[mental mel]

Hi I will be house sitting for my mum and dad over the next 10 days. They have about 40 chickens and they have not been laying my dad has treated them twice for mite and it is getting better but not good enough. He says that if they are not laying better when he gets back they will have to go (he doesn't want to do this but does have to be practical) It would be great if when he comes back we have managed to cure them. I have 3 children under 6 so time is a bit of an issue as I don't want them in with the hens at the moment. if any one has any practical tips I would be very grateful thanks

[Beewyched]

Have you treated the hen house as well as the chucks?

[mental mel]

yes apparently Dad has treated the house aswell

[Beewyched]

Mmm?

There is a helpful thread on here about mites started by zeeteecee yesterday.

[mental mel]

I will have a look thank you

[landroverroy]

 Diatomaceous earth is very good and it's also non toxic. Sprinkle it liberally on the perches and in nest boxes and you actually see the dead mites in the morning.
 If you know anyone that keeps cattle, another very effective product is Ivomec pour on. You dilute it about 10x with isopropyl alcohol (available from chemists) or water, then drop about 1ml on each bird. I tend to put it on the head and neck as the birds can't reach here when they preen, but probably anywhere on the skin will do. It's absorbed through the skin and kills the mites when they bite and any internal worms also.

[Izzy]

I have had 7/8 Black Rock hybrids for 3 years now. I don't know about lice but I have a little bit of experience with red mite but I'm not an expert. Do you know that the lack of eggs is mite-related? It might be something else - age, rats.

If it is mite-related then I would imagine the mite infestation is serious. It is really the hen house that you have to tackle. The mites will be living in all the dark nooks and crannies. Cleaning them out is the worst, most skin-crawling job ever. Tie your hair up in a headscarf, wear long sleeves/trousers and arm yourself with a torch and look really closely at the walls, roof, windows, door hinges, roost bars etc in the henhouse.

Essentially you have to sweep every surface and all the joins and corners. Then sweep up all the bedding and dispose of it. Spray a permethrin-based insecticide according to the can. Leave the house to air for a few hours before adding fresh bedding. Then go inside and run a bath and pour yourself a gin & tonic.

Earlier this summer I creosoted the outside of my henhouse and was quite impressed by the mite carnage that resulted. So when we had a dry day recently I took the roof off. There was quite a mite population living in the gap between the roof sections and walls. I scrubbed with a wire brush, let the sun in and then painted the tops of the walls and the worst bits of the inside of the roof with creosote. I have made new brackets for the roost bars which I have creosoted too. I just haven't got 'round to fitting them.

I suspect that the creosote isn't too good for the hens but we leave the pop hole open for ventilation and they are only in 9pm-5am at this time of year.

By the way although I have had a wee problem with mite the girls are still laying, so I'm not sure if mites is what is causing your problem.

[zeeteecee]

you can tell if the mites are causing the hens discomfort as they wont like to go in the shed- who would want to be bitten all night!
true, mites and the resulting anaemia from being bitten can affect lay, wormload can also affect laying, as can diet, age and many other factors.
i am afraid that I go for the instant approach with mites and burn the nooks and crannies with my weed wand,then 3days later do it again to get any newly hatched ones.  (do it just before dusk as thats when the mites emerge for the night)
After this i spray with Total Mite Kill and this kept them at bay for a while but my shed was soooo old it was a losing battle with the little blighters!

good luck-weed wand (blowlamp) was the cheapest solution i found,
Z