Red (Black) mites

[MaureenHall]

As it was a nice day here (for a change) and Number 1 daughter and 2 of her daughters were going to put the new shed/coop up for me, I decided to give the coops their weekly "bottoming" and scrub a few days early. O M G!!!!!!!!! Took the perches out of Basils coop and HUGE red patches of mites on each end of both of them!! Honestly, if I'd seen it on anyone elses coop I'd have thought it hadn't been cleaned for months let alone treated! The ex-batts coop and perches were fine, no sign of mites in there. Anyway, both coops have been stripped out completely, scrubbed with ***** fluid, blow-torched on every surface, nook, cranny, join, screw head etc, drenched thoroughly with double strength red mite stuff, powdered all over with louse powder and all fresh new bedding put in. I can understand now why people are feeling ashamed that they've got an infestaion - I'm shocked and horrified with myself even though I know I'm good at looking after my girls and boys. So, PLEASE don't beat yourselves up about it, it happens to us all unfortunately.

By the way, the perches will be scrubbed with ***** fluid again in the morning and another liberal dosing of the red mite stuff each day till I go away, then go through the whole procedure again when I get back. My poor babies having to put up with all that lot!!

[di]

Oh Maureen,I feel you pain!!!{{{x}}}
We've only just eaten dinner having got in at 9:30 from an afternoon of mite blasting!
Dandelion was fine...not a sign of the critters back...yet
However,the big Girls had only laid four eggs,yesterday only four.
I've been so meticulous with their coop since the last lot & as well as a regular all over spray,zap the perches/nestbox far more...sometimes daily.
Went to take what I thought was a poop out of their nestbox,only for it to fall apart & crawl!!!double eek(cos I think I may run out of my five allowed scary smileys!)
Sprayed the coop from top to bottom with poultry shield & washed/soaked the floor with it.Followed by a scrub with ***** & finished with another spray.Then had the brainwave of unhinging the "table" their nestboxes sit on...triple wammy eeks with horns!!!
*yuk!...I just found one crawling on my boob!!!
Sorry!
Needless to say,zapped them,burnt their nestbox & found them a new one...dusted liberally with powder...just hoping they have a more comfortable night!I feel so bad for them.
Andi wonders if we can use a smoke bomb?(like you can get for greenhouses)...would it kill them & how long before it would be safe for the girls to go back in?
BTW...ten perfect eggs were found in their toy tyre!Not sure how old they are,but I shall do the float test before using them...poor little girls having to lay their eggs in an outside tyre!

[TPeers]

At least you have found the main hiding place for the little creeps.

Just keep going - it's a long haul

[MaureenHall]

I took all the perches out of the coops this morning and there's no signs at all of any nasties. I'm not going to be complacent though, they'll be getting another scrub and spray today.

I think that going over all the surfaces, nooks, crannies, joints etc with the blow torch helped enormously. It's only a little blow-torch, the one I use for scorching the tops of creme brulees

[RichmondHens]

None of you have roofing felt on your houses by any chance do you? It is the WORST thing for harbouring red mite. Just a thought. You could clean and clean the inside of the house, but if they are living in the roof, it won't make a scrap of difference.

By the way, I'm really sorry for all the trouble you are having with the mites. Hope you get rid soon.

[Hilary B]

If you have a house made of pieces of wood, filling all the 'joins' and crevices will risk rot getting into the stuff, and creating new (and harder to cope with) crevices. The creosote-type treatment is far better.
If you have a house with a roofing-felt 'top' the felt will need renewing from time to time anyway, so "creosote" heavily before putting the new layer on, alternatively stick it down all over with bitumen, like they do on flat house roofs. I can't imagine mites getting under there!
I would be inclined to use 'marine grade' plywood for a roof, apply boat varnish to the outside and 'creosote' inside (and to all the rest of the house).
When I had chooks, I never saw any sign of mites, but then mine were totally free range most of the time, and slept wherever they liked, often on some metal cages we had (previous owner of the big shed kept rabbits that way)!

[lizzylemon]

Quick up date for you all. Hope your own personal battles are coming along nicely....

I jet washed inside and outside the coop today. Very interesting for me was watching the outside when spraying inside. The mites that got blasted out were pretty numerous, so I will be filling inside and outside again, just because it makes sense to me.

The stuff I've been using, interestingly is the same, only stronger version of head lice killer. How do I know? Well I used the water from the hose to dilute the liquid in a sprayer, DD then put the hose in her mouth. FFS - some else was supposed to be watching over her!!!

Off to the local A&E (who were fab btw). I took the bottle and they checked out all the chemicals and yes, confirmed they are pretty nasty. Luckily I'd done the right thing by blasting her face and mouth with water and she didn't seem to ingest enough (any perhaps) to warrant keeping her in for obs. THANK GOODNESS

[chickadee]

Goodness me Lizzy, eek what a fright for you! Glad she's okay now though and no harm done
Tina
x

[di]

Oh Lizzy Hun!Pleased DD is OK!xxx

Life seems so easy for some don't it!....any consolation,yours seems pretty similar to mine!{{{x}}}

We'll get them bu@@ars!!!

[lizzylemon]

Life seems so easy for some don't it!....any consolation,yours seems pretty similar to mine!

I try very hard not to rock lifes boat but some times it doesn't matter how still or quite I keep, that bad luck tracks me down. I think it's because I've been hoovering spiders up just lately. Someone once told me it was bad luck to kill them, and I'm beginning to wonder if there's something in it after all

DD is fine today, had breakfast and mid day snooze, so everything normal.

Thanks for your kind words. {{{{}}}}}}

[tlck9]

Oh no

I know what red mite looks like now

Having found a load of the blighters on the perch......

No-where else and the boards look clean...so have dusted them, the house and removed the perch and thats going on the bonfire

but the perch was on the paper which I put in the run last night where I had the food kept, only to find the bag of food had little mites in it!

So i've rang the place this morning and told them

I've even used red mite powder since I had the ark, no problems....

blooming stuff stinks, i've had my head in the arc all morning and now all I can taste is red mite powder

Trouble in they were in the shed, where I ssat the dog this morning, so off to the vets to get him checked, going any way but still... he has had to have some strong hold just in case

Any more advice???

[di]

I really would get hold of some Poultry shield...or use one of the other methods people have suggested,to actually kill them.The mite powder is just something they don't much like,it doesn't kill them.If there were some on the perch,even though you can't see any others,chances are a few have gone into hiding elsewhere.(sorry!)
Sounds like maybe you've caught them early,so with a bit of luck & a few sprays,you'll be on top of them!
Out of interest,are you thinking you brought them in with the feed???It's interesting,as my dad works for a warehouse that used to store grain.He was telling me that when they had to either walk in it or handle it,he would be covered in mites!But I would have thought after all the processes of turning it into pellets/mash any mites would be eliminated???
No ideas about whether they attack dogs,but if you're going to the vets anyway,I'm sure they'll be able to tell you.

[tlck9]

Bizarre, I was having this conversation with the guy at the farm shop, he told me they do gets mites from time to time, if they catch them early they can stop it, but over the cause of a night, it can infest the whole pallett - to be honest this isnt the place I normally get my food from.

Having had the perch out yesterday prior to putting in the paper, it was clear. I dusted it then. There was no mistaking the perch this morning it was covered in them....

So i've not even bothered with it, binned it and the OH is making another this morning

My OH is at our normal farmers shop today, he's just rang as they dont have pultry shield so it may be an internet purchase

[tlck9]

My OH is at our normal farmers shop today, he's just rang as they dont have pultry shield so it may be an internet purchase

I annot find poultry sheild anywhere, so he has bought what they stock, apparently it is a spray foam type thing, he said its pink but the chucks cannot be near the spray in placed into the house for 30 minutes

[tlck9]

I think he has brought: Mite Kill Spray

Has anyone had any experience of this?