[mohs.ayaz]

Hi everyone, i have posted before about having red mite in my coops, i have been cleaning them with PS and dusting with DE powder but the powder does not seem to work, the perches had DE rubbed on them and mites were just walking over them, would it kill them and how long does it take.

I took the perches out and washed them with PS and still had DE powder on them and a day after red mites were still alive on them perches (still outside).

Does the poultry shield kill the mites within the day when it comes in contact with them?

This also made me think if i should try the hilfooter's slurry as i am not sure if it will kill the mites or not?

The numbers have gone down i would say!

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. :-)

[GrannieAnnie]

It takes time for these treatments to work in my experience, if you are really having trouble eradicating the mites, and you can seal the coop up well and keep the hens out for a few hours. 

Try a smoke bomb.  A couple of years ago we had a terrible infestation in our big 32ft long shed.  As Brian was rearing the turkeys in there, and I was on strike, they'd gone unnoticed.  There were millions of them!  (mites not turkeys!)

I bought some midi foggers and put three in there.  we sealed the house up and I lit the blue touch paper!  When I went round the back of the henhouse, there were millions of mites falling out through the tongue and groove.  They wriggled for a bit, but none ever got back up again!

fogger link

[Lastcast]

My recomendations would be :-

1) Empty & clean henhouse

2)If you can see the redmite and if you have one/are happy using one, get the blowtorch to them - instant death and a satisfying crackle as they're incinerated.

3)Spray with PS

4)Apply Diatom Slurry to all cracks & perches

5)Treat Hens

6)Add a light dusting off Diatom Powder to fresh bedding/nestboxes

[mohs.ayaz]

Thanks guys i will carry on with cleaning and using PS and DE slurry. I dont have blowtorch if they still there i'll try the smoke bomb. :-)

[Sassy]

The diatom works by drying the mites out which takes time! Diatom should only be used as part of an anti infestation programme which is what you are doing. I would try Grannie Annies bomb - good luck

[JaK]

We had an awful battle with red mite last year. We tried so many products and lots of elbow grease but never go rid of them. We've solved the problem by replacing the coop with a plastic one, the big spend was worth it as we were wasting so much money trying to get rid of the red mite.
Hope you can get on top of it.