[mentalmilly]

Has anyone tried to lime wash or white wash their chicken houses to kill mites?  Am thinking of trying this because l cant move the chucks out for too long and this should dry in a day.

[darkbrowneggs]

Yes it works well.  Get the old recipe and dollop it on good and thick so it gloops up the cracks and crevices  It also lightens the inside of the house 

[zoe_emma]

I want to try this, I know I'm being a bit dim but I don't want to get the wrong stuff and poison my hens!
Where will I get it from? Will it say just lime wash on the tin?

Thanks

[graham-j]

Hi,follow this link, the stuff you want is called white rhino and is available from builders merchants,its a powder you mix with water.
Sorry the link is from another forum I hope this is OK.

http://www.practicalpoultry.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1376814961/3#3

Graham.

[zoe_emma]

Brilliant, thank you 

[mentalmilly]

Am going to get some white wash tomorrow, but wonder if l can brush it on over creosote next spring.  It will save time, money and the smell. Has anyone done this? Creosote is also so dark and l think white wash may be brighter for them.

[chrismahon]

Hi Mentalmilly. Lime wash is the prescribed treatment in stone or brick poulailliers (chicken coops). Not sure how well it will stick to wood -I am worried about it flaking off and them eating it. To lighten the inside of our wooden coops the roof and floor are painted with gloss white. Helps to get poos off the floor as well. We do occasionally get condensation on the roof as a result. I find that if creosote is applied as a 50:50 mix with paraffin it isn't as dark but is just as effective. Dries much quicker as well.

[mentalmilly]

Thanks crismahon will keep the parrafin/creosote a try on the duck hut.

[darkbrowneggs]

I must admit to having used the whitewash on the insides of my wooden housing for years and years without any problems, but I have a large barn to do which I didnt want to whitewash and like the idea of diluting the creosote with paraffin  - do you think it could be sprayed on?

[chrismahon]

I think spraying creosote is fraught with risks Darkbrowneggs. It is very thin and penetrates well into the very fine gaps the mite eggs are in. But I find inhaling the fumes in even the smallest amount makes me rather ill. I wish there was something else as powerful against mite. But I've just treated a small coop that had been sprayed twice with Nettex and left with the lid on to 'cook'. It seems all that happened was a few obvious mites were killed but the quick ones made it into the lid under the felt and under the floor to the outside. Obviously they were not previously resident there as there were no nest spots. A lot of eggs were in the tongue and groove as well. When I applied the creosote on the inside, hundreds of newly hatched grey ones rushed to the outside. I had the panels upside down and even put some into the joints from the painted outside, which I wiped off. Still think I may have missed some so that coop is staying out of service for a long time.


Problem is creosote keeps them at bay, but once they have got a hold (last treatment was 15 months ago) it is a hell of a job to kill them all off. Most important is the unhatched eggs which the other chemicals don't seem to touch. You have to wait for them to hatch and treat again -expensive both in time and money.

[darkbrowneggs]

OK thanks for that - sound like it will be back to the Protector C.  Wildly expensive but then it is effective and the active agent is  Pyretherum (sp) so shouldnt be too deadly to humans