Gazillions of red mite!!

[p.penn]

Omg, never had so many red mite! Sprayed yesterday inside the coop and diatommed, then today noticed some under the edge of roof so gave that a quick spray. Took the dog out and decided I had better take the roofing and spray the underneath, and when I got there, there were literally millions of the b£*^$€ things on the outside of the coop roof! About half of them were red and the rest were still grey. Even the clips that hold the roof down were covered in them, and they weren't earlier this morning

I sprayed them with acclaim and fly spray (it was all I had) and have been looking online for proper stuff. Has anyone used the stuff you put in the chooks water? Does it work? I can't seem to find the stuff we all used to use a few years back (and can't remember what it is called!)

[lancashire lass]

Has anyone used the stuff you put in the chooks water? Does it work? I can't seem to find the stuff we all used to use a few years back (and can't remember what it is called!)

is this it? (Red Stop Solution) I've never used that sorry, so can't say if it works or not - I just use crushed garlic cloves into the drinking water for a few days between regular tap water and the apple cider water treatments

Hope you get on top of the red mite problem soon

[p.penn]

Thanks LL - yes that was the water one, and the other I couldn't remember was poultry shield, which I will pick up from my pet shop later today.

Looking at the reviews on the red stop, they are a bit mixed, and as it's organic, it's probably mainly garlic and acv anyway!! I will pop a couple of cloves in my drinker

[bikesandbirdsbob]

Hi D E powder I buy by the 20 kilo bag .Spread all over walls perches birds me
Plus flea spray bad cases cat flea spray frontline .
This year is bad ,maybe the heat as brought them out .
Other trick to help the girls is pick them up, bugs crawl on you and then put the chicken down and have a shower . They do not survive on humans I am told .
Bob

[lancashire lass]

Other trick to help the girls is pick them up, bugs crawl on you and then put the chicken down and have a shower

I think I'd rather stick to the tried and tested methods thank you .....

[p.penn]

I'm not convinced that they don't survive on humans Bob

I have definitely been bitten by something several times

[p.penn]

Went to the pet shop yesterday for poultry shield, and it's only a disinfectant. I could have sworn it used to say on the bottle that it killed red mite years ago

Anyway, got some 'total mite kill', which was also pink and made me feel much happier about spraying It was great to use and the mite died there and then!! I also got some red mite powder and dusted the chooks. Hopefully that will prevent them getting bitten.

I have yet to see how it is today, but hope it's not too bad as I used most of the bottle. £21 on mite products really hurt!

[lancashire lass]

well, this shop sells Poultry shield as Red Mite control. In some ways, even plain old detergent would probably be just as effective as the mode of control is described:

Kill mites by dissolving their outer waxy coating leading to dehydration

and with it being a solution, it will get into any small cracks where mite are hiding.

The Nettex Total MIte Kill has the active ingredient permethrin which is an insecticide (watch out for cats as it is highly poisonous to them) so I suppose it is probably more effective.

Hope it is sorted soon - it has made me aware to keep a look out, especially as I've probably been less conscientious as I should of late

[Mad Chick]

Urgh! Revolting little devils!

We found red mite a few times in our plastic coop. We would drag it out of the run and onto the patio, douse it in a variety of chemicals (Poultry Shield, Jeyes Fluid), hose it down really well and leave to dry. Then we mixed diatom powder with a little water to make a paste and painted the inside of the coop, paying particular attention to the joints and ends of perches. This would normally get rid of them until the following summer.

[p.penn]

Must say there was no sign of them today I was actually amazed as with my wooden coop there were always more....and more! As they all congregated on the underside of the roof, I guess in a wooden coop they would have been under the roof felt.

Cautiously optimistic!

[ptarmigan]

My method of dealing with red mite is as follows; dismantle as much of the house as possible and seal all construction joints with silicone sealer. This reduces the hiding areas for mites. For treatment of mite infestation I first thoroughly clean out the house then spray with Smite. You will see mites emerge from their hiding places, next I use a gas flame torch and I incinerate them passing the flame over all likely areas, ( don't linger too long with the flame you don't want to burn the house down), you can hear them crackle quite satisfactorily . After I am sure that all mites have been torched I retreat with Smite and dust down with diatom powder.

The advantage of using the flame is that it kills the eggs as well as the mites. Dont forget to repeat at regular intervals, and keep the flame moving.

[p.penn]

Thank you, I'm sure your suggestion will be very helpful to a lot of people