Update on my red mite problem .....

Kym503 · « **on:** August 15, 2010, 12:06 »

Descided to start a new thread as th other one was getting rather long.

OK - yesterday the hen shed was sprayed completely with Ficam W. I let it dry, spread a thin layer of clean shavings, placed a small handful of new straw as a nest (my 5 hens like to lay in a corner and never really took to the nest boxes which we eventually removed). I put a sprinklin gof mite kill powder on the shavings and the little amount of straw.The green house - where I think the main infestation is based has now been taken out of use (all shelving will be removed and burnt next week and no hens are going anywhere ner it!!)The hens were not in it yesterday.

We also constructed a brand new set of perches using new timber. I put the hens to bed and 45 mins later went to check on them with a torch. I could immediately see red mite on the new perches. I can also still see a fewgrey mites crawling on the hens feathers. I certawinly don't have as many jumping on me which is a good thing!

This morning I removed the new perch andsprayed it with Ficam W as well. It's drying now and will be replaced tonight.

The hens were frontlined last Sunday- is it worth doing them again this week? In 4 days time I'm going to paint the diaton slury that HF sugessted but thisis going to be a mamoth job as they live in a converted shed. Not the best place I knowbut hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I know I will get this sorted but right now it feelslike an uphill struggle. I didn't expect to see so many on the new perch last night within 45 mins!! They must have jumped off the girls. Would you expect to see them???

Many thanks

Kym

henamoured · « **Reply #1 on:** August 15, 2010, 12:20 »

Definately frontline them again to catch the mite eggs - needs to be done within 7 days of last treatment or they'll start the whole lifecycle again!
If you can do the shed again at the same time all the better - then you're maximising your chances of at least starting with a clean slate so to speak. Good luck, I know it's such a time-consuming pain but if you keep at it you'll eventually win!

Kym503 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 15, 2010, 12:59 »

The shed was blasted with FIcam W yesterday so no need todo that again I hope.....

hillfooter · « **Reply #3 on:** August 15, 2010, 13:13 »

If you've done the Ficam thoroughly it should start to show some effect with a a week to 10 days or so as you've had a very bad infestation it will take some time to kill the successive generations of RM still to hatch. Around 8 days is the lifecycle so you will have 8 to 10days of unhatched mite to be exposed and in a shed I doubt it will be possible to expose them all in one application.

I'm affraid as far as housing is concerned many people learn the hard way though lack of experience. There's been a few threads on this site advocating using cheap sheds as an alternative to specialist designed houses and scoffing at the notion that chicken houses are anything more than just sheds and don't need much thought to convert. It's not until you have to deal with an outbreak you realise the problems and how quickly they can multiply out of of control in such housing.

Best of luck
HF

Kym503 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 15, 2010, 13:21 »

Thank you HF for your advice in this adn my other threads. It's been really helpful. One final question for today.... would you suggest that I re 'Frontline ' the hens again as I did them 7 days ago?

Many thanks

Kym

Snoop · « **Reply #5 on:** August 15, 2010, 13:40 »

Hello,
Can I jump in and say something that I hope won't be taken amiss? Your previous thread was very informative and, as someone following it in order to learn what I might need to do should I ever have the same problem, I personally think it would be better to stick to a single thread rather than start a new one. Continuing the same thread makes it easier for someone coming along later on with the same problem and doing a search on the site, as all the information will be in the same place, rather than leaving the person in mid-air, thinking that the previous thread simply came to an end.

Kym503 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 15, 2010, 13:50 »

Good point Snoop. I'll ppost a message at the end of theother thread advising people to move onto thisone..

Many thanks

Kym

hillfooter · « **Reply #7 on:** August 15, 2010, 15:12 »

Quote from: Kym503 on August 15, 2010, 13:21

Thank you HF for your advice in this adn my other threads. It's been really helpful. One final question for today.... would you suggest that I re 'Frontline ' the hens again as I did them 7 days ago?

Many thanks

Kym

Personally I've never used Frontline (which is not licensed for poultry) or Invermectin on chickens.

Frontline is claimed to work by external contact with parasites and longterm by being absorbed and re-excreted by an animals sweat glands which as chx don't sweat, as such, obviously wouldn't work. As its not licensed you should only administer it under the direction of a vet who is excercising his/her discretion. So having no experience and I'm not a vet I can't advise you on Frontline. There are issues of egg withdrawal but as it's not administered internally and claimed not to work in the blood stream might not be an issue but again only a vet could advise you for definite. For cats Frontline is advised to be used every 5 weeks for what it's worth. Maybe henarmoured has some better knowledge here but personnaly, having given them one application recently I'd not reapply without professional advice.

Invermectin "spot on" is specifically for bird use for pigeons and caged birds though I don't know about poultry. However if it's safe for these birds it will be for chickens though again the egg withdrawal is the issue (or table use if they are broilers). It probably won't be specified and a vet would need to advise. If there no offical period indicated this is likely to be a very cautious period. I think Invermectin works internally through the blood stream so will only kill blood sucking RM.
Regards
HF

Chookiechook · « **Reply #8 on:** August 15, 2010, 16:46 »

Hello..... just an observation..... If frontline works through the recipient sweating... how does it work on cats and dogs??? Do they sweat?? I didnt think so but now I am not so convinced

henamoured · « **Reply #9 on:** August 15, 2010, 19:20 »

I'm not really sure how it works for chx but from personal experience I know it does.
This is what it says on the poultrykeeper website: Frontline acts by direct contact with parasites, not via the bloodstream as many people will tell you. It comes in contact with the lice through a process called translocation where it gets into the oil glands and hair of your pet. Perhaps for chx it gets preened through the feathers? Although I've read that it's also effective for scaly leg mite, so not sure how it might spread to the legs?
My chx had lice and mites and they (the pests that is!) were all dead within 3 days. I repeated the dose on day 6 in order to catch any eggs. I don't think egg withdrawal is necessary but I think I did discard the chx eggs laid for 7 days after treatment.

lukasmum · « **Reply #10 on:** August 15, 2010, 21:51 »

I gave up with Poultry shield when I had an infestation in my main chook house.
I sprayed everything out with Jeyes and Dettol, and repeated the exercise every 3
days til I'd killed the lot of em. Such nasty critters, and SO difficult to get rid of!

I think it took 4 washes to finally nab em, and I'm still nipping out with a torch
to check for survivors.
All those products cost a fortune - not that I'd begrudge my darling girls - but I
still found jeyes and Dettol the most effective. Its just persistence - keep cleaning down
til you get the lot of em.

Good luck with your quest!

hillfooter · « **Reply #11 on:** August 15, 2010, 22:33 »

Quote from: henamoured on August 15, 2010, 19:20

I'm not really sure how it works for chx but from personal experience I know it does.
This is what it says on the poultrykeeper website: Frontline acts by direct contact with parasites, not via the bloodstream as many people will tell you. It comes in contact with the lice through a process called translocation where it gets into the oil glands and hair of your pet. Perhaps for chx it gets preened through the feathers? Although I've read that it's also effective for scaly leg mite, so not sure how it might spread to the legs?
My chx had lice and mites and they (the pests that is!) were all dead within 3 days. I repeated the dose on day 6 in order to catch any eggs. I don't think egg withdrawal is necessary but I think I did discard the chx eggs laid for 7 days after treatment.

I probably wrongly said sweat glands when it should have been oil glands as henarmoured says. It's not exactly well explained on the Frontline website how it is distributed over the animal but clearly it seems to work as vets prescribe it and many people report good results.
HF

hillfooter · « **Reply #12 on:** August 16, 2010, 12:22 »

Hi Kym,
Do you ever check your personal messages (PM)? Click on the message link on the welcome box above. You can't reply to the notification email in your email account by hitting reply you can only go via the chat site PM link. I ask as you haven't replied to the PM I sent.

Best regards
HF

Kym503 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 16, 2010, 13:45 »

Thanks HF _ have replied to message.

For those of you following my red mite saga here's the latest news.

Last night - second night with the new perches I only saw abot 3 or 4 red mite when I did my torch patrol just before midnight. A vast improvement on the previous night. It will all be cleaned out again tomorrow or Wednesday but hopefully things are getting better.

The greenhouse, where the main infestation appears to be is now totally out of bounds and next week all the shelving will be taken out and burnt. I'm not intending to use that again until the winter - it will be Ficam W'd before hand.

One hen, Geri, my oldest and orginal girl is looking a bit pale and quite. Her wattles seem a bit cold but she's eating and drinking OK. She was quite poorly about 8 weeks ago (nothing to do with mite) and was nursed back to health but as she's over 4 years old I guess things are taking their toil on her. She's receiving additional treats - I dig up a few worms for her when I get home and I've given her some tuna and chopped liver.
Hopefully she will be OK and I'm keeping an eye on her.

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Update on my red mite problem .....

Kym503

Update on my red mite problem .....

henamoured

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hillfooter

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