Solitary chicken - need advice

[charliechick]

Hi guys,

 

Bad problem! Completly my own fault for negelecting regular cleaning of the cube. no excuse. Anyway I went to clean the cube this afternoon and all round the shelves that the roosting bars sit on and ontop of the door is FULL of red mite, not black in the afternoon but fully red. They are in the corners too. So, fully ashamed and shocked I set to work hosing off as much as I could on the removable parts and wiping spraying and dusting the corners and rest of inside the cube with DE powder. I know I will have to do this every day for at least a week to try to get rid of them all.

 

The birds I dusted too but no doubt they have been suffering.

 

Will they be as hard to shift in the cube as it would be with a wooden house?? I can't believe after paying for a cube to avoid this kind of problem I have let my chooks down and got them anyway!!

 

Anyone else been as bad as me?? Also any advice??

 

Charliechick

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's unfortunate . A timely reminder for others to be always vigilant .

 

You should read Claret's Red Mite Guide.

 

A search on the forum will also bring up lots of useful advice.

[Plum]

Put it behind you and be glad they survived. We all let things slip a bit sometimes. At least it will be easier to treat the cube.

[Falkor]

Did you take the cube apart? Side panels off and everything?

 

I took on a cube with redmite and found LOADS of the nasty critters in the cracks where the panels join.

 

I recommend a pressure washer on the individula pieces, labour intensive but worth it!

[The Dogmother]

What a shame I recommend that you pressure wash it carefully, taking it apart if necessary, then spray it well with Net-Tex Total Mite Kill. Be sure to repeat at four day intervals until they are gone, then just every week as a preventative measure when you clean.

 

It's unlikely that your girls will carry any red mites, but I'd treat them too anyway.

[Redwing]

spray it well with Net-Tex Total Mite Kill.

 

I second that, the Total Mite Kill is brilliant stuff

[The Dogmother]

Its active ingredient is permethrin, so you will need to keep it away from cats and air the housing properly before putting the birds back in.

[charliechick]

Thanks for the reply's.

 

Right, today I sprinkled red mite powder in all the cracks well everywhere really and did the birds. I only noticed afew black mites here and there so squashed them.

 

Do I do this every day? If so for how long? Then how often should I dust the cube with it?

 

The hens look ok still red wattles/faces etc and checked them over as best I could as mine are flighty little things. All ok but the white chook had black bits in the feathers but I was pretty sure it was dirt from the dust bath.

 

Also as the powder is in the cube now and its going dusk, will the birds be ok in there? I know its not good 4 us to inhale the stuff will they be ok?

[The Dogmother]

Red mite powder is only a preventative, Diatom is slightly more effective. I'm afraid that you need the big guns - Poultry Shield, or, even better... Total Mite Kill. Spray or wash the housing with this every four days until it's cleared, then use on your weekly clean.

[Jools]

Sorry to disagree but .... from the Barrier website about their Red Mite Powder "Red Mite Powder and Red Mite Concentrate are effective repellent combinations to be applied to poultry as a proactive ‘0n bird’ deterrent to infestation or to rectify an existing problem"

[The Dogmother]

Ahh, but they don't claim to kill mites/lice, because they don't, as you quote, it is a deterrent or repellent

 

There have been several instances that i know of where red mite powder hasn't gotten rid of crawlies; I no longer rely on it to get rid of them.

[Jools]

Fortuantely I can only vouch for its use as a deterrent but the website does say "or to rectify an existing problem" which does suggest using it to get rid of red mite too.

 

I don't have an axe to grind tbh, I'd just hate red mite powder to be banished to Room 101 unnecessarily

[The Dogmother]

It's not banished at all; I still use it as a deterrent by sprinkling it in the nest box. We just need to be aware that it can't be relied on to kill mites or lice.

 

This year has been the worst i can remember for lice and mites, so all products on the market have really been put to the test. Those containing permethrin have proved to be the best at getting rid of mites, but please be aware that it's not licensed for use on poultry in the UK, and is toxic to cats.

[charliechick]

Ha ha war of the words No but being serious its great to have this feedback.

 

Im going to power wash the whole cube and take it apart at the weekend and start again with the dusting. Then I can relax abit knowing that the little blighters are not hiding. I would use the total mite kill spray but we have cats so Im not going to risk it really.

 

Charliechick

[Jools]

Good luck with whatever method you choose ..... there's no doubt that doing everything you can to prevent an outbreak is a whole lot easier to deal with than battling the little blighters! Now that's what I call a true war

[The Dogmother]

With the mild weather we're having right now, we need to pull out all the stops.

 

I have cats, but still use it - it's fine once it is dry and they're too scared of the Beautiful Bantam Babes to go anywhere near the cube anyhow