Scotty Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 We STILL have red mites even after using Diatom, a pesticide Bomb for inside the the cube. Neat bleach on them, the Hens also have been dusted and bathed and are totally fed up with me... yet still Im spotting them. only a few admitedly but cricky these critters are hard to get rid off. any other ideas from anyone??? TOTALLY FED UP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 (edited) I used this to get rid of the lice on my chickens and spray the house now and again with it. Contains Permethrin which is the ingredient which kills the bugs if I remember correctly.. Good luck! Edited August 20, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackian Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Sorry if it is early and I am thick Sam , but what is "this" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Forgot to put the url tags in... sorry about that I should still be asleep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Poultry Shield and Smite are both very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzys-hens Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 hello, do you have red mite in your eglu?, ive only ever had them in our wooden chicken coop and have found poultry shield works very well. What i did was dilluted it to what it says and put it into a plant sprayer bottle this way its really easy to get into the nooks and crannys. I then sprayed them the coop about twice a week being very genourous arount the roosting bars. i hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie chick Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Hi Scotty - totally sympathise with you and feeling just as depressed about the critters .... I have used ALL of the methods mentioned in the thread but NONE have eradicated the problem. Spoiling the pleasure of keeping hens .....itch, itch, itch ...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted August 20, 2011 Author Share Posted August 20, 2011 You're right, its making me really consider getting rid of the girls... which I've had such pleasure from for years... I'm sure Im breaking the cycle of the mites though... I am cleaning them 3 times a week now (the mites have been with us for 2 weeks now) Where at first the whole cube was crawling, now Im noticing a tiny few of them in the nooks... in any case Im totally dismantling the cube and washing with bleach and then back with dusting with the Diatom, I've 1 more bomb to use on them which contains Permethrin, I know Im being totally over the top with all the products but these things are alien... horrid little things ... so many people tell me that they have them at the moment, Im wondering if we have plague of them or something hitting the uk???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie chick Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I dont think you are going over the top at all! My problem is that my girls live in a stable and short of burning it down I dont think I will ever get rid of the mites... I had thought that I might have to resort/save up for a Cube - BUT if you are even getting them in the Cube - that does not even seem to be a solution - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindafw Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Ther is an advert in Your Chickens for a different treatment....another mite which kills the red off and then dies after there is no food left. the link is www.chickenvet.co.uk don't know if this will help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinuk Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Hmmm, I found a few "red mites" in the Eglu while cleaning today, presuming they were just red spider mites which are different to the type that affect chooks (I only spotted about 3)? I do spray with Smite after cleaning, just in case.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurmurf Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 We've not had a problem in the cube or eglu but take precautions with the wooden housing by dosing the girls with Eprinex regularly - then when the red mite bites it dies and that breaks the cycle too... Like treating fleas on cats - you can't stop the fleas existing out of doors but you can stop it damaging the cats and bringing it home with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucknette Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Anyone heard of the predatory mite that can be put into the chicken coop to eat the red mite? I have been reading this with interest, apparently its safe for chickens and humans but not red mite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweety Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 The Predator Mite does sound interesting, though the housing must be free of chemicals for 4 weeks prior to treatment and it will take 2-3 weeks for it to work. It might be easier to do as laurmurf suggests and use Eprinex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie chick Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 ....Its not a predatory mite, but I did read somewhere that earwigs eat red mite .... and I have lots of earwigs under the covers of my beehives this year..... will try relocating them into the chicken shed and see what happens....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Once you have them they are hard to eradicate comletely, but you can keep on top of them with regular cleaning. I clean my girls out 3 times a week and have made my wooden house as easy access as possible, I can easily remove the nest boxes at each clean which is great because most of the little blighters live under the base of them where it fits into the house. I have to say that I take great satifaction in squishing them with a plastic s"Ooops, word censored!"er, it is scarey how much blood they contain The problem will ease when the weather cools, but beware it will be back with avengence next spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Yes, the reason for their success (the red mites) is that they can survive for about 6 months without a blood feed and usually hunker down under the roofing felt until another big juicy meal turns up. When buying new chicken housing it's best to get something which easily comes apart for cleaning and to let in UV light which will also kill them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I've been having great fun this weekend with my new toy - a pressure sprayer (perhaps I need to get out more? ). Thankfully I don't have a red mite problem, but bought it to give my wooden coop a thorough clean as it previously housed my friend's three hens but I am moving my girls into it in readiness for the winter. With the sprayer, I was quickly able to give all surfaces of the coop a thorough drenching with poultry shield, including getting easily into all the nooks and crannies. Perhaps you could try this, using poultry shield or total mite kill and giving your coop a thorough drenching 2-3 times a week to break the life cycle. In addition, dusting liberally with a permethrin based powder would be a good idea as the mites will have to crawl through this to reach the chooks and get zapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Good call I was chatting to some people at the weekend; 3 of them (with wooden coops) have had real problems with red mites this summer; I suggested that they re-house the hens while they take it all apart and treat the coop, caulk up all the gaps and cracks before painting inside with a gloss paint or varnish to fill in any smaller cracks where the mites could hide. They'd need to let it air thoroughly before letting the hens back in. My grandfather used to use some sort of spray-on limewash inside his sheds, I don't know the name of it but it was very effective... probably banned nowadays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
