[rosie14]

Hi all I am queerying wether we have redmite. As you may or may not remember we have lost 2 young birds (under 1 year of age) in recent months. We lost them we believe due to worms (saw worm in poop after we lost the first bird) we treated the 2nd bird but it was too late and she died too

We were left with just our young Orpie so we got ourselves a Bluebell. Both are bright and well but there is a huge contrast in comb and wattles between the 2 birds who are just a month apart age wise. The new bird has huge wattle and comb which are vibrant and red in colour the Orpie's is tiny, pale and not at all healthy looking and probably never have been, it's only now we have a young fit bird to compare it to that it has become strikingly obvious. That or it's been getting paler.....due to redmite we wonder?? We wonder if this contributed to the other birds' ill health although like I say worms were present as we noted them in their poop during worming  , I became the poop investigating officer 

Anyway our hens are let out almost daily (sometimes all day) but are mainly kept in a 26 ish foot long run mostly covered (corrugated plastic, so it's light) run which is joined to our house one side and between a 6 foot solid pannelled fence and houses 4 HUGE open nesting boxes off of the floor covered mostly in double thickness towelling (so they can go wherever they like in the run when they want). The nesting boxes are deep and wide and can accommodate 2 big birds with ease. Our birds have always paired up in the boxes and have never used the perches provided! The bluebell did perch on the nesting boxes for a night or 2 but soon joined the Orpie!

Sorry for ramble but need to make our set up clear so you can advise! My hubby made this set up, we copied it from a pedigree and rare breeds breeder we used years ago after purchasing some stock and like the idea the hens could get 'up' etc as they wished. Clearly this set up ie not perching is not helping if we do indeed have redmite. Assuming we have it and I think we need to indeed assume this as we do NOT want to lose any more hens how are we best to treat this? It's not possile to remove the roofing felt, get to the back of the boxes etc without destroying what we have and can't afford to rebuild. We would like to get an eglu set up for ease of cleaning etc partly for the red mite situation and just general cleaning as our system is a bit of a pain! Has anyone got a plastic or such eglu type system they have invented without spending the small fortune on the real eglu? I ask as obviously we don't need the run aspect as we have it, the birds are very well protected and it's obviously totally covered at the far end of the run and this is more than adequate I say as last winter in the snow and bitter temps 2 out of 3 of our birds carried on laying as normal.... we just need the nest box part any creative ideas anyone? Thanks

[joyfull]

first of all you need to establish if you do have red-mite. Go out in the evening with a torch (a head torch is best as this leaves your hands free) and with some white paper slide it into any joints and crevices to see if it comes out with red on it. Also in the evening you may even see them crawling along (they are tiny though but often are found in clumps). If you do see some then gut your coop and burn all the bedding (on no account put it into the compost bin as red-mites can live for many months without food - they are grey without their feed of blood -and crawl back). Treat the inside of the coop with poultry shield and then a diatom slurry.
If you want a plastic coop such as an eglu (and they are very good) then look for a second hand one on e bay or pre-loved or even the Omlet forum where second hand ones are sometimes found. I have a chicken one and a rabbit one (the rabbit ones seem to be a lot cheaper and make great broody coops and may be fine for your two birds as they don't perch, but you will need to keep the bedding clean as they will also lay their eggs in there).
You can still get red-mite in plastic coops but they are easier to clean out and eradicate the blighters.
Another cheaper plastic coop is the doodlehouse which if you type their name into the search box on here you may find some photos of one that a member took of theirs 

[Tony H]

Hi blue bells have different shades and size of combs and look different its just the breed i have 15 chuks all mixed the only ones that look different are bluebells  :happy: have you notticed the way they run, still creases me up 

[kegs]

I don't know whether it helps but a plastic nest box was featured in Practical Poultry and it costs about £28

http://www.chickbox.co.uk/

[Sassy]

It's wise to rule out red mite but the difference in the look of combs/wattles is probably due to differing breeds and they can vary within a breed as well. The difference in colour may be due to one starting to get ready to lay and the other not getting ready. The one with the red comb getting ready. Whatever, good luck

[rosie14]

I don't know whether it helps but a plastic nest box was featured in Practical Poultry and it costs about £28

http://www.chickbox.co.uk/

thanks for this kegs, I saw this when I was frantically googling last night! It's a bit too open for what I'd like as they really in an open run essentially and as they don't roost require more cover but thankyou so much for the thought x

[rosie14]

Hi blue bells have different shades and size of combs and look different its just the breed i have 15 chuks all mixed the only ones that look different are bluebells  :happy: have you notticed the way they run, still creases me up 

thanks Tony H/Sassy, I had noticed the pale and small wattles and comb before but assumed it was her young age. I think you're prob. right as she is perky and eating well. The Bluebell has just come into lay before Christmas and 2 days ago we thought we had our first egg from the Orpie as we had a random speckled one a different size where as the Bluebells' egg is plain (and she's been laying every day). I just plain didn't consider that they'd be different between breeds in the heat of the moment 

[rosie14]

first of all you need to establish if you do have red-mite. Go out in the evening with a torch (a head torch is best as this leaves your hands free) and with some white paper slide it into any joints and crevices to see if it comes out with red on it. Also in the evening you may even see them crawling along (they are tiny though but often are found in clumps). If you do see some then gut your coop and burn all the bedding (on no account put it into the compost bin as red-mites can live for many months without food - they are grey without their feed of blood -and crawl back). Treat the inside of the coop with poultry shield and then a diatom slurry.
If you want a plastic coop such as an eglu (and they are very good) then look for a second hand one on e bay or pre-loved or even the Omlet forum where second hand ones are sometimes found. I have a chicken one and a rabbit one (the rabbit ones seem to be a lot cheaper and make great broody coops and may be fine for your two birds as they don't perch, but you will need to keep the bedding clean as they will also lay their eggs in there).
You can still get red-mite in plastic coops but they are easier to clean out and eradicate the blighters.
Another cheaper plastic coop is the doodlehouse which if you type their name into the search box on here you may find some photos of one that a member took of theirs 

Thanks Hillfooter even the small coop  (for 3 bantams) are still about £250 but they do look absolutely gorgeous, much prettier than an eglu! I looked at preloved, ebay etc last night and because eglu hold their money so well they are still too pricey for us for just 2 hens.

I convinced myself and then convinced my hubby we had them and we wanted to avoid another hen suffering, dying or potentially dead chicken on our hands. I admit I panicked without knowing the facts ie did we have them or not? Well now I guess we'll not know as we destroyed our old set up in favour of a newer version today. We spent hours late into the night googling home made eglu set ups and alternatives etc etc and my hubby came up with the idea of converting our spare water butt!!

We cleared the run completely of all their logs, perches and platforms and had a super duper tidy up and rake (we normally rake just weekly as they are in the garden for alot of the day free ranging) and then poo pick the nesting boxes and change bedding every few days or so. So, we have turned the water butt into a nesting/hen house for the 2 hens by cutting an entrance arch a little off of the ground at the bottom and covered in 2 towelling layers as before and placed it ona  crate off of the ground with brick steps. I've put a cardboard layer on the bottom and have covered deep with hay and popped the lid on. They've put themselves to bed as usual which is great and they look very cosy inside indeed. We have put new logs etc in the run for them too.

This set up will be very easy to clean. Can I ask a few questions?

Is is ok they are bedded down on hay and not straw?
What should we clean the butt/hen house! with?
And is there a risk of redmite from the fencing near to the new house? If so how do we treat the pannels?
My husband and I have also been discussing perches but felt a) they never used the last ones and b) it's colder atm and they have been used to 'going in to bed' it probably wasn't a good idea what are your thought on this?

thanks everyone for all your input x

[Sassy]

Hay is not advised as it contains spores and moulds which can be harmful to the chooks, also the chooks may eat it and this can cause a blockage. Many on here do not recommend using straw but I do use it in the nest box only.

[rosie14]

Hay is not advised as it contains spores and moulds which can be harmful to the chooks, also the chooks may eat it and this can cause a blockage. Many on here do not recommend using straw but I do use it in the nest box only.

thanks Sassy and for taking the time to reply, I didn't know that. We ran out of straw only last week and have an abundance of good quality hay here so put it to use. I will be getting some more dust extracted straw tommorrow  :blink:

My birds don't roost but instead always use the nest boxes, why is straw not recommended out of interest? My dad uses shredded paper in his nest boxes and on the floor of their hen mansion. Hmmm

[joyfull]

straw is hollow tubes and a fantastic hiding place for mites