Red mite

[amber66]

Hello I have just been and cleaned the coop out and discovered that i have red mite. Not having had my girls for a year yet this is the first time for me and i am panicking.
I have washed the coop with diluted Jeyes fluid and covered it and all the next boxes along with the dust bath with Johnson's Poultry mite & lice powder. I am not too confident on handling the girls (scared of hurting them) but could not see any on them when i had a look.

Here come the questions that you have probably answered before so apologies.
Is there anything else i can do and can they be passed on to my dogs?
How often should i clean and wash the coop (i poo pick every day) and normally clean it every 2 weeks, even then it is not that dirty?
I am away on holiday next week and worried about leaving my son with this problem.
Thanks for any help. Amber.

[silverback]

Hi Amber, usually red mite only feed at night when the chooks roost, once they have had their fill they leave the chook and go back to wherever they hide (usually under the ends of the perches!) that's the theory anyway!. I am assuming your coop is a wooden one so clean out all the bedding and nest boxes of straw and preferably burn it!, then dust everywhere inside with the mite powder, doe's your coop have a felt roof?.
As for the dogs getting mites, I'm not sure!, but someone will know and comment!

P.S. Don't apologise for asking questions, we've all been there!

[amber66]

Hello Silverback
Thank you for replying. The coop is a wooden one with a wood covered run attached, this stands inside a walk in run that has wood chip on the floor from a tree surgeon,it does not have any felt. i have just thought would there be red mite in the wood chip on the floor of the run or just in the coop?
Amber.

[kitla]

oh dear poor you, if you search this site you'll find lots of discussions with ideas
of things to try. A lot of people here use DE (diatomaceous earth), I shake some
on the perches, corners and coop entrance, spray the nooks with poultry shield
every few weeks & shake ant powder (permethrin) under the bedding. You can
also smear Vaseline around the ends of the perches to help protect the hens. You
can get smoke bomb fumers to treat the coop, there is also something you can
feed the hens that makes them less palatable to the mites (cant remember what
its called)
I wouldn't think they'd choose to live in the woodchips, they'd need to be near
where the hens roost.
Good luck with the battle!

[amber66]

Thank you Kitla for your reply.
My girls don't use the perches they never have, they all squeeze into the nest box to sleep. I have covered that with Mite and lice powder, i think that contains DE. I will keep an eye on the situation and hope i have caught it early enough.
Amber,

[silverback]

The straw you use in the coop, is it in plastic packaging and dust extracted!, as sometimes mites can come in the straw if you buy a bale from a farm that's come direct from the field!.
As for using the smoke bomb fumers, there is some debate as to whether they kill red mite!, they appear to kill every other type of creepy crawley, except red mite!
Some don't like using harsh chemicals, however, the old fashioned creosote (not the new version!) will kill red mite! , but you need to have an alternative coop to allow the treated coop to dry and air out properly!
There are some laners who have used a hot air gun (paint stripper) on the mites, until they pop and crack, but extreme caution is required using one in a wooden coop for obvious reasons! .

[amber66]

Hello Silverback.
The straw does come in a plastic bag and has the dust removed. I do have some of the "proper" Creosote bought about 10 years ago to do a shed but never got round to doing so.
I don't have a spare coop but could adapt a large plastic box for use while the coop dries. Have you any idea how long it takes to dry before the chickens can go back in safely?
Amber.

[silverback]

Hi Amber, the old fashioned creosote is liquid gold!, as the general public cannot buy it anymore unless your trade!, so hang onto it and use sparingly .
I would give the coop at least a couple of weeks, should be Ok by then, but depends on the weather!, it could also be an idea to use some mastic to seal up as many of the nooks and crannies at the same time

[amber66]

Hello Silverback.
Thanks for the advice as soon as i get back from holiday i will get cracking on and get it sorted.
Amber.

[Grannyof4]

Make DE into a paste with water and paint everywhere red mite be. I would be tempted to dust the chickens as well to be on the safe side. Be warned a bad infestation can kill....

[Mr Plow]

I'm having an absolute nightmare trying to get rid of the mite this year, the prolonged warm weather isn't helping! Over and over I've cleaned it out, treated with red mite powder, spray, diatom and even a blow torch (which was far, far too much fun) and still not only are they in the coops, they're in the house as well. I can't tell you how many of the little ****ers I've found on me or seen walking across the laptop screen while I've been sitting here for the last half hour - in spite of showering straight after going in the coop.

Three of my girls are refusing to go in at night and the last one has taken to sleeping in the small coop (where which was clear until a few days ago).....

Roll on winter!

[silverback]

Hi Mr Plow, again I am assuming your coop is wood!, as per the posts above, mites get into every tiny nook and cranny, even the ones you can't possibly think they could be in!.
With mites it's important to break the egg cycle, so if you kill the adults with mite powder, you may not necessarily kill off the eggs!, hence a continued infestation , they also like bedding themselves under roof felt!. There are many threads on this forum regards red mite, and some have had success getting rid of them using DE etc, and a lot haven't!.
Old fashioned creosote will kill them off, including the eggs!, but as mentioned the treated coop needs to be dried and aired properly, so an alternative coop is a must.
I know some people don't like using strong chemicals, but given the choice of getting rid of red mite, or letting my girls suffer, then I know what choice I would make! .

[sandy]

Mr Plow, never ever thought I would agree with you, but winter is looking like a good place to be in the hen world at the moment. I am now using straw as bedding in the clumps so easy to remove and repalce as I have given up hoping and am cleaning girls every 24 hours!

[davensony]

hi,

last year was my 1st year of keeping hens and towards the end of the summer I discovered that my coop was infested with the nasty little red barstools! it took me about 2 months to get red of them, I used smite concentrate to kill them off and I continued to regularly(once a month) spray the coop down with smite as a precaution, I also use loads of DE (the non branded type,bought very cheaply of ebay) this kept the red mite under control but I still found the odd few,

At the start of this year though I began using sharp sand in the coop instead of wood shavings and thus far haven't found a single red mite, I think the sand just makes the coop to uninhabitable for them(along with the continued monthly spray of smite)

I cant recommend using sharp(builders sand) sand as coop flooring high enough, it ticks every box, its very very cheap, only needs replacing once or twice a year if kept reasonably clean(I simply use a cat litter scoop/filter) infinite supply of grit for the hens, doesn't get smelly......

The only downside is that the sands usually damp when you buy it so you have to dry it out, when the weathers good I just spread it out thinly on a tarpaulin sheet in the garden and the sun dries it out completely in no time at all, When the weathers not good I spread it out on a sheet in my spare room with the heating on for a few hours, Once its in the coop it stays dry(unless you keep a water drinker in there that spills, which I don't)

[Hintza]

Have a look at my thread from last year and you can see the battle I had then:-

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=48393

This year I have a very small problem which I am keeping on top of so I am not going to quite the same lengths. You can still buy creosote and in my mind it is the best thing out there.

Do not underestimate where these bugs can hide ie the slightest crack in wood can hold thousands.

My girls do not get the option of sleeping anywhere but the perches which makes life easier. Moonlight can't get on the perches anymore but is picked up every night and placed on them.