The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Q on July 27, 2021, 12:58:17 pm
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I have been battling the dreaded red mite for a little while now.. thank you hot weather!
I have been searching out, squidging and burning clusters and now I only find 2 or 3 tiny clusters in the morning.
My question is that even though I have been changing the bedding and been liberal with the diatomaceous earth the eggs still have mites on them in the mornings - not feeding red ones like the clusters but a lot of small black crawlies!!
I fluff up the bedding each day to get the diatomaceous earth to get about a bit.
I thought diatomaceous earth would have dealt with these - am i missing something?
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Are you also dusting the birds with DE?
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Forget DE, old fashioned creosote (the stuff sold to fence builders for outdoors applications) is the only thing that gets rid of mites long term.
But it will mean you will need to acommodate your hens in a different (and also treated) shed until you can do the current one.
We used to try all sorts of strategies, but really once we applied creosote we literally haven't had a mite infestation. Annual re-treatment is necessary.
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Are you also dusting the birds with DE?
I do but not every day.
Shouldn't DE be more effective though assuming these little black ones are the next part of the life cycle.
Just wondering if DE is worth while because changing the bedding every other day gets expensive.
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What is the life cycle of Red Mite? | Chicken Healthcare & Advice (nettexpoultry.com) (https://www.nettexpoultry.com/advice-centre/your-questions-answered/what-is-the-life-cycle-of-red-mite/)
Doesn't look like black crawlies are anything to do with red mite. Sounds like you've been blessed with something else as well. Some folk have all the luck
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As Anke says, creosote is the only real deterrent, and even that needs re-doing yearly.
Do you have a felt roof on your house? If the mite takes up residence under that no amount of treatment of the actual house will kill them all as they will hide under the felt. Replace it with corrugated tin or onduline.
Also do not use any form of bedding in the actual house, only in the nest boxes. This will give the mites fewer hiding places and be a little kinder on your pocket, if you have to pay for bedding. A few handfuls of shavings mixed with a good double handful of DE in the nest box should be sufficient for a week.
The black mites on eggs could be Northern Fowl mite - have you checked your birds over very thoroughly? It looks like a sooty black deposit around the tail and vent but can be found elsewhere on the body if the infestation has been there a while. DE should kill this too, but you really need to rub handfuls into the birds daily. If you think you have a real problem then talk to your vet about a prescription for Ivermectin.
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What is the life cycle of Red Mite? | Chicken Healthcare & Advice (nettexpoultry.com) (https://www.nettexpoultry.com/advice-centre/your-questions-answered/what-is-the-life-cycle-of-red-mite/)
Doesn't look like black crawlies are anything to do with red mite. Sounds like you've been blessed with something else as well. Some folk have all the luck
oh such joy!!
i thought the little black ones were an early part of the red mites cycle.
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As Anke says, creosote is the only real deterrent, and even that needs re-doing yearly.
Do you have a felt roof on your house? If the mite takes up residence under that no amount of treatment of the actual house will kill them all as they will hide under the felt. Replace it with corrugated tin or onduline.
Also do not use any form of bedding in the actual house, only in the nest boxes. This will give the mites fewer hiding places and be a little kinder on your pocket, if you have to pay for bedding. A few handfuls of shavings mixed with a good double handful of DE in the nest box should be sufficient for a week.
The black mites on eggs could be Northern Fowl mite - have you checked your birds over very thoroughly? It looks like a sooty black deposit around the tail and vent but can be found elsewhere on the body if the infestation has been there a while. DE should kill this too, but you really need to rub handfuls into the birds daily. If you think you have a real problem then talk to your vet about a prescription for Ivermectin.
I will check more carefully - no felt on the roof but they are wooden slatted pens. I intend to separate all the wood and create gaps that the blowtorch will get at.
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The best cure for red mite is setting a light to the house and watching the whole thing burn to the ground. Obviously must build a new house before you do this :roflanim: but make sure the new house is treated inside and out with creosote, and given time to air before you move hens in.
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if you are considering replacing the coop, I recommend switching to a Green Frog recycled agric plastic one (not cheap, but holds its value so when you come to sell so you'll get your investment back) which has very few places for any creepy crawlies to hide, and is trivial to assemble, disassemble and blast with a power washer (so you save on cleaning chemicals, pesticides, or the hassle of trying to get hold of real creosote).
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Strange this morning that there were hardly any of the little black ones on the eggs (yesterday the eggs were crawling with them).
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if you are considering replacing the coop, I recommend switching to a Green Frog recycled agric plastic one (not cheap, but holds its value so when you come to sell so you'll get your investment back) which has very few places for any creepy crawlies to hide, and is trivial to assemble, disassemble and blast with a power washer (so you save on cleaning chemicals, pesticides, or the hassle of trying to get hold of real creosote).
The problem with power washing plastic housing is that the mites are not killed, just flushed into the grass. They are then perfectly capable of finding their way back into the house again ......
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Strange this morning that there were hardly any of the little black ones on the eggs (yesterday the eggs were crawling with them).
Have you treated the hens again?
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We never really got on top of our red mite problems until we used a steam cleaner. Problem is the mites hide in the joints of the cladding and the chemicals can't reach unless the coop is turned upside down. Some do remain on the chickens and to catch them we treat the perch ends with creosote (ONLY the ends, as contact with skin causes bad chemical burns). The mites that get off the chickens are trapped under the perch, which can be lifted out in the morning for treatment. After about a week the mites will have gone. Another coop steam clean and then check the perch every week, because there is a chance that some will be in the run and will find their way back. Haven't had red mite for 7 years now, but still checking the perches.
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Strange this morning that there were hardly any of the little black ones on the eggs (yesterday the eggs were crawling with them).
Have you treated the hens again?
Not individually yet but i have (always do) put DE in the dust baths.
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The best cure for red mite is setting a light to the house and watching the whole thing burn to the ground. Obviously must build a new house before you do this :roflanim: but make sure the new house is treated inside and out with creosote, and given time to air before you move hens in.
We did that once many years ago - very satisfying ;D But you must make sure your birds are pest free before they go into the new house, or you might as well not have bothered.
We do use an annual creosote wash, as well as DE and a flame gun. We also put wood ash in their favourite dust baths when the weather is dry. Right now we have the remains of a wood bonfire which they spend ages batheing in. White hens? None of those :innocent:
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The shed we burnt down was 10ft x 8ft. I had spent the summer trying to control the red mite with DE and poultry shield spray, but they were in the roof felt, nest boxes and just kept multiplying. It was so satisfying seeing it go up in flames :idea:
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i am sure someone posted on here that they threw the pen into a pond (obviously minus the chickens) and when they fished it out 2 weeks later there were still red mites.
All my bedding goes on the compost heap so I can claim to compost my red mites.
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So many pyromaniacs! Whilst I have to admit after weeks of battling red mite, watching them all burn would give some satisfaction. But it isn't necessary as leaving the coop/shed empty for 30 weeks would be sufficient to kill them all I read. Based on my experience that's true. We left a red mite infested shed in the UK and 6 months later there were none- but it was full of woodlice!?! Literally thousands of them, all dead, forming a carpet on the floor. I thought woodlice ate wood?
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Use ivomectic on the back of the neck, the other option is very expensive but it works it’s called Exzolt put in drinking water it’s superb.