[Foxy]

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!

[KathyH]

lol! Love the animation!

[KathyH]

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.

[KathyH]

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:

[poultrygeist]

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  

[KathyH]

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:

[poultrygeist]

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  

[too many girls]

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.

[dawnsmith]

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.

[too many girls]

won't red mite powder kill lice too?

[dawnsmith]

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  :?

[poultrygeist]

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  

[Piglit's Pullets]

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  

[KathyH]

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:

[Foxy]

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/