[rachelr]

Ok not sure if i need to post theis on the lottie page or here so i hope mods will understand.

After months of attempting to get rid of red mite in a 2nd hand badly made coop I have given up!!!!!!!!! However, I would like to re-use the wood to make border areas. What I want to know is would this be a problem with my chickens free ranging. At what point will the red mite leave the wood and will they land on my girls as they grubbed around.

ps my first instinct was to burn the wood but it seems such a waste. Especially as i placed the coop on top of two pallets to raise it and make it easier to clean. They are now infested with the bleeding mite.

All answers gratefully received

[joyfull]

If you want to reuse the wood Rachel you would be better to treat it first with poultry shield or Ficam w well away from your birds. The redmite can live for many months without feeding and also may end up on the wild bird population who could then bring the mites to chickens.

[Lloyd]

Painting the wood with Creocote (newly badged version of Creosote) knocks the mites dead on contact,   

[GrannieAnnie]

sorry, but it didn't when I tried it, and several other people have also said creocote doesn't kill the mites.

Also it is a creosote substitute, not a newly badged version.

[joyfull]

there are other things to try for redmite including this stuff which is very expensive but one bottle dilutes down to between 50 and 100 Lts depending on the dilution rate - so shop around:-

http://www.farmchem.co.uk/stingray-me-500ml-455-p.asp

if you are organic you can also buy predatory mites but I'm not keen on adding something that could possibly end up giving you another problem - besides red mites what else will they eat? There are several predatory mites - some eat the little red spider mites and some go on to eat other things but these people say these feed on red mite:-

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/shop/view/index.aspx/product/predator-mite-25-hen-or-less-81

personally I used to use poultry shield and DE and only got redmite when I became a little bit complacent and stopped the monthly treatment. Now I have plastic coops treating is so much easier to make sure they don't return.

[Lloyd]

sorry, but it didn't when I tried it, and several other people have also said creocote doesn't kill the mites.

Also it is a creosote substitute, not a newly badged version.

Forgive me, I should have qualified my answer.

Two years ago or so when I had a red mite infestation, I tried everything the vet suggested, and everything else I could as well. The infestation is a serious business and can lead to loss of birds. The old fella running the local farm shop told me to spray creosote into every nook and cranny and I did. I kept the birds out until it was all dry, (about 24 hours), and during that time literally thousands of mites crawled out of the woodwork and died on the wood. It was as if someone had spilled a bag of flor in there. We have been clear since, but in the last six weeks, two birds have a different version, scaley leg mite, which we have treated with Frontline. In the meantime however, I went back to the old guy in his store, and bought Creocote, which he assured me was thesame product. With some apprehension, I bought it, but before using I rang the customer helpline to checkit was safe and appropriate.

I was put through to the appropriate boffin, who was anxious to stress DO NOT USE THIS FOR CHICKENS because it was as he put it, a "nasty product." They have rebadged it as a TIMBER TREATMENT only, as it is good at killing things. The formula has not been changed, but the labels reflect thenew name, with no claims made on insect effectiveness, but now only as a timber treatment as that is what the clinical trials have proved. No more, no less.

He urged me to wear full ppe, and not admit the birds back for centuries. I explained that I have used it before for this purpose and he calmed down a bit, finally agreeing that it will kill every living thng nearby, butwhen its dry it will be safe again. That done, I locked the birds out and sprayed into every corner.

Hope this is helpful, GA.

[joyfull]

here is the legislation regarding the use of creosote:-

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1511/pdfs/uksi_20031511_en.pdf

[rachelr]

thanks for everyones replies sorry i never replied before but have been back in hospital. Was allowedout for weekend parole lol

[GrannieAnnie]

Oh Rachel, sorry you've been back in hospital!  How's things now?

Hi Lloyd, sorry, not trying to be a pain, but Creocote isn't the same product as creosote, because creosote was withdrawn from sale to the general public partly because of its carcinogenic properties.  If Creocote was the same thing, they wouldn't be selling it either.

I know how good the real stuff is because I used it for the same purposes 3-4 years ago.  I was told by one of our old members that I wouldn't see another mite in the shed.  He was right, as I painted the inside too, but then Muntjac told me not to paint the inside of the shed as the umes can kill the chickens too!  So we left the henhouse open for 2 weeks and my OH lined half way up the house with hardboard to make sure the chickens didn't peck at the wood either.

We still use the original stuff as our houses are already treated, but we are not allowed to extol its virtues on here. 

If you look on the Bartoline website, they say that even creosote substitute was banned in 2009, which is when they developed creocote as a timber preservative.

[Lloyd]

No worries, I stand corrected. The Bartoline man was very vague on the subject of infestation control, would only commit himself to saying that Creocote was "a very nasty product", and not to reintroduce the birds until it was very dry. He stressed that they will only market it for timber treatment, but also mentionned that they get a great deal of calls of this sort.
Having used Creosote a couple of years ago, we remain red mite free, and the new scaley leg is now dealt with by using Frontline Feline.