Chicken bald back

[Chickabee]

Ok if you have a run in close proximity to another run with red mite, check it out. I think I now have red mite! No sign in the second coop, but obviously present. More cleaning tomorrow. Third coop still to be checked, but it is some distance away. However chooks have been mixing. Are they like nits?

[Cat tails]

What I have read is that the mites only sit on the hens at night and don't stay on during the day. But personally when you are doing this level of cleaning, why make sure completely and do coop 3 too?

[Chickabee]

You're right cat tails. I will leave no stone/chicken unturned. I won't let those little critters beat me

[Cat tails]

 

That's the spirit! Go kill some bugs!

[Stargazer99]

Can I ask....may be a silly question, but where do red mite come from, how do they get into the coops?

[Chickabee]

Wild birds most probably

[emmalou]

To prevent my chicken coop getting it before my chickens arrival should I disinfect it first, then use the red mite protection in the coop? I am not familiar yet with mites although most people seem to know when they have them.

[Chickabee]

You could give it a squirt with red mite spray and sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on the coop floor and in the run. I get mine from Amazon.

[emmalou]

I thought that but Amazon UK don't deliver to France so will look elsewhere. I also have this Saniterpen and someone said to use that to clean it with (as a barrier). Wasn't sure whether to use the Spray as a precaution. I think I need to wash off the spray whereas the DE is better as the barrier is there all the time. As it's an old chicken house and the first time we have had our chickens in it I am not sure whether to use the Saniterpen and then the mite spray, or indeed what order to do it in??

[Chickabee]

You don't have to wash off the spray. You just let it dry. Don't know anything about saniterpen. You could try eBay for your DE

[emmalou]

Yes, getting very mixed feedback on DE.

[Beantree]

I can say with absolute certainty that some red mite stay on the chickens during the day. They can transfer via soil baths and from group preening, so if birds from different coops are mixed they will infest all the coops. The only way to beat them, in our experience, is to treat the coop then treat the ends of the perches (not the whole perch) with a dip of creosote. Every morning take the perch out and squash the red mite on it. These are the ones getting off the hosts and after a week they will all have got of and been squished.

 

We treated 5 coops last year and so far this year nothing. We also added a small amount of potash (wood fire ash) to the solid baths. It does nothing in coops but seems to work in solid baths.

[emmalou]

As a newbie to chickens should I have an area of just wood ash under the chicken house? I have got some DE too.