4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[henriette]

Hi I have just joined and I have to admit that this is the first time I have ever posted a message anywhere, so hope it goes ok! We live in France and have had the most stressful time with red mite, so am patiently awaiting the delivery of an eglucube! We have 4 hens and 1 cockerel, but we have been told that we should cull them and start again because of possible infection. I was horrified at the thought, but if that is what I must do, so be it. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Incidentally, we have just burnt our 2 little chicken houses which my husband built last year... Have a good day everyone!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Welcome to Omlet World !

 

I try treating the chooks with red mite powder and ensuring the house is cleaned with poultry shield and diatom to break the breeding cycle of the nasty little critters rather than culling an otherwise (presumably) healthy flock. Red mite don't - as far as I gather - live on the chooks, it's the housing where they hide, then the birds are used as a buffet over night.

 

I'm happy to be corrected if that's incorrect...............

 

Make sure you clean the cube thoroughly, taking it all apart & pressure hosing & wiping over with Poultry shield...leave all the pieces to dry in the sun, rub diatom powder all over the pieces and reassemble, add new bedding & sprinkle more diatom for good measure! The breeding cycle is 7-10 days if I remember correctly and daily checking would be a good idea.

 

This year sounds to have been a particularly bad year for red mite, I hope with the change of house & treatment, you overcome the horrors soon

 

We'd love to see some piccies of your flock soon too, we do like piccies on here

 

Sha x

[Hen Watch]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Reading on the forum it seems to have been a really bad year for red mite this year in particular. There's loads of advice on here about treating the hens if you do a search, although I'm not sure what products you can get hold of in France.

 

There are a few french forum members who might be able to help on that one.

 

All the best with your new cube when it arrives.

[Redwing]

Hi and welcome

 

Don't cull the birds poor things.

 

The red mites do live in the house but when you move the birds there can be the odd one on them - I have transported a redmite problem this way

 

Ask your vet for something systemic if you can (a bit like the cat or dog spot on treatments - but obviously not the dog or cats actual ones!) this will kill any mite biting the bird

 

Move them from their temporary home a day or so before the cube arrives, treat them and leave them in completely mite free housing (like a dog cage) they will be fine confined for a day or so - just very confused! then move them to the cube and treat the ild temporary house!

 

Make sure you change your clothes between visits to the old temporary home and the new one until they have all gone

[Leicester_H]

Good advice Redwing - I concur

H

 

PS - Welcome, henriette

[The Dogmother]

All good advice Redwing

 

Welcome to the forum; you'll find loads of sound advice here

 

Try this for advice too

[henriette]

Thank you all so very much for your welcome and also for all the information re red mites. The most annoying thing is that I have not been able to get hold of any decent cure, hence the burning of the houses. All the powders I have tried have been useless, although our vet has managed to get me a powder to put on the hens so hopefully this has killed any that might have lingered.

Wild Mum - I will try to get some piccies up, but at the moment have no idea how to do it. It will give me something to do to keep my mind of the red mite!!

ps we also have 3 dogs,(bill, ben and beth) 2 cats,(max and jack) 2 ducks(nameless at the moment) and 2 wonderful geese(alfie and geraldine) Yes, I think we are probably a bit mad!!

[BocBoc]

Welcome!

 

Hope you get your red mite problem sorted out - don't cull your flock!!

 

Where abouts in France are you? My Aunt lives in St Ellier du Maine and she keeps chickens too

[Chook n Boo Mum]

ps we also have 3 dogs,(bill, ben and beth) 2 cats,(max and jack) 2 ducks(nameless at the moment) and 2 wonderful geese(alfie and geraldine) Yes, I think we are probably a bit mad!!

 

I think you'll fit in wonderfully............and if you're mad then so are we

 

Sha x

[cavysqueak]

Yup, I definately think that we are all a bit mad - but it's nice to be different!

 

Henriette - welcome! You'll find that this forum is great for advice straight from the 'front line' in chicken keeping. Everyone is really good at replying to your enquiries. I would love to have the space for all of those animals. We only just have the room for the chickens we've got, and we've definately got no space for the pig we'd love to have!

 

Have fun!

[henriette]

Good morning

Thankyou BocBoc for your message. Your Aunt lives quite a long way from us. We are near Quimper in Finistere and your Aunt is in the Pays de Loire. Hope she doesn't have the red mite problem. Apparently it is the worst year ever over here.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Welcome to the forum, Henriette . Sorry to hear about your red mite problem . I hope you manage to sort it with the excellent advice above

[henriette]

Yes, it has been excellent advice. With everybody's encouragement I have decided NOT to cull my little flock. However, very sadly, one hen, who has been weak since birth, became too poorly and she has now gone to the big"hopefully red mite free" hen house in the sky. She was actually born with wonky legs. We kept her in a separate house and run with another little hen to keep her company as she couldn't compete with the larger hens and the cockerel. Recently she became weaker and weaker - maybe due to the red mites.

Anyway, upwards and onwards! The other lot are making good progress and seem to be going from strength to strength. Again, thankyou everyone for your advice and encouragement and hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[Space Chick]

Sorry to hear about your little hen