[Kym503]

My earlier threads have asked for help with what I thought was red mite but now I'm not so sure that is what I've got.

On sunday the hens had what were obviously lice ( like little grains of sand and quite large.  I had also noticed a few tiny things crawling on me ..mites of some sort.  I cleaned everything with jeyes and poultry shield and have ordered Ficam W from Bowen adn Knight - they don't sell Millibex (?) to small time hen keepers now...

Anyweay - I also took the perch out of the coop and moved it out to the front garden as under cover of darkness I found what looked like hundreds of tiny white things crawling along it...to be honest I absolutely horrified at the numbers of them.  The hens had taken to roosting inteh green house and I can't say I blamed them after seeing that lot! 

However... I can't szee any red mite as seen in the various pics I've found on this site.  I've checked the shed with a torch and looked every where as well as all over the roosting perch.  Nothing!!

After finding the lice I put frontline on the hens on Sunday and the lice seem to have been dealt with (fingers crossed)

HOWEVER...what I have now is mites on the hens.  To give you a scale of teh problem I have just picked 3 up to inspect them for lice and I found about 100 miteas on my shirt and trousers.!!!!  They are definately living on the hens andnot the woodwork.  They are brown/gey in colour, smaller than a pin head and I cant make out if they have a separate head and body.  I have squashed some with the back of my nail and there is no blood smears when I do that.

Please can someone tell me what I/ the girls have!  What should I put on the hens other than frontline ?  I think I was quite generous withthe drops they had on Sunday... probably over did it to be honest - I used 3 applications/pipettes on 7 hens...

Health wise the girls seem fine...they are certainly laying ok and all seem happy but they can't be until I get this sorted.

Many thanks

Kym 

[joyfull]

Hi Kym have you read these pages?

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=5250.0

[Kym503]

Hi
Yes I've seen that link but what I've found isn't like any of the pictures.

I know this sounds awful but as I was looking at my laptop earlier one crawled across teh screen and I weas able to see it a bit clearer.  It appears to have feelers at the front but it's so small I'm not too sure.

I had another look at the perch I'd taken out this evening with a torch.  There are still the tiny white things crawling along it...and I mean really small but I also noticed about 3 or 4 (on a length of 4 foot wood) larger things that definately had a body head and feelers.  I could clearly see legs on them but they are bigger than the mites/things on the hens.

I've been googling all evening and can't find any decent pictures to assist.

[joyfull]

they sound like lice to me as opposed to mites.

[Kym503]

what is the difference between and mite and a lice and how should they be treated?  I dusted all mine with 'kill mite' powder tonight. 
Any idea why the Frontline didn't kill these little blighters?

Thank you

KYM

[orchardlady]

If you had given your hen house a good clean a few days ago would these be be now hatched eggs from mites? I know that when I've had mites I clean and Poultry Shield everything and then repeat again 3-5 days later to catch hatched eggs. You sound quite desperate. My heart goes out to you. Good luck and the Ficam W really should sort the problem as it does have a residual effect.

[Kym503]

The hen shed was scrubbed with jeyes ( old formula....), and poultry shield.  The perch removed and only a small pile of straw put down for them to lay on.  The hens haven't beenback in since to roost.  I can't believe that the sheer volumn of the little sods can be hatched since sunday... there were some around on Sunday but not this many.  If only I could identify what they are... can anyone point me to pictures.  I've ssearched these pages for 'mites' and can't find anythingn that looks like them.

Has anyone any idea if Ficam will work on these.  I've had to order a box of 10 sachets at £45 plus VAT plus postage but I did that thinking I was dealing with Red mite.  I know now that it definately isn't RM.  But will Ficam work???  It should arrive tomorrow (hopefully) but if it isn't going to work I'd rather return it and not have the additional cost.

[Snoop]

How about taking a sample of the pests to your local vets? They will have a microscope and probably be able to identify it and give you a recommendation on how to treat it.

[parson]

I'm with Joyful, sounds more like lice to me.

This is a pic of lice....

[Aunt Sally]

Northern Mile live on the birds and are very small.

frontline witt get them.

[Kym503]

Aunty ---- have you been on the sherry?!?!?  You've got your 'L' and 'T' mixed up!   

OK - an update.  I checked the girls again tonight after their dusting last night (They had a dose of frontline on Sunday).  I still can't see anything on them but the little sods are still around in great numbers.  I've checked their vents and no problems at that end with any of them.
 I do find them on my hands after I've run them through their feathers but only a few at a time.

HOWEVER tonight whilst checking them I REALISED I was leaning against the staging in the green house where they are currently living.  When I stepped back I was covered in the little things again at wiste height so now I'm convinced they are on the wood!!  However they are so small I cant see them....plus the colour of the wood doesn't help.

I had a box of FICAM W delivered today which i had ordered when I thought it was red mite.  I've ruled out red mite as I can't see any red ones and I've studied the pictures available on this site closely.

I think what I have is some sort of mite.  I put some on a white sheet of paper and borrowed a pair of glasses(I don't wear glasses but I can't make out with a naked eye what shape theyare!)  They look round with little feelers but don't have a separate head like the lice picture.

Anyway my question now is will the Ficam W work on these.  It's cost me nearly £60 for 10 sachets and I think I'm going to need 2 sachets - one for the greenhouse and another for the shed where they sleep (hopefully they will move back in soon!)

Also show I think aabout frontlineing them again in a few days...they had a dose on Sunday?

Many thanks - I beat the little sods.

Kym

[Aunt Sally]

Thank goodness for plastic coops.  I couldn't be doing with mite problems 

[mumsy]

Ficam w will eradicate them..........from personal experience these are RED MITE.  They are only red when they have been feeding, being, white, grey when hungry.  I would spray as soon as possible, everywhere!!  Please get rid of straw too, its hollow & they live inside it.  Hempcore or shavings would be better. Unfortunatley, I think once you have had red mite you can never get rid.....as they can lay dormant without feeding for up to 9 months in the soil.   If you have put anything from your coop on a compost you will have to bag up & take to tip.  I had a plastic composter & they lived happily in there too.  Sorry to sound harsh but I know exactly what you are going through..it took me a long time to get rid of the majority, Bowden & Knights advise to spray again after four weeks. 

[Kym503]

I'd figured they were some sort of mite but I've gone out at night with the torch and can't find the little red things anywhere.
I cleared the coop out at the weekend...removed all bedding and roosting bar.  Bagged it up carefully ready for burning.  The shed was done with old formula Jeyes followed by poultry shield adn the green house wsa pressure washed.  I'm going to re do the whole lot first thing saturday.

[hillfooter]

what is the difference between and mite and a lice and how should they be treated?  I dusted all mine with 'kill mite' powder tonight. 
Any idea why the Frontline didn't kill these little blighters?

Thank you

KYM

The reason is that what you are seeing is the larvae stage of the RM when they don't feed on your chickens blood so Frontline won't affect them until they do.  Here's a cut and paste about RM which explains the various stages of development.  Also there's another thread on RM going on currently you should read.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=61952.msg727070#msg727070


Facts about Red Mite
"The red chicken mite is a common external parasite of birds. Although very small it can be seen by the naked eye. Mites feed on blood or feathers, skin or scales of birds. Mites are generally regarded as pests but heavy infestations can result in poor health, reduced performance (egg laying or weight gain) or, in extreme cases death.
The poultry red mite is considered one of the most important ectoparasites affecting egg layers in all types of production systems across the whole of Europe. This species, Dermanyssus gallinae, is an obligate blood feeding mite that attacks the resting hens mainly during the night for a blood feed that typically lasts 1-2 hours. After feeding the mites return to their hiding places in cracks and crevices where they mate and deposit their eggs. As a result of this behaviour daytime inspection may not detect large populations of red mites.
At high infestation levels mites cause increased stress to the birds which leads to reduced egg production, anaemia and death. Mites have been implicated as vectors of several significant diseases of poultry including chicken pox virus, Newcastle virus and fowl typhoid. Poultry mites will bite mammals, including humans, causing painful skin irritation.
The appearance of the red mite is dependent on when they last fed. When recently fed they appear red and this colour goes through black to grey as the time since the last feed increases.
Life Cycle
Red mites only feed on birds in darkness and blood feed for 1-2 hours each night.
Red mites spend most of their life in cracks and crevices and this is where the female mite deposits its eggs.
The eggs of red mite are small (0.4mm x 0.25mm) oval and pearly white. Under warm conditions the eggs hatch in 2-3 days into 6-legged larvae.
Before the first feed the larvae moult into an 8-legged protonymph (usually within 24 hours of hatching).
Protonymphs start to feed on the roosting birds and moult to a deutonymph that continues to feed before moulting into an adult male or female.
Under favourable conditions a mite can complete a life cycle (egg to egg) in 7 days.
Populations can build up very rapidly within poultry houses.
Red mite can survive for up to 8 months without a blood meal and, when hidden within cracks, are very resistant to desiccation"

HF