[pandora]

I have a Silkie sitting on eggs. She's a good girl and done the job well before. This time she chose a very inconvenient place to sit, and it wasn't possible to persuade her to move earlier. Her eggs are due to hatch on Wed/Thurs this week. I have been keeping an eye on her closely to make sure she is OK, and she has been hopping off the nest regularly to eat and drink, but when I checked her nest this morning there were a couple of red mites on the eggs.

Now I am paranoid about red mites. The place she has chosen to sit is an old hen house that needed it's roof (felted in error is less knowledgable times!) replaced. It had a red mite infestation last year which I had thought was eradicated but was aware of the possibility of a re-infestation. I wasn't letting anything sleep in there and it was on my list of things to do (am 5 months pregnant so have a lot of things on my to-do list which also involve building an extension on my own house for human baby too! Hence the huge to-do list.) But she was adamant that was where she wanted to be, so I have been checking every day.

These mites have only appeared in the last 36 hrs, but I am well aware of the need to do something NOW! Do I;
1. Move her and the eggs to a better place tonight after dark, giving her a good dust of mite powder in the meantime?
2. Leave her where she is, having covered the place in mite powder and then move her as soon as all her chicks have hatched? (She realistically only has 4 days to go.)
3. None of the above, but something else?

I really don't want her spreading mites around so will quarantine her carefully, but am keen to make sure her eggs and chicks have the best chance without endangering her. Help!