GillC Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Found, to my horror, that I had red mite in my pink Omlet cube housing four hens. I had cube and a separate pink eglu with separate run and 3 bantams. I dusted hens in diatomaceous earth, moved them to a clean red eglu that I also treated with poultry shield (PS) & diatom earth. This eglu is at the other end of the garden. I also checked the pink eglu and it appeared clear but I cleaned it with PS and dusted with diatom earth. I dismantled the cube & sprayed with PS that appeared to kill the mites. By this time they were everywhere and I was creeped out so I went inside, changed, washed my clothes and showered. 3 days later I checked both eglus. There were about 10 dead mites in the diatomaceous earth in the poop tray of the pink eglu. I suspect I may have introduced them myself when I was dealing with the cube. The red eglu appeared clear. I cleaned and retreated both eglus with PS and diatomaceous earth. I jet washed the cube and left to dry. Next day I sprayed with poultry shield. Each time I checked, I would find a few more mites that I would kill. Meanwhile my bin was teeming with mites from the bedding I'd disposed of! Yeuch. So I covered it with poultry shield which seemed to do the trick. Ive been reassembling the cube bit by bit, spraying for mites as I go. I don't plan to put the hens back until November, but I would like it to be clear. I plan to use red mite concentrate on my birds, but have been using diatomaceous earth only so far. The four hens now in the red eglu are looking much better, nice red combs etc. However I'm sure that some of the mites will have moved across with them. As I sit here in the garden, I have the odd mite (grey) wander across my iPad or arm. I checked the deckchair and there were two under the canvas fabric. Has my jet washing spread the mites across my lawn? Is it normal to have some level of mites in the environment and can I keep on top of them by cleaning my hens assiduously every 3 days? I've read conflicting discussions. Can red mites live on me or on my cat? I've been washing my mite infested clothes, but can they survive water? Can they only lay eggs after a feed, and could they get a feed from me or my cat? When I catch them on my iPad, they are grey not red. Have I triggered some form of technologically adept red mite? Are they using my Twitter account to tweet their followers? I've had chickens for 10 years without red mite. This is such a shock, and though not squeamish, I'm feeling in need of some advice from those with more experience. Am I doing the right things? Is there anything else I should try? What about the red mite STOP drink supplement. Would it help? Yeuchy Yeuchy Yuck Yuck PS my four hens are now looking much better with good red combs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 It seems you are doing all you can to get rid of the red mite. I will be checking mine over tomorrow and give them a sprinkle of DE as well. I didn't think the cubes etc got red mite because of the plastic ? I hope you manage to get rid of them soon but apologies for not having any more advice for you as, so far, red mite have not been to my chickens yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted July 23, 2016 Author Share Posted July 23, 2016 Thanks, yes I thought I was immune too. I've only had the cube about a year, and I had to dismantle the entire thing, sides etc, to get at the red mites. I think there must just be more places for them to hide in a cube than in an eglu. I'll be dismantling fully on a regular basis when I eventually put it back into use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 I posted on Chickens last week. We had really bad infestation in wooden coop. It has been burnt and now have cube. I too have had them crawling on my arm indoors yuck. I am going to clean every three days and dust birds and nest boxes I ordered Ivermectin liquid to put directly on hens to eliminate them apparently you do it twice a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Meant to say from what I read they can feed off humans and pets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted July 23, 2016 Author Share Posted July 23, 2016 (edited) Thanks Grandmashazzie, I've just read your thread in chickens. I didn't find the search function worked to well when I was looking for threads on red mites. Maybe its me. Anyway, I'd not thought of the ivermectin. I've just ordered some. I hope the mites don't get on my poor cat. He's just had a full dental, a tooth removed and they discovered leisions in his throat. Because of the blood, I took him in on thursday and they tested him and found he has hyperthyroid. Fortunately caught it very early (by luck) so he's still a portly 6kg, but he'd lost 10% of his body weight in 3 months so he's now on a twice daily treatment and all the tastey pouches he can eat. Yes, he was enormous at 6.8Kg. The last thing he needs now is red mites. I may be dusting him off too! I'm going to treat him with his usual flea treatment, Prinox, in the hope that that will keep him clear while I deal with the main problem. I read somewhere that mites don't like lavendar oil. I didn't have any lavendar oil, but I've had a shower and slathered myself in Bannatyne's massage oil. I'm so greasy now I imagine they'll slide off if any get near me Edited July 24, 2016 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Ask your vet with what to treat your cat. Ivermectin can also be used on cats I think, but just inform to be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Unfortunately jet washing will spread red mites into the environment where they will wander about for months looking for a new host. Best to treat with Smite or Nettex to kill them before washing anything down and wash into the drains because there will be eggs that will hatch later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Dont use Ivermectin spot on in your cat without checking in with a vet please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Dont use Ivermectin spot on in your cat without checking in with a vet please! That's what I said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Yes I see that - there are different ones so yes its best to check - working in a vets you see people putting dog spot on on cats which is poisonous and can kill them so I am so so wary... Ivermectin also kills collie dogs if farmers put it on their dogs for ticks and fleas etc!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Thanks Beantree - re: jetwashing - I had already treated the cube several times with Poultry Sheild which I thought should have killed all the mites I could see, but I wanted to be absolutely sure I had got in all the nooks and crannies so also jetwashed. I had read that jetwashing was recommended so I thought this would finish them off - not set me up for a potential re-infestation! I live in a cottage and don't really have a drain, so I jetwashed on a large thick sheet of polythene on the lawn. As an interesting aside - I left the sheet out to dry on one of the hottest days and the heat turned most of the grass underneath brown. Dead lawn AND potentially mites.... Re: Cat - Thanks for the tip - but I wasn't being very clear. I would never use anything on the cat that hadn't been prescribed by the vet. The cat has his own prescribed supply of prinovox which is supposed to treat fleas, ear mites, notoedric mange (whatever that is) and prevent heartworm disease, infection with gastrointestinal nematodes and flea allergy dermatitis. He's back to the vet on monday for a checkup, so I'll ask if the prinovox will help protect against other types of mite. Now I have mites in the environment, I'm not sure what to do with the wood chippings I swept up that were underneath the cube. I guessed that there would be mites in the wood chip, but I'm not sure what to do with it. Currently it is in a metal wheelbarrow. It looks fairly inert, but I imagine there are loads of the little blighters hiding in there. I have a wooden set of steps that I pretty much ruined by jetwashing, so that will have to go in the bin and the chooks will have to jump up the short plastic ladder when they eventually go back in winter. My hope is that if I can treat the chooks with ivermectin so the mites can't feed on them, that the mites will eventually die off sometime over winter (their 8 months without food). BTW - if they can bite cats or humans, does that enable them to survive in the same numbers as they do with chickens? The odd ones I have seen (and I just squished one now on my arm in the living room so that isn't good) are grey and not blood filled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 (edited) Advice website: I used http://poultrykeeper.com for advice. In particular this page https://poultrykeeper.com/red-mite/how-to-kill-red-mites/ and this blog post https://poultrykeeper.com/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-red-mite/ which described step by step how to clean and this page https://poultrykeeper.com/red-mite/control-products/ lists the top 8 products, many of which I now have The blog post makes no mention of jetwashing first spreading the mites into the environment. Though somebody does mention it in the comments. Tim Daniels, the author, posted a very reassuring response in the comments http://disq.us/p/tqi4uw which I've cut and pasted below. I wish I'd read this before I spread the mites to my small eglu Personally, I've never had a problem with them in my house - they itch when crawling on you and usually a hot shower fixes that. I wash my clothes in the washing machine and that's the end of it. Saying this though, I have heard from others who have had problems (see my post "Will Red Mite infest your House"). Burning the coop is a last resort - usually if it is built in such a way that you can never get to certain places in it to wash it. What some people do is move the chickens out, put Ivermectin drops on them (this isn't licensed for chickens so you may want to use a different product) in order to kill off any mites that are on the birds (usually just a few during the day that had a late meal and ended up stuck on the bird). Then treat the old coop every 5-6 days (as the eggs hatch, this breaks the life cycle) for a few weeks. Red Mite can only lay eggs after a blood feed so no new mites can be produced. At this point, it may be clear enough to move them back in if you have been able to get into the cracks sufficiently, OR if not, you could leave it to stand for 10 months (they can live for around 8 months) and treat it again mid way through this time. By the end of the 10 months you should have a clear coop. It's a long time I know but it's better than burning it. Remember NEVER go from the infested coop to the new coop without changing clothes and showering - and don't use the same equipment for cleaning or you risk transferring them to the new coop. Edited July 24, 2016 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Yes I see that - there are different ones so yes its best to check - working in a vets you see people putting dog spot on on cats which is poisonous and can kill them so I am so so wary... Ivermectin also kills collie dogs if farmers put it on their dogs for ticks and fleas etc!! That's what my vet warned against as well! (The cat thing, not the collie thing ) Gill: sounds like your cat is well covered then. Hope you get it all sorted soon! Sounds like a right nightmare! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 See my replies elsewhere on this... Wash down the coop, and spray with Total Mite Kill pink spray(can be refilled with Total Mite Kill Concentrate, diluted 10:1 with water) then dust with Buz Busters powder. Rinse and repeat every 3 days until you've knocked it back, then revert to using it with your weekly cleaning routine. As the other have mentioned, dosing your birds with a preventative containing Ivermectin, such as Ivomec Eprinex* every month will prevent lice, mites and red mites. *not licensed for use on poultry in the UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted July 29, 2016 Author Share Posted July 29, 2016 Thanks to everyone for your support and advice. I think I'm nearly out of the mitey wood, so to speak. I first spotted the mite infestation in the cube on Friday 22nd July. It is now 29th July and I think I have them under control. I have the four hens from the original infested cube rehoused in a red eglu with a big WIR. I used ivermectin on the four hens that I relocated to the red eglu in case any mites transferred across with them and treated the eglu with poultry shield and diatomaceous earth. I've been checking and cleaning it daily and have seen no sign of red mite. Having ordered tons of red-mite products, I've started dusing with red mite powder in the hope that that is even more effective than diatomaceous earth, but I've ordered more earth too. I've been adding DE to the areas the hens dustbathe in as well. I'm withdrawing eggs, but these hens are older and not laying much at all (I've only had to withdraw one egg so far). I have not used ivermectin on the three bantam sablepoots in the pink eglu as they are laying almost daily. Also, they didn't have mites, and though I think I introduced a few from the cube by accident, I've cleaned their eglu with poultry shield, jet washed it and dusted with DE and am not seeing any signs of infestation. I did see one mite today in the poop tray, but I'm still cleaning every one or two days, so with luck I've broken the lifecycle and will eventually eliminate them. I have dismantled the pink cub, treated with poultry shield and jetwashed it. I have reassembled it loosley and retreated with poultry shield. I plan to disassemble it again and retreat with total mite kill concentrate before putting back together in November (winter) and moving hens back in. My fears of having introduced mites to the house and/or cat seem to have been unfounded. I think I was picking up the odd mite on my arm in the early days as I was cleaning things that had mites on them. There are obviously going to be some mites around in the environment, but I think the ivermectin is a great solution - without a food supply the mites should eventually die out or move onto some birds. I think the design of the eglu cube provides more nooks and crannys for mites to hid in than the original eglu. That is a shame, but it is a lovely big hen house, so when I do bring it back into operation, I will include a total dismantle as part of my cleaning routine - maybe every couple of weeks. I never want to have such a creepy infestation again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Keep up the spot on dosing, whether mites are present or not. Otherwise you'll get them back. Red mite powder is no more effective than diatom, i'm afraid. Buz Busters is tons better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 I put the Ivermectin drops on 48 hours ago and I can honestly say my birds look better. Even OH agreed and he is not known for his observational power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 Thanks dogmother. Yes when I read the ingredients of red mite powder it is just diatomaceous earth! Oh well, at least I have a shaker for my DE. I'll get some buzz busters. How often do you recommend dosing with ivermectin? It certainly seems to do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 I use it monthly, or at least every six weeks Be careful when using DE; it can cause real problems if inhaled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GillC Posted August 14, 2016 Author Share Posted August 14, 2016 14th August update: No further signs of the red nasties. Checked both eglus (cube temporarily retired) using a magnifying glass on every spec in the DE in case it was a red mite. None detected. Certainly a wake up call, shattering the complacency built up over 10 years of mite free chicken keeping. I do think the cube is more difficult to check for mites, but when I bring it back into use, I'll be much more aware. Reading many blogs about red mite, I was really worried about transferring it into the house, but that doesn't seem to have happened. Phew! My chicken store cupboard now looks like a store room for WMRMD weapons of mass red mite destruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 That's great news, keep up the regime now. I would suggest taking the cube apart, get all the panels laid out in the sun, jet wash, spray and powder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I dosed all of our birds with Ivermectin last week, after speaking to our vet; really easy to do to treat them for internal and external parasites. We had red mite last year but I sprayed everything with Perbio Choc RTU and haven't seen signs of any this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 Think I'll get some ivermectin. What dose is it Lewis? And where do you get that other stuff. I had a terrible time with red mite last year, even though I'm all omlet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I used 1% Ivermectin, 2-3 drops onto the skin as prescribed by my vet. Of course I know you'll speak to your vet to confirm first though I got the Perbio from Bagforce in Brackley, I emailed the manufacturer to see if there was anywhere closer that stocked it and had no reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
