Red (Black) mites

[lizzylemon]

I did a google for poultry shield and found this site - seems reasonable to me:

Treatments to remove Lice and red Mites from chickens and their housing

[tlck9]

does life with chickens get any easier???

cause i just want to cry!!!

[di]

You'll get on top of them!!!
Then it's a case of incorporating staying on top of them into your daily/weekly routine.
Ours get a quick clean out everyday...once you get into the swing of it,it really doesn't take long.I also now daily check for mites,if I see any zap them...and sometimes if I don't!
Then weekly their coops get a good clean out & wash and routinely sprayed,regardless of whether I think it needs it.
I think this is a particularly bad year for mite and I'm sure I'm not going to be 100% rid of them,but if I can keep their numbers down to an absolute minimum & try to keep them away from my girls,then I'll settle for that!Each time I find a new hiding place for them,I want to have a good cry...noticed some hiding under the floor of the coop door yesterday!
But I know I'm doing my best and also know the girls are far happier now,laying all their eggs in the nestbox & being able to roost in comfort...it seemed a never ending battle to get on top of them & I'm under no illusion that I can let my guard down in the battle...but now that it's part of my general routine,it is easier!
{{{x}}}

[frias]

Oh you poor thing tick9. I have sat and cried too when I lost 3 ex-batts in quick succession. Thought it was me and perhaps I ought to give up. However I've battled on and it does get easier. I'm almost fearful to say I haven't battled red mite yet (touch wood) but all these posts have made me paranoid. I now check the coop every night to see if I can see any and run a wet tissue along the perches to check for blood. The girls are getting used to my nocturnal visits and watch me with interest. OK so no red mite yet but don't get me started about tape worm.

[tlck9]

i'm thinking that a wooden arc was not a good idea.

i clean them out but how do people do this in the winter, being wooden i would imagine its hard to dry....

even this morning its been a nightmare to dry and even then I've had to leave it with the bare minimum in the nest box and the rest to dry

[chickadee]

Tlck9, I also have a wooden coop with felt roof! No way I can get rid of roof and replace with another covering
Although, I haven't seen any since I lit the sulphur candle Saturday night, apart from millions dead on the floor once the candle had gone out! I then sprayed once again everywhere with the poultry shield, then once dried I powdered the diatom everywhere too and on the girls. I am spraying again today due to any mite eggs hatching and every 3 days after for a while then once weekly.

Seriously thinking of getting the plastic garden store that Wendy on forum has though, although that will scupper any plans of me buying a auto pop hole opener for the bleak winter time! Plus, I also have to think of how I will keep it cooler in the summer months.
Tina
x

[tlck9]

Hi All

I am feeling more positive about tackling this problem....I spoke with Di and she has made me realise that although I have a problem, I have caught it in its early stages

I have re-powdered the arc, and left it clean of bedding, as I plan to spray again tonight just in case, then I can check the next few days and spray again on Thursday/Friday

Although popped up there this lunch to find one of the chucks had somehow got behind the pen and was stuck, i've no idea how she did this little trick...but....so now I need to replan the run and coup - I dont want to think if I hadnt done a check on them!

[Pumpkin Becki]

i'm thinking that a wooden arc was not a good idea.

i clean them out but how do people do this in the winter, being wooden i would imagine its hard to dry....

even this morning its been a nightmare to dry and even then I've had to leave it with the bare minimum in the nest box and the rest to dry

You'll find that this population explosion is due to the weather. Once the frosts start, the population will naturally drop anyway and you will probably hardly notice any in the ark at all. Then next year you'll be able to keep the numbers right down with your new regime.

Make sure you aren't over bedding your girls too, just some sheets of newspaper under the perch which you can remove daily and either burn or compost, and in the nest boxes just use wood shavings (not wood chip btw). If you are using hay or straw, the mites will live in the 'tubes' during the day so its not a good idea, and using too much bedding will make it hot in there at night - again perfect conditions for red mite to multiply, so don't put any shavings or hay under the perch area - your girls don't need it and the red mite love it!!

[Suechooks]

Seriously thinking of getting the plastic garden store that Wendy on forum has though, although that will scupper any plans of me buying a auto pop hole opener for the bleak winter time! Plus, I also have to think of how I will keep it cooler in the summer months.
Tina
x

Chickadee Be careful even if you get a plastic hut the mites will still come. They just have less places to hide and will stay on hens. They also get down the joins in plastic - I used a plastic carrying box instead of the wood nest box and the little b.ggers got down the holes where the plugs go to join top and bottom together! I've been reading on another forum about someone who has one of the well-known plastic coops and has had major problems because she thought the plastic wouldn't host them and also was poorly herself so missed checking for a couple of days and they were heaving under the roosting bars.
We've all just got to be meticulous in checking/spraying/treating huts and girls.

[tlck9]

Make sure you aren't over bedding your girls too, just some sheets of newspaper under the perch which you can remove daily and either burn or compost, and in the nest boxes just use wood shavings

This is good to know, as I put wood shavings on the floor of the arc, usually over paper. and some wood shavings and I'm not sure what its called but its like elephant grass, which the poultry supplier said was best....

So to summarise I need to remove the shavings i'm putting under the perches and just use it in the nest box...sounds cheaper and easier

I had another spray tonight and a quick puff of powder on each chuck before bed time

so fingers crossed

[di]

I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but re drying the wood...although it only absorbs the surface water,when I scrub out I use scrunched up newspaper to dry where I've been.Still needs a good airing to get totally dry but I find it helps things along.
In the win ter you're best off doing the cleaning first thing on a hopefully dry day so it gets more time to air & dry out.

[chickadee]

Ah thanks for that Sue
Also the other poster gave a good tip on no shavings under perches, I got rid of mine straight away yesterday after reading that, of course no need for it there anyway, just in nest box now
Tina
x

[Suechooks]

Yes absolutely! I'm on the case this morning. I've spread Diatom all over the floor and into corners and joins. I also spray every morning with Poultry Shield just around ends of perches and on the underside.

[tlck9]

well, I have now removed the vast majority of wood shavings from under the perches, just left a little to soak up anything, the paper just sticks the the wood if I dont.

And a bit where the two lay off perch and in the nest box

I've been powdering for 3 days and a quick spray tonight, I havent seen any more of the blighters since tuesday, so fingers crossed.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, i'll be giving it a clean again and wash out

[Bramble-Poultry]

Well like the rest of the chicken keeping population we also have mites - I think anyone who isn't batteling these at some point isn't looking for them- there is nothing you can do they are here no matter how clean you are.

Anyways - couldn;t get the normal poultry sheild yesterday (sold out) so brought Smite instead - well all I can say is WOW! excuse the pun but brought then crawling out of the woodwork and killed them stone dead instantly, been to the runs today and no sign of them.

Now obvioulsy I am not naive enough to think that it is now dealt with but it was refereshing not to have spent all day scrubbing runs to be met with as many again the following day - cos I know we've all been there.

However - having never used this product before I have no idea how it performs in the long term, and if it gets the mite eggs too. Going to leave them today now to see how it goes and clean them out again tomorrow after the auction, If I can bring it down to every other day the product was worth it, 15 runs is a lot to scrub every day!

anyone else have any experience of thsi product - perhaps you can give me advice onhow long it lasts!