Warm boot recommendations please

[kannie]

I've just been to tip the kitchen waste into one of our compost bins, and found the top layer of stuff covered in what appear to be tiny eggs. There were also a few red mite, and I suspect these are red mite eggs!!! (how come there's no emoticon for showing absolute terror?)

 

There are no red mites in the eglu at the moment, but presumably the last lot of hemcore had some eggs in it.

 

I've got some poultry shield and red mite powder, but I don't want to kill off valuable things in the compost bin. Should I use one of these, or boiling water, or what?

[Olly]

I don't know whether red mite powder works on other things - would be a shame to kill off valuable worms etc. Diatom would be fatal to everything in the heap, I should think.

 

That's a real poser - obviously you want to avoid handling it as much as poss. Could you lift off the top layer into a bin-bag and bin it? Might be too late if they've worked their way down ... I reckon the best bet is to treat your girls, the Eglu and surrounding area, rather than focusing too much on the composter - at least it's alerted you to the problem.

 

You are sure they are red mites, as in the ones that pester chickens? I wouldn't know the difference, but there are other small red things that appear in the garden, I believe.

[bronze]

I would just leave the ones in the compost and be extra careful about your girls and their house

[Snowy]

I'd probably fork over the compost so that the nasties are buried. The heat of the compost doing it's stuff should kill off most things.

[kannie]

Hmmm. I'm not 100% sure they're red mite, but seeing as we did have red mite, and there's a layer of old hemcore from the poo tray on the top of the heap, I think its likely thats what they are.