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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 12:16 am Post subject: Redmite

Anyone else having a horrendous year for them? I had them at Christmas, nuked them all with a blowtorch and liberally dusted with diatom, job done.

But when we came back from a week away a couple of weeks ago, I had a MASSIVE infestation in one of the eglus, and a wooden coop with a stupid design. The eglu in particular was seething with the barbaric buggers.

The ground zero eglu is fine now. I pressure washed it, and sprayed with poultry shield, and moved it into the field. I replaced it with another (mite-free) eglu on the same spot, which is now also infested, despite spraying the ground liberally as well, and the poor hens being hock deep in diatom. I can't move it far within the garden, and I'm loathe to move it down to the field, as they are Jenna's special pet hens, and I want to keep them far away from the fox (who has yet to venture into the garden)

The growers wooden coop has a stupid design. You clean it with a pull out droppings tray, so it only has a small door, and its impossible to get in and spray it properly. I took the roof off, and sprayed it twice, but it's still badly infested and I can't seem to get all of the little sods.

Today, I found small numbers of mites in the big layers coop and the small growers coop, and even in the quail coop. I think there must be more in their run, because were sleeping in the coop today, and they don't usually. That's every house I have. I think the only occupied broody coop is ok, and the pressure washed eglu is fine, but it's right next to the growers coop, so it's only a matter of time before they are back in it if I don't get on top of it.

Obviously, I need to keep a better eye on them, and catch it earlier, but any tips on getting the current numbers down, especially on the ground. I'm going to try steaming cleaning the wooden coop, in the hope I can boil some of the sods in their crannies!

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 7:51 am Post subject:
Yes, also had them this year. Creosote (the proper stuff) didn't even deter them. The wooden chicken house has been set aside for burning. Also tried pressure washing. Fly and lice spray and the nettex red mite pink spray.

Midlandsman

Joined: 22 May 2014
Posts: 116

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 3:24 pm Post subject:
I know nothing of chicken keeping, but have read that Diatomaceous Earth is very good? MM

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 6:05 pm Post subject:

Shan wrote:

Yes, also had them this year. Creosote (the proper stuff) didn't even deter them. The wooden chicken house has been set aside for burning.

Also tried pressure washing. Fly and lice spray and the nettex red mite pink spray.

Did any of it work? I'm going to try steam cleaning next.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 6:06 pm Post subject:

Midlandsman wrote:

I know nothing of chicken keeping, but have read that Diatomaceous Earth is very good?

MM

Yes, diatom. It's worked fine for me before, but doesn't seem to be making a dent this time. The only other thing I can think of is a small fire where the infected coop was, and a lot more steam cleaning and pressure washing.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 17 7:25 am Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

Shan wrote:

Did any of it work? I'm going to try steam cleaning next.

Nope... none of it.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 17 9:44 am Post subject:

Have you just abandoned wooden housing? The ground zero eglu I pressure washed is fine now, but a previously mite-free one on the same ground is crawling. Long term, I'm going to house growers and layers in a Perspex greenhouse (in the garage, so they won't be too hot or cold). On a concrete floor, it should be foxproof and (relatively) easy to dismantle and pressure wash. And then keep young stock, breeders and broodies in eglus. But it won't be an overnight process and I'm worried about my hens in the meantime.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 17 10:10 am Post subject:
Yes. Wood is just a complete disaster. I do put Noromectin pour on onto the birds, which does seem to help.

frewen

Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 17 3:37 pm Post subject:
I kept mine at bay by washing down weekly with paraffin. It might help?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 1:17 pm Post subject:
Anything's worth a try at this stage. If I let them out, the fox will get them, if I leave them in, the redmite will eat them alive, poor things.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4626
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 6:49 pm Post subject:
What about herbs like fleabane, wormwood....?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 6:54 pm Post subject:
Blowtorch all the crevices of the wooden one and put vaseline liberally in all of them on the perches and joints so the buggers get stuck in it when they creep towards the hens to feed on them.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 10:24 pm Post subject:

I spent a very satisfying hour torching everything I could reach in the small house. Sizzle pop! It's such a stupid design - because it has a pull out droppings tray, it only has a hen-sized door, so it's impossible to get to all of it. Still, it will be some improvement for the poor hens. I was going to steam clean it, but the steamer didn't work. I had to vacuum it first though, because of all the diatom that isn't working clogging up the cracks! I might get a site vacuum, because that was quite satisfying.

The big house is more or less ok, I think the perches were the problem. There is a lot of redmite under accumulated crud on them, so I'm just going to replace them. Then I'm going to pressure wash the problem eglu and flood the ground underneath with boiling water.

The issue now is red mite on the hens. Jenna was checking them as I was torching the house, and the damn things ARE living on them. It was 7 this evening, and it wasn't just the odd one. There were lots on them. I'll try the ivermectin, or maybe frontline if it easier to get.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 7:20 am Post subject:
You can ask your vet to prescribe the cow stuff. Eprinex. The bottle is cow-sized and lasts for ages, obvs. Don't use it on the cock birds though, it interferes with fertility.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46187
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 12:13 pm Post subject:

every time i see the title i itch, thanks

re mites :

if you can move the birds do so, as far as possible is good, grannie limed the ground strait after moving the birds which seemed to reduce the mite load a lot as well as balancing the soil chemistry from the chook manure input.

dust or dose the birds in transit between old and new position, as well as treating the birds practice very good biosecurity during the transfer ie change clothes or carefully pass clean birds to a clean colleague etc between mitey and clean, lime treatment areas

for wood houses use genuine creosote and have enough housing that one can be "fallow" for a few months post treatment for the creosote to "mature" and any waiting mites that survived the cleaning, creosoting and liming to die off .

even if there is only one run being able to move the house and attack any mites under it is important.

boil wash clothes,have a long shower, antihistamine cream is nice

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