[Tricia]

My back garden hen house has been empty for 3 1/2 months. I have been thinking of getting 4 new hens in the next few weeks so have started tidying up the area, making a nice new set of steps, etc.  Today I painted and sprayed with creocote and SERIOUSLY O M G, I have never seen so many things crawling out of every crack and crevice.  They were all white. Some appeared to die fairly quickly, others soon tried to get back into the crack or crevice.  I was using a spray bottle for places I couldn’t reCh and when I returned to one area after refilling, I almost threw up at the site of a little door.  It had literally turned white from all of the crawling things.  I then blow torched what I could without setting the entire hen house alight but they kept coming. 
I am assuming these are red mites that have not fed for a long time. Is that a correct assumption? Or is there something else going on here.  Needless to say I will not be getting hens until this is cleared up.  I plan to wait to see if this repeated itself at another application of creosote in a few days. Comments please.?

[Fleecewife]

The invasion of the critters from hell     Yes, if they are tiny and grey they are very hungry red mites 


Can your henhouse be dismantled without too much difficulty?  With such a large infestation it would be worth doing.  I'm a great believer in using a flame gun, the type for swishing over small weeds, then real creosote.
Imagine if you hadn't gone to do the spring cleaning and had put your new hens in there - poor things would have been exsanguinated   

[Tricia]

Thank you, Fleecewife. I think I will have to take those sorts of drastic measures. Too right - imagine if I hadn’t done it now. Doesn’t bear thinking about.


What I can’t get my head around is where they all came from. I read they can live 8 months with no food but need food to breed. All of these things were not there in September. I am a regular blow torcher and use all the right dust etc as well as a good tip from this site - to dip the ends of the roosting sticks into creosote each week.  So, the hard work starts here. ?

[Tricia]

I have just read about a neem oil spray that can be made up to keep mites in check..  Any thoughts?

[devonlady]

I used to  use a steam cleaner

[macgro7]

I've never seen red mite untill this year. Perhaps because i usually rotate my chickens. They would spend some time in one coop and then they would be transferred to another for coupl of months. Ducks are not really bothered

[Marches Farmer]

I see in this week's Farmers Guardian that a vaccine is being developed.  Not sure how that would work.  The article mentioned that an untreated bird in an untreated house could have 500,000 million of them waiting for supper.  Now that really doesn't bear thinking about.

[Steph Hen]

I wonder if ivermectin on the birds would then kill them as they came on to feed? -says it kills all internal and external parasites.

[landroverroy]

I wonder if ivermectin on the birds would then kill them as they came on to feed? -says it kills all internal and external parasites.

Yes it does kill red mite.


However Tricia, it is possible these creatures aren't red mite. There is another type mite - a sort of dust mite. It's grey in colour and very active during the day. if you touch any part of the building where they are then they crawl onto your hand. You squash them and think you've got them all, but you'll always miss one or 2 which will keep you scratching all night! however, they don't bite. I think they live on dust and general debri and ther're got rid of by spraying or sprinkling permethrin around.

[Anke]

Creosote....the proper stuff. We haven't had mites in the last 10 years or so since we creosote every time one flock is finished and new stock moves into house.

[Tricia]

Creosote does sound like the ticket and I am trying to find someone who might have access to it. We aren’t farmers so can’t buy it.

[harmony]

We found the pet flea bombs very good and mite spray from Mole Valley before treating the wood.

[chrismahon]

They sound like dust mites being white, as hungry red mites are a grey/brown colour depending on their age- grey are mature and light brown are youngsters. We've had 'dust' mites in a coop- think they must live off dry chicken poo or feather dust?


Don't think they affect the chickens but it's wise to throughly clean and treat the coop anyway, before introducing new birds. Beware of creosote when applying it as it burns your skin on contact and inhaling the fumes can make you very ill- did me anyway.


My preference is to steam clean paying particular attention to the weatherboarding joints. I'd only apply creosote if the coop can be dismantled and each panel treated in the open air and then allowed to dry thoroughly -at least two weeks.

[Anke]

Creosote does sound like the ticket and I am trying to find someone who might have access to it. We aren’t farmers so can’t buy it.

Fencing supplies...


I use old gardening gloves and an old waterproof to apply, we would normally take the roof off (as our house is not quite stand-up height) to help ventilation and then leave to dry for a few days. Takes about half an hour to do. Include perches in treatment and underside of roof of course... Our nest boxes are loose and made of plastic so no treatment required for those