Different brand auto door??

[Chicken Lady]

I'm battling with an ongoing mite problem at the moment and am having some success - Buffy laid her first egg in a month this morning so must be feeling better. And the rest are perking up too - they never went off lay but have been looking decidedly ropey lately.

 

I did the whole henhouse with my new pot of Poultryshield at the weekend but am still not convinced I've got 'em all. So I've taken to giving the top a quick spray every morning (they perch on the roof & have done since pre-mite infestation - it's a secure run so they're quite safe and they seem to prefer it).

 

My question is - do you think it's overdoing the Poultryshield? Does it have any side-effects? (apart from on me that is - that stuff is foul). I'm doing it in the morning and they don't get back on there till dusk so it has a chance to dry. And under normal circumstances, how often should I be doing it anyway?

 

I used to use my Barrier anti-mite spray once a month or so before I realised it couldn't possibly be working since all chooks were infested . Is that enough with the Poultryshield in the long-term too?

 

I do so want to crack this problem - first time in 7 years I've had mites and it's shocking how hard they are to get rid of again.

[chickenanne]

I haven't had mites, but, generally most mite powders and sprays only work at one particular stage of the mite's lifestyle, so you need to keep using it over a period of time. I think how long at each stage is temperature-dependent, but don't know details.

But so long as the product is completely dry etc before the hens go back into the house using it daily isn't a problem.

[jos]

I'm really struggling to get rid of the red mite too. I am squirting some solution into all the crevices daily and am dismayed every morning to find some still alive and sauntering about!

 

I intend to keep squirting the little blighters until they have all gone. I do make sure it is all dry before the girls go back to bed.

 

The girls seem absolutely fine.

 

I dust every week when I give the house a good clean out.

[surrey_chickens]

Dettol. And lots of it. Dettol( the brown stuff) is much cheaper than poultry shield and works brilliantly. I had a problem with Mites as my chicken house is wooden with a felt roof. Both likely reasons for mite infestation.

 

I poured about 1:1 Dettol to water into a spray bottle and thoroughly sprayed the house(after dusting and removing all dirt from the house) from top to bottom until there were puddles of the stuff everywhere. My roof is detachable so I took it off, put it on the floor, and put about a litre of the same solution into the inside of the roof and sloshed it around until it had been completely absorbed and worked its way into the underside of the felt roof. Let both dry (best done first thing on a sunny day) and repeat once a week for about 3 weeks.

 

I also bought some Diatom which I apply to the run walls (just a little) and to the perches, the nest and the chickens themselves.

 

I've also started to use Vaseline to coat the ends of the perches as apparently mites had petroleum-based agents (hence old fashioned creosote is popular in the poultry community).

 

I'm glad to say mine have gone after 3-4 weeks of doing the above. I've now got into a routine where I can do the whole lot in an hour first thing on weekend.

 

I think to be honest I was getting more stressed about the mites than the chickens but I'm happy now!

 

Best of luck!