Are these crawly things redmite?

[smileyt]

Hello everyone, please could I have some advice?

When I opened the girls' house this morning to clear away their overnight 'doings' there were little red crawly things running about in there They were about the size of red spider mite, clearly visible to the naked eye and I could see their legs too. Are these the dreaded red mite? I had got the impression from other things I had read that they were much smaller and harder to see, but I have no experience of them so I thought I had better check with you all. I will clean their house with poultry shield as soon as I can -today I am laid up with a lurgy and have been in bed all day I have dusted with red mite powder as a temporary measure.

All three girls seem happy enough and there are no problems with them going to bed. Their feathers are starting to grow back too I spent some of yesterday hanging my tomato pots off the wall as the little *!**!@! were picking off my unripe tomatoes and eating them!

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[smileyt]

Oops, I didn't see the early post on mites, sorry if I am asking for the same information. But I'd still be grateful for a reply.

How on earth have they got mites (if they have) so soon? I've only had them for 5 or 6 weeks and they are in a brand new house in a covered run. I clean the house (the 'doings') every day and have never noticed the crawly things before. Surely if they chooks had come from the battery farm with mites I would have noticed before?

So many questions .......!

[Hashette]

Don't know what red mite looks like (thankfully) but as well as cleaning out thoroughly do you spray every surface of the coop with poultry shield once a week? I was told that's necessary to keep it away.

I'm not sure if what I'm doing is overkill or not, though. After all, how do commercial breeders who have hundreds of chooks manage to keep it at bay - they can't do what I'm doing on a huge scale

[RichmondHens]

If they were obviously visible and "running around" they rather sound like red spider mite, which is obviously not the same as red mite. I find red spider mite on the outside of several things at the moment. Red mite however like darkness and hide away. They are also not terribly fast moving. They clump together in a greyish mass but when squashed the blood comes out and a bloody smear is left on the perch or wherever you see them.

The key to keeping red mite at bay is to attack the cracks and crevices of the coop/hen house. The flat spaces will be clear. They hide in the joints between the wood so it's important to make sure the product you use really penetrates into all the cracks. Also the ends of perches where they join the walls of the hen house - a favourite place for the mites.

[smileyt]

If they were obviously visible and "running around" they rather sound like red spider mite, which is obviously not the same as red mite. I find red spider mite on the outside of several things at the moment. Red mite however like darkness and hide away. They are also not terribly fast moving. They clump together in a greyish mass but when squashed the blood comes out and a bloody smear is left on the perch or wherever you see them.

The key to keeping red mite at bay is to attack the cracks and crevices of the coop/hen house. The flat spaces will be clear. They hide in the joints between the wood so it's important to make sure the product you use really penetrates into all the cracks. Also the ends of perches where they join the walls of the hen house - a favourite place for the mites.

Thank you, Richmond Hens. That puts my mind at rest, although I will do what Hashette recommends and spray with poultry shield anyway. It is fine and sunny at the moment and the girls should have laid by now so if I clean the house now it should be dry by bedtime.