Red (Black) mites

[petal]

red mites.. grits teeth... My wonderful OH dismantled the problem coop last night - power washed, disinfected and scrubbed it- all I have to do is creocote today. How long until the hens can go back in?

[petal]

Creocote done on first dismantled coop!!!! Die red mite die, neeahahahahahahahahahahahahaha............found lots of them behind the slidey door and drowned them......ooh that was a satisfying 2 hours I can tell you......

[baldrick]

well its creosoted inside and out, twice on the joins, 3 times in the perch bit and nest box. there are still a couple of tiny white ones trying to escape but lots of dead ones so ive removed the escapees with a creosotey brush. Hope to god thats done it as the girls are in the kennel, the dogs are in the house and my yard looks like a junk shop. ~Im not confident this has done it in view I can still see a few. An old guy in the village says he sprays his house with paraffin as it works better and gets in the cracks better and is less toxic.He refuses to put his girls in anything within 2 weeks of creosote.What do people think? He also uses lime the same way you peeps talk about diatoms. Isnt it the same? lime is limestone.. sea shell fossils, so is diatoms-or is it a different fossil? Im not happy about putting the girls back til I cant see any mites, but they cant stay in the kennel forever! How long can mites live off the bird?Think Ill do a spray when creosote dry, powder inside then spray daily instead of weekly. This has been horrible. TBH if I was richer id burn the thing and start again.

[petal]

so would I, did you dismantle it completely, thats what we are doing. No red mites left in ours- I am going to dust it with diatom inside before adding bedding and then after too for good measure! - I will leave it to air for a week first.

[baldrick]

cant dismantle unfortunately :-(

[frias]

Couldn't dismantle ours either. My OH did it with some old Creosote and Creocote and we left it a week before putting girls back. Weather was good and I was able to leave it open all week. It still stinks now though but girls prefer sleeping in it to the cat carry boxes they had to use while coop was drying. Funny thing is though, I've had to leave one cat box in the run as girls still prefer to lay in there than the nest box. I also gave girls a good spray with Frontline before returing to coop. (As advised by vet who also said no need to withdraw eggs.)

[Suechooks]

My vet ok's Frontline too. Mine have been sprayed and louse powdered and Diatomed within an inch of their lives!

[baldrick]

The girls are back in! Seem happy enough. They are not talking to me and are punishing me by only laying when they cant hold it any more. Devils!

[petal]

well done Baldrick - if only they were more grateful- creos/coting is a heck of a job!

[yorkshire sam]

While I use poultry shield for routine cleaning I find it is not that effective at getting rid of a bad infestation. It will eventually get rid of them but requires a lot of effort and repeating. When I had a bad infestation a pigeon fancier friend of mine suggested I use a product called Chlorcarb which is specially for red mites and kills them fast. Once mixed it can even be applied to the chucks themselves although I have not gone that far. I can though throughly recommend Chlorcarb (any good bird supplier will have it). Be careful though it is deadly to cats... but hey, when do cats and chickens mix. Be aware there is also another product call Chlorocarb (notice the extra 'o') totally useless as its an treatment for grass!

[tlck9]

How do I get rid of them from my com poster, I can't see them in the chicken coop, but they are rife in the com poster

[RichmondHens]

Are you sure they are red mite? It's still a bit early to be seeing them. They usually live very close to the hens so unless your composter is right up against the hen house I think it's unlikely to be red mite. If they really are red mite then move your composter as far away from the hen house as possible, to the other end of the garden if you can and use powder, spray or whatever method you usually use (don't know what your composter is made from).

[tlck9]

Are you sure they are red mite?

To be honest, no, but i'm 90% sure - what sorted it for me, is that I found lots of ittle red dots, sort of glossy eggs, and little spider things

I thought I had them in the shed, but what I'm seeing in the composter and what I;ve found in the garage/shed are different

its pretty hot in the composter! they have been moved away to the other side of the allotment as far from the coop/run as I can

I've sprayed and powdered the composter, but today I found them in my wormery.....little spider type things and what looks like eggs, small red glossy (for want of a description) small pearl drop type things)

They seem to have been transferred by chicken bedding - but I've checked and checked the coop and I cannot see anything - i've powdered regularly as one fo the chucks has some pretty big lice which seems to be constant!

Is anyone else like me, absolutely paranoid with anything small, bug like that moves

[RichmondHens]

TBH from your description it doesn't sound like red mite. Red mite is actually only red when they've just fed - and they would have to be very close to the hens to feed regularly - the rest of the time they are greyish black. They also produces a dust like residue that clings to the surfaces close to the colony which is mite droppings.

I'm no expert on plant/garden bugs but could it be red spider mite you are seeing? I am only familiar with the adult spider mites, don't know what the eggs look like but possibly a composter would be a good place for them to breed.

[Scarlet]

I'd agree with RH, I think it's too early for red mite.
Compost mites maybe? A Mite is a Mite is a Mite? Not Quite!