[moomoos42]

I've been trying to fight an infestation in the chicken coop for about 6 weeks now 
Thought it was red mites as i found a small 'jam' smear in the roof of the nesting box.
The coop is wooden so i took out everything, washed it with poltury disinfectant, dried, dusted with mite powder, whole coop.
Then started to find tiny insects on my ribbed t-shirt when ever i went into coop so tried some smoke bombs. Did again 7 days later.
Thought we'd cracked it but just been to shut the Gals up and they're all outside on the perches (bad sign) came in and my t-shirt was infested.
 
Don't know what else to do. Been told by one friend they are bedbugs, another says chicken fleas.
All i know is they are sending me and the Gals nuts!!

[JaK]

Sounds like red mite to me. The sudden warmth wont of helped at all. Keep up with the cleaning routine every 5 or 6 days till it's under control.
I have the same problem with our big coop at the moment, never had red mite before. Seems a constant battle. Wish I could afford a plastic coop for them.

[moomoos42]

Thanks Jak. Lets hope it snows soon!!
Still got 2 smoke bombs so will do again, and again and .................

[ANHBUC]

Hope you get it sorted moomoos42.  Here are some photos of redmites you can compare with your infestation.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=97369.0

[moomoos42]

Definitely Red mite! This is what i found when i had another blitz today!!

[ANHBUC]

Yuk    Hope you get them under control soon.   

[mohs.ayaz]

Use poultry shield that works nicely, i had to use it for few weeks, after every time u use poultry shield and once its dry put vaseline on the end of all the perches. It'll keep them off.

[GREEN FINGERED NOT]

Hi  I found going in on a night and carrying out some massacering with my finger helped, but also if the weather was warm I used very soapy water every other day to wash the shed as my thoughts are they have a waxy back and washing up liquid fights grease.... it was a pain as after spending about 15 minutes squishing bugs along some of the surafaces each night you have to wash your clothes and have a shower as the bugs are just awful, I did also dust the edges of the perches with the dusting powder every night - my shed is wooden and it took about 3 weeks to get it under control - I do now check every few weeks when its dark by going in and shining it along the perches etc to see if they have come back, as yet not to my knowledge - its hard work but worth it...  good luck

[moomoos42]

Thank you all for your advice. They are sending the Gal's and me nuts!
sprayed again, thought i'd got them 2 nights ago but i lent into the coop last night and i was covered!! Rushed in, showered and boil washed cloths!!
So declared all out war hit them with smoke bomb, spray and dusting powder!
But there are still the odd one!!
What are they, aliens?!
At this point i feel like doing what next door have done and let the Gals sleep outside in the run, but we have foxes, they got another neighbours chickens a few weeks ago and i'd never forgive myself if anything happened to my Gals!
So any other ideas would be welcome, it's just going to be spray and dust every day until i get them all

[ANHBUC]

Do you have a shed or garage that you could house them in on a night until you get rid of all the red mites?  A large cardboard box with ventilation and bedding would do as a coop.

[Lastcast]

Have a look for the thread "Hillfooters Diatom Slurry" did the trick for me and many others. Before I applied it, I gave the coop a thorough clean & used a blowtorch on all cracks & likely hiding places. Fill in all said cracks with the slurry. I usually add some of the diatom powder to fresh bedding. I reapply it annually & they have not returned. Honestly it works, good luck.

[Helenaj]

Have a look for the thread "Hillfooters Diatom Slurry" did the trick for me and many others. Before I applied it, I gave the coop a thorough clean & used a blowtorch on all cracks & likely hiding places. Fill in all said cracks with the slurry. I usually add some of the diatom powder to fresh bedding. I reapply it annually & they have not returned. Honestly it works, good luck.

I totally agree - it's excellent. I sprayed all of my coop when we had the last brief hot spell and "whitewashed" it all with DE mixed with poultry shield and a dash of washing up liquid. Buy DE by the sack (18kg) - it's much cheaper. Did the walls with a radiator roller and the corners and perches with a brush. No problem now with mites and the coop is a very attractive pink colour inside!

[frenchliving]

We have a plastic "cushion type" box for our girls with a hole cut in for the door, this is a less expensive way of housing them and its so easy to keep clean. May be worth it to house them in for now until you get rid of you infestation, sounds horrid!

[henamoured]

Frenchliving Can you link to the boxes you refer to please?

Just noticed for the first time ever red mites in my coop!!

Have blitzed with ps, red mite concentrate and painted Hillfooter's slurry (he REALLY should copywright (patent?) that).

But as I've built a walk-in run around the coop I'm now wondering whether I can get it out to do pressure/steam wash at the weekend/nice next day.

-so long story short I think I might need some temporay housing until all is sorted. Ahhhhh.

[frenchliving]

We use something like this. You can jet wash them and they clip together so you can get in all the nooks & crannies.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paroh-Collection-AC1053-Lockable-Cushion/dp/B007RXRFBA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1347998198&sr=8-5

Think we paid about £30 each.