[HAPPYCHICKENHOME]

Hi  Came to do the normal saturday morning chore of cleaning hen house, consists of removing the poop tray including shavings, taking out the two bits of railway sleeper they use to jump from the floor of the shed to their perch, sweep out hen house, its boarded
3\4 of the way up and the top foot is normal garden shed slats, once all cleaned off above bits sprayed with jeyes fluid, unfortunately this saturday morning removed the two bits of railway sleeper and noticed the dreaded mite, have been online and ordered some poultry shield which will come this week along with some Diatomacheous Earth, in the meantime I gave the shed a strong blast with the jeyes, which I am thinking I should do once it gets dark and the awful critters come out to play, maybe I would get more, I have normal louse powder that I had liberally spread about the shed, also made a paste of it to put it at the end of the perches, however last night about 11pm, went to check on my poor chickens and there the Red Mite Hell Army were marching over part of the shed, all I had left was some soapy water to spritz on them in the hope it might cut through there waxy exterior and kill more.  I do not necessarily want to spray the shed so soon with another strong solution of Jeyes (not that I felt the 1st blasting was very helpful) as you really need a good day of airing to let the smell fade before the chickens come home to roost - is there anything else I can do to help keep them at bay until the poultry shield comes?  I am seriously thinking of getting some cat frontline to do the chickens with, but, not sure whether I should frontline them before I can give the shed its blast of poultry shield!  All advice glady received to try and exterminate the awful mite.  Sorry its long winded, but will also be looking to get a corrugated roof made over the next week which is another hiding area I gather.   

[joyfull]

as the red mites live in the coop and not on the chickens front line wouldn't really help - it is good for scaly leg mites and lice though. Does your coop have a felted roof? if so rip that off and burn it - replace it with something like onduline or coraline. Until your poultry shield arrives all you can do is keep cleaning and squishing the little blighters. Do not put your wood shavings in your compost bin but burn them as red mites can live for many months without feeding and also if possible do not wash your coop out on the ground where it stands as you will just wash the blighters onto the ground and they will simply climb back up (think incy wincy spider scenario)

[HAPPYCHICKENHOME]

Hi - the coop is a 6 x 4 shed that we converted, I have a bad back and just cannot manage a smaller more traditional move around coop, which is why they perch is also about 2.5ft off the ground, hence the sleepers for them to do a double jump.  I will be sorting out a new roof, but, that will probably not be until next weekend at which point the roof will most definitely be burnt.  I did used to put some of the shavings in my composter but now just burn it all every week - the mites must be on the chickens because they lay their eggs in the garage in a couple of next boxes, not the nesting boxes we attached to the side of the shed when we adapted it as they move around the front and back gardens and decided to start laying in the garage, but the nest boxes when I check on saturday had mites in them, empited them cleaned them, sprayed them then when the next chicken went to lay her egg later in the day, emptied and checked the box and it had a cluster of mites at about her bottom height - is there anything else I can put on the chickens to help them if you do not think frontline will help?  I wanted to also ask if its worth getting a cheap bottle of coke and spraying that around outside the shed as I did read somewhere someone had done that as an extra because it takes out the waxy coat - will soapy water do the same?

[izzy]

Noticed the little devils in the house this morning .Done exactly as you and sent off for the spray and powder.Damn hot weather

[HAPPYCHICKENHOME]

Hi - does anyone know if in the meantime spraying with a very soapy solution inside and outside on the ground putting coke down will help keep the little blighters down for the next few days?   

[HAPPYCHICKENHOME]

Well I have sprayed with some sticky soap solution and its killed another batch, but cannot face going in later and seeing how bad it is, all I can do now is wait for the poultry shield and powder to arrive - have never cursed warm humid weather as much   

[HAPPYCHICKENHOME]

Hi - I have been away for two days and in that time I had put a plastic crate with a towel over it for them to jump up and down to their perch, there was a cluster about 12 inches across if i added all the small clusters together under the towel when I looked last night, my poultry shield and powder has arrived so have sprayed with a solution of about 2 water to 1 sheild and just been in with hot water, soap and scrubbing brush, hopefully putting new roof on at weekend time\weather permitting, in the meantime I feel it is a bad infestation, how often does anyone think I should spray without just spraying for sprayings sake to make me feel better? and is it appropriate to scrub all down with soap and water an hour or so after the initial spray with the shield?  Horrible blighters.....

[VickyW]

They say every 5 days so that you break the lifecycle of the mite. I found a small cluster under a perch on Sun so treated then, I've done it again today even though it was tempting not too as I couldn't see anything. Just waiting for the rain to stop so's I can paste the perches with DE and put bedding back.

[GrannieAnnie]

Poultryshield takes time to work.  about 2-3 days for it to break down the outer gel that surrounds the mites, so don't wash down with soapy water afterwards.

I wash down my coops with jeyes first, then once dry I poultryshield.  I use hemexsan rather than diatom, its the same stuff but cheaper.  So while the poultryshield is still damp, I spread hemexsan all around, especially the perches and nest boxes.

Brian and I did this yesterday, as we found red mite in our layers house again.  They weren't on the perches as usual, but under the nest boxes.

Brian has always told me I'm paranoid where mites are concerned as he never gets them running over him!  But I do!

So after a week, we will do it again as that is when the eggs hatch which have probably escaped the first spray of PS.

Sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks to get rid of them completely.  They are persistant little blighters!

[HAPPYCHICKENHOME]

Hi - Thanks for the replies, will take terry's advice also on what to use, will poultry shield until I definitely get the new roof materials and then onwards and upwards with the fight against those awful mites, skin just crawling thinking about them.  Good luck to anyone else fighting the fight at the minute

[mjd]

The only thing I have found that really works is old fashioned creosote, that was after I spent a fortune on everything else.

[Yorkie]

Old fashioned creosote has been banned for some years now, after it was found to be carcinogenic 

That product is only available to professionals, and only for use on previously treated wood.  Anything else is illegal and thus can't be condoned or encouraged by the forum.

[hillfooter]

The only thing I have found that really works is old fashioned creosote, that was after I spent a fortune on everything else.

There are very easy and cheap solutions which involve a simple spray with a residual insecticide. 

Ever wondered why new wooden houses never get Red Mite for a year or two?  Professional pressure treated wood has an insecticide in the preservative but most paint on preservatives for wood you buy at DIY centres are based on water repellents.  So reappling the preservative after a couple of years doesn't restore the proofing against insects which prevents Red Mite infestations.  Repeatedly washing the house with a detergent like Poultry shield just hastens the process of leaching out the original preservative.

HF

[ManicMum]

I think (and you'll notice I'm whispering, with my fingers crossed and touching wood) that we've beaten the red mites for the time being:

Carried coop (tongue & groove, but it was free with some chickens who needed a home) out of run, having bagged and binned the bedding. 
Steam-cleaned (domestic kind but powerful enough to kill parasites in all the crevices & coop dries so quickly) the inside & outside & all the bits that lift off or out. 
Painted the whole inside with DE & washing up liquid which dries on and keeps working.

Generous dusting of DE on the concrete blocks it stands on.

Repeated the next weekend - very little sign of beasties.

Note to self: lining floor tray with old paper feed sacks great for cleaning purposes, but acts as cosy hotel for red mite so don't do that again.

My kids have nicknamed the DE & washing up liquid mix "Tenacious Dirt" which sums it up nicely!

[bantam novice]

Good name for it 
It needs to be tenacious with those little beasties