[RubyR3d]

After a bad attack of red mite I emptied, sprayed nooks and crannies with poultry shield,jet washed,and made up a slurry of poultry shield and red mite powder. I waited till it was dry then sprinkled powder everywhere. I soaked the hens in a solution of flea shampoo for kittens and dried them. Then I dusted them as well. That's all fine buteven though I wore disposable zipped up decoraters overalls with a hood and plastic gloves and goggles I have managed to get some in my hair  . What do other ppl do. Please help

[Helenaj]

They don't normally live on a person, so apart from washing your hair thoroughly then getting someone to check the only other thing I can think of is to get lice treatment shampoo. Personally, thorough washing should do the trick.

[RubyR3d]

Thank you helenaj. The last thing I want is to bring them inside. It worried e a bit because I read they aim for the inside of your nose and ears where its warm    thanks for taking the time to reply. If I could just ask another as I cleaned them off the outside of the coop in hot sun ( so much for not liking sunlight) they dropped to the ground on soil. Can I use lime on the ground as I have read somewhere else to kill them. Thanks

[Helenaj]

Thank you helenaj. The last thing I want is to bring them inside. It worried e a bit because I read they aim for the inside of your nose and ears where its warm    thanks for taking the time to reply. If I could just ask another as I cleaned them off the outside of the coop in hot sun ( so much for not liking sunlight) they dropped to the ground on soil. Can I use lime on the ground as I have read somewhere else to kill them. Thanks

Sprinkly the area with red mite powder next time but the problem is that if you clean too near the coop they will just go back in there, so any cleaning of nest boxes etc; needs to be done a fair distance from the coop and any bedding disposed of a fair way from the coop or burned. It'll be too late now as they will have already dispersed.

 I tend to clean mine on a tarpaulin and paint the nest boxes with a slurry as well. that means you can turn the box without getting the slurry over the floor and also you won't get any earth attached to the nest box. After cleaning, I give the tarpaulin a good spray both sides with  poultry shield and then jet wash it.

I don't use red mite powder. I buy Diatomaceous Earth by the sackful - it's much cheaper than redmite powder and is exactly the same thing. I use an old redmite powder carton as a sprinkler and just refill it when necessary.

You can get a 5 kilo sack for about £20. Make sure it's the one that can be used for catering and not the industrial one because that is certainly not for domestic use as it's carcinogenic.

Hope this helps!

[RubyR3d]

Thanks. I usually shovel it straight into a rubber trug but obviously the final sweepings tend to fall to the floor. I will order some de of internet. I guess that's where you get it from. Will it work without red mite powder then. Sorry to ask so much but I really want to get it right as there were zillions on the outside when I first saw them. Already there aren't that many now. I'm spraying and treating daily atm.

[grinling]

Can you protect the run area from wild birds?

[grinling]

I use Hillfooters slurry which is easy to use.

[trinamc]

I order the de earth off a well known auction site on Sunday it arrived today 12.00 for 5kilo with free postage

[Helenaj]

I order the de earth off a well known auction site on Sunday it arrived today 12.00 for 5kilo with free postage

snap!

With regards the slurry, it's best to mix the DE with Poultry shield and give everything inside the coop a good pasting with it, filling all of the nooks and crannies. mix it to the consistency of thick whitewash, add a squirt of washing up liquid as it makes it easier to brush on. It's a mucky job, but well worth it and won't need repreating for at least a couple of months, so you won't need to spray as you did. the masses you saw outside the shed are the ones that have done a runner to get away from the disinfectant. The slurry mix will act as a lasting preventative becuase when dry, they walk over it to get back into the coop and the dE basically cuts them to pieces! You can use the powder dry butit's very dusty and is not good for your birds or you to breathe in.

[barley]

the trick with red mite is prevention

about 5 years ago we had an awful infestation 

I used poultry shield and had to treat it several times to get on top of them - I now spray the box and all nooks and crannies every 2 weeks - even in the winter 

we have never had them since - they are probably stopped before they even breed with regular spraying

try adding mite powder to dust baths as an extra treatment .

warm weather unfortunately is ideal breeding for red mite

[RubyR3d]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I felt dreadful that although I treated them with frontline every 3months I had such an infestation. I was actually made aware of the problem by seeing thousands of them on the outside before I disinfected that's why I was so concerned. Id always read that they weren't around till nightime. The slurry has helped but I also just have paper inside atm dusted with red mite powder so I can burn it every day. Felt sick id done this to the girls but hopefully daily treatment atm will keep on top of things. Thank you all again you've put my mind at rest.

[kopperdrake]

I absolutely hate red mites. After two years on the trot with bad infestations we eventually moved to plastic coops - ruddy expensive but they're really been worth it. Having said that, we did still get a small infestation in one, but a quick spray woth poultry shield and it was much easier to clean.

With our wooden sheds what we did was this:

Moved the shed to somwhere away from where your chickens normally live - we put it on the drive. I then stripped it down into its smallest components - if that's possible. I sprayed everywhere I could with Poultry Shield - left it to dry overnight. Next day did the same again, left it to dry overnight. I then brushed Diatomaceous Earth into every nook and cranny - paying special attention to the actual perches. It was like rubbing flour into a rolling pin, get it right into the ends. For me that has been the way to go with wood.

Every clean out the floor and nest box gets a sprinkling of DE, every few months the chooks get it powdered all over them - we look like big grey eedjits once we've done them all - the entire household is red mite free then! DE has been the saving grace for red mites and lice - forget the lice sprays and expensive chemicals. Two good dousings of DE on a chook with lice, once a week for a fortnight, has cured ours of them. We also sprinkle it in their favourite dust baths during the summer. Only real downside is that some of our Light Sussex tend to look grubbier than they could look - but they're also a darned sight happier

You can't stop red mite - wild birds bring them in, they always come back. Off the bird they can live for 6-8 months, so if it's possible, moving your chooks to another site helps.

Ah - one other thing we've done is to make a perch and attach it to the coop floor with long bolts/screws, so that only the screws are touching any coop wood - the ends of the perch are free-standing. This way any red mite has to crawl up the bolts. We then cover the bolts with vaseline or something else sticky that you can wash off - this way the red mites get stuck in the vaseline, and never get to your precious chooks - giving them a well-earned sleep