Aaargh red mite!

[Evie91]

In my second year of chicken keeping and now have red mite!
I'm gutted. I keep the coop clean - poo pick daily, no over crowding, change bedding regularly (shavings on the floor, straw in nest boxes).
We've had some chicks this year and about the same time the mite arrived.
I cleared out the whole coop, washed with gallons of water and jeyes fluid ( literally threw buckets and buckets of water in with jeyes fluid, scrubbed the walls, sprayed In the corners)about a month ago.

Treated all chucks with red mite powder and threw whole tub around on the bedding, nest boxes, perches.

Each morning when I poo pick I've really fluffed around in the bedding and found one or two mites crawling on me, but no obvious clusters, just the odd one or two.

So, today decided to do whole thing again - gallons of water, jeyes fluid, scrubbing and spraying, dusted the chooks, added small amount of cleaning bedding, dusted this with powder. When I sprayed the slats (wooden coop), mites seemed to come out of the cracks.
Went in this evening with a torch and saw a few mites crawling on the walls!!!! Aaargh, what can I do?? Any help much appreciated.
Going to spray jeyes fluid, twice a day every day (when chicks are out and about), but what else can I do??
So upset, I love my chickens and it's horrible to think they are being eaten alive at night!

 

[teacups]

Everyone gets red mite - almost impossible to avoid. Once you have a really bad infestation it's hard to get rid of, and takes quite a while. Keep going!

I use Poultryshield as an awful lot of people recommended it. It's good stuff, but also needs monthly repeat treatments to begin to get rid of an infestation like yours. Those pesky things just breed explosively. You really have to soak the coop and get into the cracks where they hide. You spray it at dusk and put the chickens back in - then the mite crawl out of their hideyholes to get at the chickens, come into contact with it and that gets them. Also use diatomaceous earth as backup help.

There will be other ways of getting them too - I can't compare with Jeyes fluid as never used that, just know the Poultryshield seems to have an effect.

 

[YasandCrystal]

Ditto Teacups reply. I have it. I have bought Red Stop to add to their water, it is reported to work but you must ensure that they only use the water source with the Red Stop in it. It's herbal and apparently the bites don't like the taste it gives the chickens blood.
The colder weather will see the red mite off.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

There are red mite in the earth at this time of year and they are difficult to get rid of.

My chickens live in a plastic arc which the mites find almost impossible to live in and the ducks live in the wooden house. Ducks tend not to get it because their feathers are so thick the mite can't get in.

The best way to treat a plastic house is with a jet washer, blast all the crevices, then disinfect with a specific poultry cleaner, dry thoroughly and put down Diatom powder. If it's wooden just paint every single bit of it with creosote, the mites live in crevices often in the roof. It is the only thing that will kill them, stinks and you will have to give it 24 hrs to dry.

Take out any straw you are using as mites thrive in it. Stick to wood shavings.

Red Stop is very good, the SPR shop sell it on the net as do Amazon.
Farmyard louse powder in the blue tin from Countrywide is about the cheapest best powder to use but Diatom in the house will work better. It is very expensive though.

If you get mites on you put all clothing in the machine and have a shower to get rid of them. They will bite you and are very irritating and you don't want to take new ones back up to the chickens. They have a 7 day breeding cycle so you need to keep on top of your cleaning regime so they can't produce more.

They are a complete pain and this year has been ideal for them so don't feel bad you have them again, we all get them. You just have to be vigilant and make sure the hens are not the perfect host. As Y&C says the cold weather will see them off.

 

[D66]

You can use a greenhouse sulphur candle in the hen house to kill mites -take the hens out first! and keep them elsewhere for 24 hours. Diatom powder is excellent, fluff it round the nest boxes. As someone else said, don't use straw, the mites live in the hollow stems.

 

[teacups]

I hadn't heard about the Red Stop - will look at that, thanks.
I have always been told they don't bite humans! If you get any on you they are irritating, though. I always assume that if you get any on you, or you can see them, it must be pretty bad.
Cold weather will not kill them all off necessarily as they go deeper into any cracks- maybe in a plastic coop it will? - but it definitely stops them breeding so quickly. Agree with others, it has been a bad year for them - lots of nice warm weather.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

take your henhouse apart, creosote (real creosote-creocote is not as good) them (leave for a week before putting hens back in). Its the only thing thats effective and I've never had a big problem. if you have a wood burner/fire then wood ash (not coal) is great for putting on bottom of coop and in their dust bathing areas-dries things out, neutralises smells and mites of all kinds don't like it. we all get them, its not a cleanliness thing.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

OMG I'm just itching reading all this................. had a big problem here with Red Mite back in the earlier "summer"; and they've all re-appeared again now When I went to collect the eggs after dark a few nights ago, got in the house and realised I was itching, and saw some crawling over my hand!!! Eeeuuuugghhhh!!! Horrid horrid critters.

You can get Ivermectin (same stuff as wormers) smoke bombs which you light and put in the chooks house: I used them the last time we had a problem - but you do need to repeat the process after 7 days to catch the hatching cycle.

Apparently Avon Skin So Soft keeps them off you? If you spray yourself before doing anything in the chooks house?

Cleaning out the house is not a nice experience: the other day I was so desperate for protective wear that I used a zip-up "smalls" laundry bag (big enough for one's head, obviously ) and put that over my head to keep the mites away from my hair & face, plus used rubber gloves which came up the arm very well. Plus nylon as opposed to cotton protective overalls as they don't seem to be able to grip onto the nylon like they do with cotton.

 

[Paint Me Proud]

I highly recommend Duramitex.

They used to make a liquid that you mixed yourself but it was so potent they had to withdraw it from sale eventually. The new stuff is still really really good though.
Luckily i still have half a bottle of the lethal stuff, lol!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

There are some really useful tips on this thread. Hadn't heard about the smoke bombs or the Avon Skin so Soft before.

Is Duramitex a disinfectant?

 

[Nettle123]

take your henhouse apart, creosote (real creosote-creocote is not as good) them (leave for a week before putting hens back in). Its the only thing thats effective and I've never had a big problem. if you have a wood burner/fire then wood ash (not coal) is great for putting on bottom of coop and in their dust bathing areas-dries things out, neutralises smells and mites of all kinds don't like it. we all get them, its not a cleanliness thing.

This works. I creosote our pens inside and out once a year. I no longer use shavings or straw. The pens are lined with newspaper or feedbags well sprinkled with Diatom from ebay The perch ends are all dipped in it too.

There is also a product called Ficam W which is supposed to be very effective but I have never tried it.

 

[Clodagh]

Agree with Nettle. I creosote every 2 years but never use any bedding, just newspaper. The bedding in the nest boxes is changed weekly and a good puff of any old rubbish red mite powder put in first.

 

[Kylara]

Hydrogen peroxide works well as it kills them. They live in the cracks in the wood. The H2O2 sprayed on the wood works very well. Also steam cleaner and/or blow torching works very well by killing eggs as well as live ones. You need to do it everyday for about a week to break the cycle.

DE is good to put in and over everything including chickens on a regular basis to keep on top of it

 

[Paint Me Proud]

Is Duramitex a disinfectant?

No it's an anti-mite treatment, very effective against red mite.

I can also recommend Diatomaceaous earth (Diatom). It's a powder that you can use all around your coop and on the birds, it works by damaging the mites outer skin when they crawl through it and the mites die of dehydration. You can buy it in big tubs and just chuck it everywhere.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Thanks I will look out for the Duramitex.

Agree Diatom is very good.

Tomorrow's job is to jet wash the arc and reapply the Diatom and bath the hens in it. It just seems never ending at the moment but better than they get bitten.

 

[Paint Me Proud]

Thanks I will look out for the Duramitex.

Agree Diatom is very good.

Tomorrow's job is to jet wash the arc and reapply the Diatom and bath the hens in it. It just seems never ending at the moment but better than they get bitten.

Yes important to keep on top of it. I lost a hen once to a massive red mite infestation that was undetectable during the day so went un-noticed sadly until it was too late. Luckily my duramitex put instant pay to the little blighters when i found them!

 

[Evie91]

Thanks for all of the replies, some fantastic suggestions on here. This morning I sprayed the coop again with really strong jeyes fluid mix. Meant to do it twice but didn't have the time.
I've bought poultry shield from countrywide and some more red mite powder.
Going to wash out pen tomorrow with poultry shield. I dusted the hens with red mite powder last night, but not sure how often I should do this?
I dusted the bedding too - the chicks sleep on the floor. I was using shavings, then changed to straw as thought shavings were perhaps harbouring them. Will change back again now after reading they can live in the shafts of straw!
Hopefully have a free weekend next weekend, so will creosote then - hopefully the weather stays nice.
Will also look at getting some of the diatemous (sp?) earth.
They are such horrible critters! Couldn't sleep last night for thinking of them sucking the hens blood as they try to sleep! Do they live outside too, or just in the coop?
Thanks again for a great response - good to know I'm not alone!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

creosote very soon if you're going to do it, as soon as the temp drops a bit and humidity rises, it takes forever to dry. I use bedding (equinox), have tried not but didn't like it but another option is a lino cutoff under the perches, bring out once a week, scrape and disinfect, sprinkle with ash/stalosan f. A friend uses paper feed sacks split open and weighed down with stones and she just burns them every week-I don't get that many feed sacks though. creosote is not nice stuff but it saves me the faffing with endless red mite stuff.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I have spent all day cleaning, jet washing, disinfecting, drying, diatoming and Red Stopping the water.

I am officially pooped, I generally keep on top of hen husbandry so this was a mega spring clean in September because the mite have been so active this year.

Hen houses 2 Red Mite 0
Duck house 1 Red Mite 0

Plenty of the little blighters in the soil but not one in the houses.

 

[Evie91]

I washed the house with jeyes fluid on Friday. Today squirted all over with poultry shield, then brushed off as per instructions. Have dusted the floor with red mite powder (going to get some diatom and more poultry shield in the week and some red stop). Have put old feed sacks under the perch and newspaper in the nest boxes for now.
Will do poultry shield again next Friday - if that's not finished them off will creosote on Sunday.
Just gone in and dusted chickens now - couldn't see any mite but TBF didn't look for that long as didn't want to upset the chooks too much.
Feel so sorry for them - they used to have a deep shavings bed to snuggle in and straw filled nest boxes. Hoping I can go back to that once on top of the problem.

Well done Lindylouanne - it's a really horrible job isn't it!

 

[meandmrblue]

I use nettex total mite spray ready to use.it worked for mine.spray everywhere in the hut.one chicken who had it bad on her legs started to walk properly again with only one use in the hut,Smells nice too

 

[MotherOfChickens]

mite on the legs is scaly leg mite, not poultry red mite-different problems in that red mite can remain in the coop dormant for years and lives there when not feeding on the hens at night, scaly leg mite can exist in the environment for about a month in dropped scales and lives within the scales on the legs so its these that must be treated as well.
If your chicken had scaly leg so bad she was struggling to walk, it must have got very bad and I would expect her to need a decent treatment repeated weekly for several weeks to be on the safe side.benzyl benzoate, liquid parafin or ivermectin from the vet would be better.

 

[Nettle123]

I have only had scaly leg a couple of times but a thick layer of Vaseline rubbed in every couple of days for a couple of weeks worked a treat. I think it must suffocate the mites and it softens the scales too. You can use ivermectin sold on ebay for pigeons but do not eat the eggs if you go down that route. It used to be recommended that you dunk the legs in surgical spirit but I think that would sting hence preferring the Vaseline treatment. A Friend does the same but uses sudocreme.

Am I the only one that likes the smell of creosote?, lol

 

[meandmrblue]

She doesn't need treatment as she is fine now may have been something else going on,have had hens with scales leg and treat them with liquid paraffin.but the mites definetly have gone with nettex

 

[happyclappy]

I wish I had bought plastic coops when I had hens. I did get red Mite one year and treated with one of those Bomb things and then regularly dusted the coop with Diatumous powder.

 

[Evie91]

Quick update - think I've finally got on top of the red mite problem! Thanks so much for all suggestions - I washed out two weeks running with poultry shield. The second week I also used diamtenous earth. Used sacks under the perch - first week - loads of mites when I lifted out the sacks (burned them).
Second week after using the earth as well, just a couple of small clusters of mites where I'd missed putting earth - so spent ages rubbing it in to perch, walls, roof and sprinkling all over.
This week clear out again and found no mites at all! Swept out, dusted again with powder - using sacks again this week. If still clear next week I'm going to put shavings back in.
Thanks to all who gave such good advice

 

[MotherOfChickens]

good news I had some in my big shed this year-creosoted the little beggars and am just putting on new roof before moving them back in.

 

[Evie91]

I was going to creosote if all else failed - put it off as had nowhere else to put them whilst it dried. Think I'm on top of it now - fingers crossed.
Will def creosote next summer as a preventative measure - hope to never see a mite again, horrible creatures!

 

[Nettle123]

Great result. I bet your hens are happier. I have never gone back to shavings as I have lots of feed sacks and we have a bonfire most weeks. the diatom works a treat.

 

[Evie91]

Hens are certainly happier - look much better I may carry on using sacks - as I muck out and burn once a week, with shavings I poo pick every day. Just feel a bit sorry for them as coop doesn't seem as cosy!