my turn for red mite

[kitla]

It had to happen really, after all these years I've been feeling so lucky not getting
them! Inevitably I've been a getting a bit complacent about checking.
Poor Tiny has been choosing to go to bed in the main coop the past week, I've been
moving her back to Giblet's house as there wasn't room. We noticed her comb was
going a bit pale & floppy now I know why! Then last night all the chooks in the main
coop were crowded over to one end.
So I reckon it's started in Gibby's coop - they're all seething where poor Tiny sleeps,
& she's spread it across to the other one. So about a week's worth -
The battle begins! I better light a bonfire, I wonder if aubiose will burn?

[kitla]

until I can get the fire bin going & get to the shops for more stuff, I'm going to just
throw everything I have at them to deplete the numbers, if I stuff the perch ends
into a bucket of thin bleach anyone know if that will kill the ones clinging on there?

[Skeksis]

Yes but i prefer jeyes if you have it

[silverback]

Don't forget to smear the ends of the perches with a bit of Vaseline!

[kitla]

Good grief! I just looked at the time I posted that - so I spent about 6 hours cleaning
those 2 coops! dressed in a kagool, rubber gloves & shower cap.
The aubiose did burn once the fire was hot enough & added a bit at a time. I thought
the main coop only had a few mites on the perch ends, but once I got stuck in I
decided to take the pull-out bottom & nestbox apart & found some more. At least
half a dozen small colonies, I'm so glad I caught them when I did!
Giblet's coop was harder to do, there were loads & because I'd disturbed them, then
left them while I ran around panicking & gathering stuff, when I got back to it
hundreds of them had crawled up the walls & hidden in the nooks, when I sprayed
them from the inside they started pouring out through the outside!

I had a little redmite spray left, when that was gone I only had poultry shield left
which I thought would help until the shops were open - however, I was amazed
at how effective it was! It stopped the mites in their tracks! & most of them just
died, some seemed to dissolve a bit, a few needed several squirts, but 6 hours
of squirting, scraping, brushing, (swearing),burning, ant powder,
diatom & Vaseline - and I feel I've got 99% of them, (bound to be some in a secret
hidy place) and my poor chookies can sleep well tonight!
I suppose I'll have to do it all again in a week.....groan

[kitla]

So my shopping list for tomorrow -
Jeyes fluid
more Poultry Shield
more diatom
a stronger red mite/bug spray for instant kill, any recommendations?

[KarenE]

I'm in northants too, I hope this isn't an annual migration!

So as a precaution (i haven't had them either and am riding my luck awfully) how did you use the poultry shield? Did you spray it on or brush or what? I spray smite on as a precaution but a deep coop clean is on my list of things to do as I'm off work for the next fortnight.

[billnorfolk]

A portable hand held steam cleaner ,or a heat gun or blow torch ,don't set the coop on fire ,in the words of corporal Jones ,they don't like it up them.

[kitla]

Thankyou bill, if things take a turn for the worst I will certainly run round the garden
shouting "don't panic" and try a steamer up 'em. (not sure about the blowtorch)
Karen, the poultry shield is in a spray bottle, I sprayed it into all the cracks, gaps,
knot holes etc. infact I pretty well soaked the coops this time!
I've always used it when I do a clean out, as a preventative really,
(along with diatom) maybe that's why I've escaped the mites until now. I spose
as summer is nearly over I got complacent and missed bits.
I'm also going to try & get some thyme oil & either make up a spray or just rub
it on the perches
http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/04/02/201 ... he-way.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kitla]

Before they went to bed all the chooks were given a drop or 2 or Ivermectin as
an extra precaution, especially poor Tiny who's bourn the brunt of the attack.
This meant my son holding them while I put on the drops. After holding Tiny
he started to find tiny mites on his arms all evening & this morning I found
him asleep on the sofa - he was too worried about infesting his bed! (never
mind our sofa!)
I've ordered 100ml bottle of thyme oil & apart from wiping some on the perches
I thought I'd make up a spray bottle that could be used in the house, on us,
perhaps directly on the chooks? We thought it would be worth capturing some
mites & testing the oil on them to see if it really kills them, and if it still works
diluted. I cant understand why the research wasn't followed up, even if its not
a financially viable treatment for commercial farms, it would be very useful
for back garden keepers.

[silverback]

If you want to be sure of killing the mites and breaking the egg cycle, then use good old fashioned Creosote. Using a lot of the usual treatments does kill of the majority of adult mites, but its not unusual to get reinfested!, because some of the usual treatments don't kill the eggs!, Creosote does!!
Also, don't forget that mites love to live under the felt roofs of coops, if your coop has a felt roof of course!.

[Jackie Smith]

I have just started using a spot on treatment for mites etc that is designed for parrots etc. After all the normal spraying etc this seems to be holding them at bay.

[kitla]

Is that Ivermectin Jackie? I gave them some of that yesterday hoping it would
protect them a bit.
creosote would be great if it was only the perches affected, but I cant treat
the inside of both coops with it as I don't have anywhere else for them to
live until it dries & the fumes go.
This afternoon I found another bundle of them in bedding next to the spot where
Tiny sleeps, I scooped it up with a trowel & dumped it in some Jeyes, yeuc yeuc!
changed the bedding again & squirted & dusted some more.....I think this may be
a daily battle.

[silverback]

kitla wrote: creosote would be great if it was only the perches affected, but I cant treat the inside of both coops with it as I don't have anywhere else for them to live until it dries & the fumes go.

Can you not treat one coop and house the chooks in the other until it drys out, then treat the second?.

[kitla]

I'm afraid not Silverback, the small coop is Giblet the blind hen's, she can't
mix with the others. However I have been thinking about getting a new coop
for the others, this has made me think more seriously about what to look for.
I was pleased this morning to see only the odd mite & nothing under where
Tiny slept, any I saw got squashed or zapped & I chucked extra DE into any suspicious
bits. The big coop had a few stuck in the Vaseline & in knot holes on the perches,
I took them out & painted them with Jeyes. The only other place I kept seeing them
was clinging to moulted feathers amongst the bedding - they went into the pot of
Jeyes too! So I feel I'm winning....however.....in the run is a hutch presently used
as a nestbox, but my 3 chicks used to sleep in there before I rehomed them a couple
of weeks ago - they never liked going to bed & used to try sleeping in the open -
you can guess where this is going! Oh M G there are thousands of the in
there!! I used to check, but until you've got them its hard to know what to look for.
They are tiny ones & pale in colour so are not feeding, I'll have to burn the box
once I've worked out how to get it out of the run without leaving a trail of mites.
I'm now plucking up the courage to ring my friend who had the chicks & tell him
I've probably infested his henhouse!