Aaaargh Mites!!!

[pdblake]

I'm itching all over from scrubbing the bloody things off the coop. Don't know where they came from, just appeared out of thin air. Thankfully the chooks don't seem too bothered by them, even though they're moulting.

I'll give the coop another scrub with bleachy water tomorrow. It's the best I can do until the weekend when I can get to the local BATA and get some mite powder.

I spotted a cluster of the damn things on the outside of the coop the other day but didn't know what they were. Oh well, you live and learn

[frias]

I found what I think were mites 2 weeks ago. I check the coop every night before I go to bed and saw just what looked like a couple of small dots moving on the perch. I squashed them and they looked bloody so next day after the girls had laid DH and I locked them out and steam cleaned the coop as someone (I forget who) advised on here. After that we sprayed with ***** fluid and left the coop open all day until bedtime. Haven't seen sight of anything since but followed up with second treatment again this week to get any stragglers. Hopefully that's it for this year but will keep checking. Never saw them last year at all and only used red mite powder. This year have been using Diatoms as well but I think it's been a bad year.