[kitkat]

the dreaded Red Mite?
     I've been keeping chooks now for only 14 months, and touch wood haven't suffered. I keep everything as clean as possible , the disinfectant i use, wouldn't kill them and i'm not using any preventatives at all, I check for them often .
    I s there anyone who's been keeping chooks a long time and NOT had them? Thanks.

[Aunt Sally]

Yes quite a few people don't get them.

Our member Poultrygeist has not had them in his wooden hen house I believe and I've never had them in my plastic one.

[kitkat]

Thanks Aunty, but whats the secret to it then?

[Aunt Sally]

No idea 

Good luck and excellent hygiene with a wooden house I would imagine.

Not generally a problem in plastic as there are very few places for them to hide and easy to get rid of if you do get them.

I've always used diatom liberally sprinkled around.

[Beano]

Hi Kitkat,
I have had our chickens for 13 months and keep looking for red mite. So far so good. The thing is, I know we have red mite in the garden and in the glasshouse. Have managed to kill the little blighters in the glasshouse. We have a wooden coup and there are plenty of spiders but they are welcome.

[too many girls]

there is a difference between red spider mite and red mite, i've had my chooks for over a year and so far we haven't had them, i'm paranoid about searching for them  as we have a lake in the field and lots of wild birds land on it, i don't use preventative measures except to puff a lot of red mite powder around after i've cleaned them out once a week.

[oddpaws]

so far so good with us too. Have had chickens for approx 18 months, in a wooden house. No sign of the little horrors yet! I do give it a good scrub out with some disenfectant every time i clean it out for them...just in case

[Vember]

I'm not saying anything, speaking too soon and all that, 4+ years bird keeping

[SarahJC]

Had my girls a year soon. They have had lice recently though  Fingers crossed I don't get the red beasties 

[hillfooter]

In the first 8 years I kept chickens we never had them but that was when we used Derris dust which is now unavailable due to a link to Parkinsons primarily.  In the 2 years following that we used Barrier RedMite spray and powder and have still had significant infestations despite also deep cleaning.  This year we are power hosing and spraying with Jeyes and Deosect but might try Poultry Shield as it gets good testamonials.  We've stopped using Barrier stuff as it wasn't proving effective and were going through it like there's no tommorrow and it's not cheap.  Now we're dusting and painting with
Diatom between cleans and although not gone they are much reduced and there's no massed colonies.

You'll be lucky to escape forever but with a good regular deep clean using detergent and a preventative like Diatom you should avoid a bad infestation.  Red Mite are a fact of life for birds don't get over concerned you can live with the odd one if you can avoid it getting out of control.  This year as last the weather's not helping.
Regards

[kitkat]

Thanks everyone, i'll just stay on the lookout, our summer so far has been really hot for weeks now so perhaps thats helping, as opposed to warm/ damp conditions. Think i'll find something here 'just in case'.