Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Chickabee]

Red mitemare

 

Arghh yesterday a few, I sprayed

Today a plague I dismayed.

Ok nothing for it

The cube is dismantled, don't destroy it.

Been here before so many times

Who said plastic was beyond this bind

Take the cube apart

Throw it round the garden

Get out the hose spray it hard

Scrub, rub every nook and cranny

Curse and swear, don't tell my granny

Dry it, squirt it, put it back together

Pray that we'll have sunny weather.

Squirt again with chemical warfare

Refill the nest box and rooster with lots of non wood and diawotsit care

All calm til 10pm

Then I'll have to go out again

Got to treat the girls with drops on their neck

No eggs for now, but WHAT THE HECK!

[Beantree]

I enjoyed that poem Chickabee. Sums up where we were years ago.

 

Chemicals on their own don't work. Problem is that some red mite stay on the hens. The only system we have found that works for us is to clean the coop (steamer is best) and then check the perches every morning, squishing every red mite found on them. If the count doesn't drop quickly the coop still has red mite in it, so treat again.

 

Our neighbour had red mite; not a particularly bad infestation but they didn't wan't to go in at night. We have been treating his coop for over two months and have only just got down to a morning perch count in single figures.

[Chickabee]

I gathered that this morning when I still found a few of the blighters in the coop. Thanks for the heads up Beantree. It's amazing how they can multiply so quickly

[emmalou]

I have not had any issues with red mite but I am sure I will at some point. Are there any triggers for them? I clean the coop out every day, use DE and also use a ground sanitation product but would like to know what triggers them, if anything?

[Chickabee]

Wild birds I think. Hot weather makes it worse once you've got it

[Mars]

I wonder Chickabee if stapling "or taping or whatever" insect sticky pads under the roosting bars will help

[Chickabee]

Not a bad idea Mars. I'll investigate

[chickencam]

I have red mite in my Eglu at the moment, I have not really had a problem in there before but cleaned them out a couple of weeks ago and found a sudden infestation, with daily cleaning I have all but sorted it now, but I felt so bad when I found it. The girls were still sleeping in there every night

My wooden house was bad a few years ago but this year we have nothing, I think this is because the 3 girls currently in residence have spent the summer roosting in the perches in the run. I kept thinking that they were doing this because of red mite but the house is clean as a whistle and they go in there to lay. Maybe they remember previous summers or just prefer to perch.

[emmalou]

Wild birds I think. Hot weather makes it worse once you've got it

We do not get wild birds inside the run, so would that make a difference?

[Beantree]

Not having wild birds inside the run and a cover over it means the mites won't get to the chickens, if they are shed by wild birds. In our experience red mite is most likely to arrive on bought-in chickens or a second hand coop.

 

We tried fly paper pinned under the perches and found that red mite don't stick to it. We also tried a heat mat covered in fly paper to mimic the temperature of a roosting chicken, but the red mite ignored it, so it's not just body heat they are drawn to.

[Mars]

We tried fly paper pinned under the perches and found that red mite don't stick to it.

Beantree

What if you wrap them around the bars so they have to go through the fly paper before they get to the hens.

[The Dogmother]

The sticky paper thing isn't for stopping them.... It's for detecting mites.

 

I use spot on in all the birds, on a regular basis, I also use total mite kill products to clean the housing every week. Touch wood, no red mites here.