Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Shazzer on February 24, 2008, 21:50

Title: red mite
Post by: Shazzer on February 24, 2008, 21:50
How common is red mite?  I feel that I am pretty good at keeping my hen house clean, but I have red mite again.  I had them last Aug/sept and thought that I had dealt with it by jet washing their house and treating with diatom and then regulary checking and keeping house clean,.  Kids have been on half term so i have not been as vigulant (how do you spell check on here) as normal and now I have them again!  I,ve treated all my hens with some mite spray(as before)
Title: red mite
Post by: Shazzer on February 24, 2008, 21:52
Oh and how long can they survive away from hens as I have taken out the nest box and cleaned but not confident that they are not still lurking
Title: red mite
Post by: GrannieAnnie on February 24, 2008, 21:55
Can I answer the 2nd questions first Shazzer?  They reckon the mite can live in the ground and anywhere else away from chooks for about 38 weeks!!!!  

Nasty little things they are.  I would have thought it a bit cold for them to come back so soon, but do you have any trees around your hen house and run?  Apparently wild birds can bring them in, they live in the trees until a nice warm inviting hen walks past, or the branches of the tree are over the house which I think is what happened to us last summer, and Bob's your uncle, you've got em again.

And by the time you notice you've got them, there's thousands of the little blighters!!!!

Sorry you've got em again!
Title: red mite
Post by: Shazzer on February 24, 2008, 21:58
Yes I was just reading that they can survive for up to 8 months!  Our hen house is under a large beech (neighbours) but is fully enclosed.  Maybe some were lurking from before if they can survive that long.
Title: red mite
Post by: poultrygeist on February 24, 2008, 22:02
Quote from: "GrannieAnnie"

  Apparently wild birds can bring them in, they live in the trees until a nice warm inviting hen walks past, or the branches of the tree are over the house which I think is what happened to us last summer, and Bob's your uncle, you've got em again.

And by the time you notice you've got them, there's thousands of the little blighters!!!!


Oooo. That's bad news. Sorry to hijack your thread Shazzer. We've got trees everywhere and a hedge alongside the run with hundreds of birds arond. We're using powder but I'll start being more vigilant in looking for them.

I'll see what other advice you get. Always keen to learn.

Hope you can get rid quickly. We use Jeyes fluid to clean out but it needs time to dry and air out before the chooks can return.

Rob
Title: red mite
Post by: GrannieAnnie on February 24, 2008, 22:06
Get some poultry shield.  Jeyes is good, but very strong, so you really need to keep the chooks away if you used that until it was really dry, but with poultryshield you can still keep the chooks in the house.

When I did ours after the ex batts had gone.  I used Jeyes first, then dried the house out completely.  then used poultryshield early in the morning while the chooks were outside.  It was dry by the afternoon.
Title: red mite
Post by: Shazzer on February 24, 2008, 22:07
yes I washed everything out with jeyes, and even then when i looked at the nest box, that I had removed, they were all crawling  over it after hiding in the cracks
Title: red mite
Post by: Shazzer on February 24, 2008, 22:09
Is poultry sheild more effective that Jeyes and Diatom then?  The house is sprikled with diatom
Title: red mite
Post by: GrannieAnnie on February 24, 2008, 22:12
I've never used diatom, having a big henhouse, poultry shield was good as it came in a gallon bottle!!!

And it seems to have worked well.  I haven't seen a red mite since!
Title: red mite
Post by: poultrygeist on February 24, 2008, 22:15
Poultry Shield dissolves the wax coating on the mites and the eggs.

They Die  :twisted:

Have to get some. Do you mail order Annie ?

Or is there a local stockist ?

R
Title: red mite
Post by: Foxy on February 24, 2008, 22:25
This is what I use you can get it from here

http://www.solwayfeeders.com/productsdetail1.asp?STOCK_CODE=3293

or Poultry shield from here

http://www.regencypoultry.com/shoparea.asp?p=770ce6fc-1c44-4a66-a36c-915c0de1fe16

These are both good companies that would be very helpful if you gave them a call.
Title: red mite
Post by: GrannieAnnie on February 24, 2008, 22:46
arrrrrr Foxy!!!!  Another user of Solway Feeders!!!!!  They really are a good company aren't they?  Quick delivery and if ever I've hd a question, they don't make me feel an idiot to ask!!!

And the Poultryshield is similar price to what we paid.  And yes Rob, we got our Poultryshield online as the places around here don't sell it, but I think they can order it for you if you ask, but I just find it easier to get it delivered!