Mrs

[Abbey Road Girl]

Yesterday I was replacing the Aubiose in the nest box and flipped over the lino that I use to line it and was horrified to see it zillions of red mites. They were more zillions of the nasty vampires on the poop trays underneath the newspaper. I had last cleaned the poop trays about ten days ago and hadn't noticed anything then. How could they have infested so much of the Cube so fast?

 

My son was up until midnight taking the Cube apart, piece by piece, cleaning up as he went and then putting it back together. He found mites hiding everywhere, including the clips.

 

Since we have no lighting in the garden, I had to put a bright light in the scullery window and asked the next door neighbours (friendly young Eastern Europeans) to leave their bathroom light on until they went to bed--glad I have given them so many eggs.)

 

I can't bear to think of how my chooks must have been suffering. I just have to focus on making them comfortable from now on.

 

I put diatomaceous earth (DE) in the Aubiose and also in the dustbath, though obviously not enough and not often enough! The inner cap of the container pops out frequently so last night I dug up an old grated cheese dispenser to use instead.

 

I was simply too complacent about the Cube not attracting mites, but see now that, although wooden coops are their traditional hiding places, the Cube is not the least bit mite-proof (thank goodness it is easy to clean!). Perhaps mites have adapted to Cubes.

 

I don't have a power washer or a hose pipe and no means to change the setup, so I will simply have to be ultra vigilant from now on. Johnson's mite spray, I've read about in the Poultry Health forum, but any other advice welcomed.

 

A moderator may move this but I felt it was important to reach the largest audience possible.

[The Dogmother]

Sorry to hear about that Sue

 

Clean it all out with a solution of Poultry Shield, which will kill off the mites, dust with Diatom and/or an ant powder containing either permethrin or pyrethrum (* not licenced for use on poultry in the UK) - please note that this is toxic to cats.

 

Spray all the hens with the johnsons spray (* not licenced for use on poultry in the UK) and continue to do this until all the critters have gone. Althoguh the mites live on the housing, they can be tramsferred by birds, which is probably how they arrived with you.

 

 

If it were me, I'd get rid of the newspaper and lino as they won't help by providing hiding places for the pesky mites.

 

 

Good luck

[urbanchick]

Sorry to hear it, been through it myself. You are lucky you spotted it before your chickens became too ill.

 

You need to spray the whole cube with poultry shield and let it dry. This kills the mites fairly instantaneously.

Then, using a cloth or your hands, smear diatomaceous earth all over the inside of the cube (including roof) and put copious amounts in any cracks and crevices. This is a long acting insecticide which works by scratching the exoskeleton of the mite and dehydrating it. It takes a few days to work but will continue working as long as it's dry thus getting all the babies that hatch and any that come to life weeks down the line.

Do the above every time you clean your cube.

Periodically leave the top of the cube, e.g. whenever the girls are free ranging, as sunlight will kill mites.

 

This is how I got rid of my redmite and it has not returned.

 

Good luck and thanks for posting as alot of people think you can't get redmite in eglus and cubes because they are plastic. You are just as likely to get them, it's just thankfully easier to eradicate in a plastic house.

[TAJ]

Red mite live in dark places, cracks in wood, or even in brick houses if there are cracks in the walls. I agree with the advice to get rid of the newspaper and lino - these are adding a dark crevis like space for them to hid in.

 

What makes a plastic house so much better than wood in relation to mites is the ability to easily thouroughly clean it easily, therefore it gets done more regularly and this stops any problems.

 

I have never seen a red mite in either my Eglu or Cube, but it gets a good wash and covered in poultry shield on a regular basis.

 

Tracy

[The Dogmother]

I use diluted Poultry Shield to clean it all; just make it up in a big trug and use that to wash everything.

 

You can even bath the birds in an mild solution if they are badly infested with lice or northern fowl mites

[Tiggy]

i have a jet wash and an industrial steamer - just let the little blighters deal with that its amazing how much crud you can blast out of the nooks & crannies in an eglu - I may invest in some poultry sheild

[The Dogmother]

I normally do a bucket wash, but blast it with the pressure washer every few weeks.

[TAJ]

I jet wash and when it is clean then give a second wash with poultry shield - in the cube and the patio area it stands on.

 

Tracy

[WarrensWorld]

We put a sheet of newspaper in the nest box of the cube. It stops the wood shavings falling all over the run.

This is our cleaning regime:-

We hose the roosting bars down everyday. Take out any soiled bedding.

Every three days we clear out all the bedding. Remove the poo trays, we line them with newspaper easier to shoot it straight into the compost bin. Then the whole cube is hosed out and washed. We don't use any cleaning fluid, not sure what effect they have on the chooks. Then the cube and run are moved to a new patch of grass. We have a very large grassed area. Haven't had any problems so far.

The chooks free range for at least 6 hours a day usually around 9. Our friends think the chooks are too pampered, but they don't say no to the eggs....

 

edit. Nearly forgot, the area where the cube and run were is lawn raked. Chooks are brilliant at removing the moss from the grass. Then the area is hosed down. Chicken poo sure makes the grass grow.....

[ubereglu]

The thing is eglus and cubes make it less likely that you'll get mites, but you can still get them. At least you have noticed and are doing something about it.

 

One of the best things to do is to take it apart-as you have done and leave all the bits in the sunshine, as UV rays kill them off, this will also help ventilation through the house too.

 

I tend to fully scrub my eglu out every week and remove all poo from the droppings tray everyday and haven't had any problems, yet.

[Abbey Road Girl]

Thank you everyone for lots of good advice. Obviously there are different approaches but they all amount to good animal husbandry (term is a bit sexist ).

 

http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/1747067.0/

 

The above has very helpful advice on red mite infestation, including what signs to look for in your chickens. I had noticed that the girls' wattles seemed to be paler and wondered if it was because they were no longer in the prime of youth. I also had mistaken their wanting to sleep on the kitchen doorstep as akin to kids wanting to sleep outside in the summer.

 

Fortunately, it was only two days later that I went to clean the coop and found the mites. I hate to think about my chooks having suffered through my ignorance but hopefully the sharing of information will wise us all up.

 

I have ordered a make-life-easier spray bottle of Poultry Shield, organic apple vinegar and a Peck-a-Block from a company in Wales. Will post the link later as it's free range time! The delivery isn't cheap but I was happy to find three things I'd been looking for available at one place.

[Al]

Hi Sue,

 

I also found a few red mite in my eglu today I had been wondering why the chooks had recently seemed reluctant to go to bed. Their wattles and combs are all pale too

 

 

Al

[Abbey Road Girl]

I also found a few red mite in my eglu today I had been wondering why the chooks had recently seemed reluctant to go to bed. Their wattles and combs are all pale too

 

Al

 

Al, do you have Diatom on hand? If not, you can come by and collect some from me. A few mites can multiply like mad and literally bleed chickens to death.

 

I'm happy to report that my girls' wattles are looking just about normal now.

 

I'll PM you my phone number.

[Al]

Sue,

 

Thanks so much for the diatom powder. I used it as you directed and the girls seems much happier now. I ordered some more powder and some plastic roosting bars from Omlet and they arrived today. I also found out that Rectory Farm Shop in Milton stock diluted Poultry Shield so I'll be picking some of that up for when I next clean the Eglu.

 

I can replace the powder I borrowed from you, just let me know when is a good time to drop it off.

 

Thanks again,

 

Al