[Julias hens]

Hi have bought the diatom in a tub and painted one of my hen houses after cleaning and spraying with  ps first, how soon can the girls go back in to their house?  Also I have a little speckled bantam that has two week old chicks, will it be safe for them too? I have four more houses to go so would appreciate your time, thanks

[hillfooter]

Once it's dry it should be fine and, as really all it is a fairly inert mineral, it should be safe when wet however i wouldn't expose your chx to it until they are fully feathered.

HF

[Emmpanda]

I'd appreciate some advice too! I got redmite in my chicken house, so moved the chickens out. I then took the house apart and cleaned it thoroughly with boiling water and jayes fluid. It's a wooden house with loads of nooks and crannies though, so there's every chance I missed some mite hiding places.

I bought a *huge* sack of diatomaceous earth, and mixed it with water to make a paste. I then plastered the whole inside of the house with it really thoroughly - I filled every single nook and cranny with the diatom paste, so the whole inside of the house (ceiling included) is covered in a thick layer. When it dried I shook more powder onto the floor, and I mixed it with wood shavings to bed the nesting boxes.

I put the chickens back in the house this weekend. THEN, this morning, I had an egg covered in little tiny flecks of blood - which I take to be a sign of red mite. HOW CAN IT BE? HOW CAN THEY STILL BE LIVING WHEN THE WHOLE HOUSE IS COVERED TOP TO BOTTOM IN A THICK LAYER OF DIATOM?

I just can't bear this, is there a chance they can be immune to diatom? What on earth can I do?

[joyfull]

they will be the eggs that have hatched, I always advise people to use poultry shield weekly along with diatom until all the mites have gone.

[hillfooter]

I'd appreciate some advice too! I got redmite in my chicken house, so moved the chickens out. I then took the house apart and cleaned it thoroughly with boiling water and jayes fluid. It's a wooden house with loads of nooks and crannies though, so there's every chance I missed some mite hiding places.

I bought a *huge* sack of diatomaceous earth, and mixed it with water to make a paste. I then plastered the whole inside of the house with it really thoroughly - I filled every single nook and cranny with the diatom paste, so the whole inside of the house (ceiling included) is covered in a thick layer. When it dried I shook more powder onto the floor, and I mixed it with wood shavings to bed the nesting boxes.

I put the chickens back in the house this weekend. THEN, this morning, I had an egg covered in little tiny flecks of blood - which I take to be a sign of red mite. HOW CAN IT BE? HOW CAN THEY STILL BE LIVING WHEN THE WHOLE HOUSE IS COVERED TOP TO BOTTOM IN A THICK LAYER OF DIATOM?

I just can't bear this, is there a chance they can be immune to diatom? What on earth can I do?

It's a popular misconception that diamtomaceous earth (DE) to give it it's full moniker will "cure" an infestation of RM. It won't. DE should be used as a preventative to discourage a house becoming infested initially.  The theory is that the dehydrating quality of DE is not favoured by RM however once they have colonised a house tehre are several generations of RM deeply hiden in cracks and crevices waiting to hatch.  RM have 4 stages of for including the adult form we normally see it takjes some time to rid a house of an infestation as you need to zapp them over a long period using contact cleaning processes alone.

There are two approaches to getting rid of RM.

1 Deep cleaning which needs to be done repeatedly and frequently until youi have physically reduced their numbers to a non sustainable breeding colony.  This is hardwork tedious and expensive and needs to be continued in reduced form after they are gone or they will just reinfest.
2  Treat the house with a residual pesticide.  One application of a suitable insecticide can give a longterm RM free period of up to 118months though once a year is what I'd recommend.  Simple low labour and cheap.  It does however require specialist handling to ensure safe use.

Search these posts for details of both approaches and decide which you want to use.  Once the RM are gone (a few days in case 2) you can then use DE mixed as a slurry paint in a disinfectant (Vanodine V18) base and painted on.  This makes the house RM unfriendly and also helps to dry droppings and make it easier to just scrape roosts clean rather than washing everytime.  First though make your house as physically RM unfriendly as possible by reducing breeding sites and a big must is to GET RID of all roofing felt where RM always colonise.

If you want to do the cleaning method forget boiling water, Jeyes fluid proprietry cleaners which only work on contact, good old cheap detergent with some household disinfectant is more or as effective.
HF