and NEVER seen them once treated.
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Poor Doris. I don't think anything would have saved her :cry:
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Thanks everyone. She was a lovely gentle girl and her eggs were wonderful. She was a " Speckledy" or "Speckled Star" (I have seen both names used - not sure which is right) and a cross Maran and Rhode Island Red. So her eggs were brown with dark brown speckles and she was grey dappled. Very pretty :(
She seemed to give up about a week ago and its been a struggle to keep her perky since.
I will get the Milbinex now - if I can find some. The Diatrom is getting a slow clear up rate but we think they are still on the chooks a bit even though they say they come off at night. We have sprayed the other chooks again now Doris is gone. Every day we get some more in the coop at the ends of the perch. They seem to be dead - but they are still appearing. I guess we are getting new hatchings still.
This has been a real nightmare :cry:
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oh poor Kathy, i don't think you could have done anything more to save her, you tried your best but sometimes it isn't meant to be, good luck with the others.
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i've been thinking, does anyone know why and where from do red mites appear? asuming your free of them, where do they come from?
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I have been told they come in on wild birds.
Personally I think they come from the darkest reaches of Hell :o They bite people too. We have been extensively bitten and they hide in your clothing. My husbands T shirt had them lurking in the neck seam :(
So after every contact with the infected coop we (well I!) had to give all the clothes we had been wearing a hot wash cycle to make sure. They also lurked in our hair as we found they were still nipping long after we had finished. I recommend Tea Tree shampoo after every coop scrubbing session - although we did then use shower caps! How lovely we looked!
My hair resembled a brillo pad after a week of the worst of the scrubbing and cleaning sessions :o
I can't believe they are still in that coop. We get about a teaspoonful each morning - mostly dead but some have still fed :evil:
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sounds nasty, for you and the chooks, struth, hope we don't get them, can you dust hens with red mite powder as a matter of prevention?
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They can come in from many directions :evil:
wild birds / new stock / and especially from second hand equipment :(
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Yes you can do it routinely. A farmer friend says she dusts one month for lice and the next for mites routinely. I am using a multipurpose spray but I am not sure how effective it is being.
The Diatrom would be a good regular dust as well I think.
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phew, glad you said that, pip and i have dusted ours, ended up with more of it on us than on the hens.......
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Don't breath it in TMG :!:
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I'm so sorry about Doris Kathy.
Our coop has been infested too, one day it was just one or two on the end of the perch and despite spraying it was thick with red mite within a week.
OH used a blown lamp, we scrubbed scraped, re-varnished and even sprayed the last few little blighters with hairspray. Since then we have used spray on the coop everyday and powdered the girls from top to toe twice (in one week). The number have dropped there are still a quite a few lurking around the white coloured water bowl every morning! Yuk.
My question is, does anyone know where we can get Diatrom and Milbenex in South Devon please?
Yup, we're both itching too!!!!
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I buy Diatom on line here:
http://www.sprcentre.co.uk/diatomandpoultryshield.htm
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You have my sympathy Whistler :(
We did the blow torch thing too - and 4 consecutive days of scrubbing with Jeyes Fluid and then we grouted all holes/cracks, sanded down that lot and then painted the inside white so we could see what was happening.
Since then we have been using Diatrom which does seem to kill them but not straight off. You also still get new hatched ones daily. So far we have been going at this for two weeks :?
Its a nightmare :(
Tonight our two remaining girlies are roosting on top of the coop again refusing to go in. each night we now have to put them in physically and each morning there are a few more mites on the perch ends. So tonight, as its warm anyway, we are leaving them on top of the coop overnight. Their pen is netted over so they should be safe.
Maybe it will stop a bit of the cycle and let them have a night off of being nipped.
having been bitten by these critters ourselves we are very mindful of what the chickens are going through. To be in the situation of being bitten nightly and no way of stopping it must be awful for them :(
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I know it's drastic and expensive, but I'd be sorely tempted to burn the place down and start again :cry:
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Well the next best drastic thing (financially anyway) is to get an Eglu!
I am sorely tempted to get an Eglu cube but not the run and use it in our existing run as that works well in our garden. Its an investment of sorts as they seem to have an excellent resale value.
THEN we can burn down the old one :wink:
....now where's that bank that I can go and rob :lol:
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Red mite are awful -had them once this year on a new broody house which I hadn't treated -was appalled at how quickly they spread -although not into the "treated" sheds which was a relief.
I use milbenex and have never looked back. I do wonder kathy if you could take apart you henhouse to spray it?
Anyway this is where I get Milbenex from they are extremely helpful -yes its expensive and strong stuff but I wont use anything else now. I have tried just about everything else now and rely on this a few times a year plus diatom to keep them at bay in nestboxes, dustbaths etc. Bowden and Knights are also extremely helpful.
http://www.bowdenandknights.com/
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The mites love it under roofing felt. Sometimes its a good idea to remove it, spray the roof and renew with something else.
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Thanks all. The roof is pretty accessible and we can slide it off and have sprayed all in, up and around - but will give it a go with the Milbinex when we get some. We now have quite a stock of chemicals!
:shock:
This morning the coop had been empty all night as they spent the night up on its roof - so we looked to see what mite activity there had been.
There was an expectant teaspoonful of the mites sitting in a heap in the middle of the perch right where the chooks should have been :(
There were a few stray strands of bedding material on top of them and Chris swears it was moving slightly as they shifted about :o
Hens look ok today and have both laid good sized eggs - so at least they seem healthy despite all this.
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I have some Poultry Shield made up and when I let the hens out in the morning, I clear up the poo from the coop and spray round every morning with it. I have it made up in a plant sprayer and just do it as a matter of course.
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Advice PLEASE
Found red mites for the first time ever 2 weeks ago. dismantled hen house, disinfected, sprayed etc etc moved hens into clean house, dusted etc etc
Infected house on the drive in pieces and i am cleaning it regularly but now every time I go into the garden or onto the drive I come in covered with the little critters. I am really distressed this morning as they seem to be everywhere -on the cat, sofa and even after a wash and tumble dry I found some alive on clothes. I want to get rid of the hens, the house and all my furniture.
Any less drastic solitions -will they go away from my house eventually?
Do I have to leave all clothes outside?
The cat?
What a horrible experience this is
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Hi Badger, I can understand how distressing to be finding them in YOUR house... I'd reccomend using frontline on the cats, remove all of the sofa cushions so that you can access all areas and go to your vets and ask for Nuvan Staykill (don't be tempted to use an over the counter type from a petstore, this stuff is so lethal that it can only be given by a vet).
Spray the entire house (you might need 2 cans at about £15 per tin if you have a big house, don't be tempted to skimp either) and anything that you want to keep alive, ie pets and yourselves to stay out of it for a whole afternoon.
When you come back give everything a good hoover over and clean your surfaces with anti bacterial wipes and hopefully you shouldn't have much of a problem, however for the one's in the infected house I'd follow everyone's advice in the posts above.
cleanliness and hygeine is the key so don't move the birds back into the infested house until you are 100% sure they're gone.
It is drastic, pricey for the Staykill and a lot of work but it's the only way to win against them I'm afraid :(
Welcome to the forums by the way :D
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flippin heck Badger, i know some people have problems getting rid of red mite, but jeeze i feel for you, hope you get sorted soon.
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thank you. Will try it. Cat fully restricted to areas I don't care too much about and very old sofa's that may end up in the tip! Have used stonghold on him and hope it does mites as well as fleas! Have moved then hen house to the end of the garden - well away from the house now -don't know why i did not think of doing before -at least we won't keep walking past it and picking up mites fleeing from the mite spray on the hen house.
Thanks again
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Found red mite this week in my hen house, i was aware of the problem when i had terrible itchy sculp after leaving the hen house, i knew at once what it was, i have now sprayed house twice with jeys fluied, i have also sprayed the house with a spray called Arpron, we use this on the horse, and it is also for use for red mite, so we also dipped the hens after spraying hen house, been in to look tonite only see a few mites,we live in spain so i dont know whats avilble out here for red mite
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Welcome to the forums TC :D
Last night I woke up at 3am !!! and couldn't get back to sleep so started thinking about dipping the hens, considering the mites can't swim and would drown but I didn't know how effective it would be...?
This then lead onto a strange dream about mutant chickens when I eventually did fall asleep so was a bit bizzarre!
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[/sizeTell you something, from what ive been reading this week, i can tell you this, red mites are the devil,just like the devil to pick on a wonderful creatureas the inocent hen, After dipping the hens in the arpon,the hens are keeping well clear of me this morning, ive now sprayed the hen house again this morning, with the arpon, dont know if this a good spray to use, i can only go by the price, its very expensive, and is a good product where horses are concerned, need now to investigate if i can buy anything else, ot to get ontop of this, i cant sleep at night, i hope ive caught the devil in time, and it wont affect my hens. :