Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: GaryH on September 30, 2010, 22:42
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My Coop has an infestation of red mites.
I have regularly cleaned with a hose at high power, allowed to dry and then phu red Mite dust everywhere and really worked it in.
But the chickens still will not automatically go in the coop.
My girls go in the coop during the day to lay eggs no problem, its just at night, they just sit outside, but within the coop enclosure.
Unfortunately, I do not have the privilege of another coop to put them in, so unfortunately I have to put them in the coop. ( I am not happy at doing this and it makes me sad).
How to I get rid of these pesky things.
I watched a video on you tube and the man dismantled the coop and jet washed everything, then rubbed in everywhere "Diatom".
Is Diatom the same as red Mite dust.
What can I do.
How can I treat my girls.
Signed
A very sad parent.
:(
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Hi Gary. If you type in red mite in the search box at the top right of the screen you will find lots of helpful advice. I had a serious infestation this year (seems lots of us did)but once I used Ficam W it really did the trick and solved my problem once and for all!
Read the related articles especially thiose by Hillfooter.
Good luck
Kym
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I stripped the coop, hosed down, dried and put red mite dust everywhere.
On Sunday, I checked and only a little left which I exterminated.
However my girls used to go into the coop at night on their own, but since the red mite, they just sit outside, rather than go in.
How do I tell them that it should be all okay now to go back in.
Its very frustrating to force them into the coop at night.
The weird thing is that I have to force them into at night, but during the day, they go into no problem to lay. ??
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It's not wierd - the red mites come out at night to feed.
Did you also treat your coup with poultry shield?
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I did'nt use Poultry Shield inside, just dust.
I live in Bristol, where could I get shield from.
Thanks
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if your local poultry suppliers don't have it you can buy it on line :)
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just be careful gary when using red mite dust that you dont over load the coop with it, too much dust in the air will not be good for your girlies, poultry shield is far better i reckon and it dries in really quickly aswell. There was a topic on here posted by Hillfooter about making the diatom or wotever redmite dustpowder your using into a thick slurry, add abit of fairy liquid aswell and just paint it onto to your coop, into all the knooks and crannies, i did my coop, its stays on for ages, worth a try i reckon. Make sure you also treat your girls aswell, red mite dont live on the chickens but its worth treating them. Good luck, hope you get rid of them all. nicky
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You are wasting your time hosing the mite out, they can live for 3 months without feeding and that is plenty of time in which to crawl back into the coop which is exactly what they do.
Kill the mite where they are , dettol followed by diatom powder (not barrier red mite powder) cured my infestation last year and this year has been mite free , yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!! :D
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get a pressure sprayer I used a ronseal fence sprayer 20 quid from b & q mix up a really strong poultry shield solution and just soak it In All the cracks they will crawl out then squirt them again and then do it again and I Did this once a week and just lost the will to live they kept coming back so I bought a new coop :D if at first you don't suceed quit, give up and admit defeat then buy a new coop and pay more atention to preventative treatment like diatom slurry etc. good luck
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Dettol and Jeyes worked for me, and much easier to source than some products.
Good Luck, and I hope your girlies feel safe soon.
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I use a solution of poultry shield everytime I can out the hen house. Spray it into all the nooks and cranies, remove their perch and scrub it down with the same solution.
We had a huge red mite infestation in 2008, but haven't had a problem since.
It works by disolving the wax coating on the mites and their egg and so they dehydrate and DIE!!
I've had a problem buying it locally until recently and so got it from www.flytesofancy.co.uk, but you can buy it from other places too.
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Thanks for all your messages.
I spoke to a local bird farm and the person their said.....
Clean your coop thoroughly apart if possible and then treat it with normal creasote from B7 Q or liquid parafin > dry and then spinkle some red mite dust once every 4 weeks.
Has anyone done this and it has worked.
The bird farm representative seemed quite confident.
As usual thanks
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You are wasting your time hosing the mite out, they can live for 3 months without feeding and that is plenty of time in which to crawl back into the coop which is exactly what they do.
Kill the mite where they are , dettol followed by diatom powder (not barrier red mite powder) cured my infestation last year and this year has been mite free , yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!! :D
More like 38 weeks!
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38 weeks ??
4 weeks or 38 weeks. ??
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You are wasting your time hosing the mite out, they can live for 3 months without feeding and that is plenty of time in which to crawl back into the coop which is exactly what they do.
Kill the mite where they are , dettol followed by diatom powder (not barrier red mite powder) cured my infestation last year and this year has been mite free , yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!! :D
More like 38 weeks!
9.5 months, worse than i recalled. Imo 9.5 seconds is too long a lifespan for a redmite.
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Grannies right they can live longer than 3mths without feeding. Im sure im right in saying that creosote is banned now so they stuff selling in B and Q is probably not the powerful strong stuff, you would be probably wasting your time using the more diluted version. Gary just stick to what your doing, you will get on top of it, get some poultry shield, paint a slurry of diatom in the inside of your coop and just keep repeating, you will get there and definately dont hose them out, they will just crawl back in again. nickyx
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Yes, Nickyd, you're right about creosote. It's been banned for some time now for amateur use completely and can only be used by licensed professionals in limited specific circumstances, as it has carcinogenic effects.
I would agree with you that the product available now will be less strong and/or have a different active ingredient so I would stick with the other recommended approaches on this thread. :)