Help! Red mites - will I ever get rid of them?

[TheFowlAndThePussycat]

Our hen house is completely infested. I have sprayed the house out with insecticide every three days for the last week but I keep finding new places where they are hiding - today I have found hundreds between the roof felt and the roof.

It is an old style wooden house - full of nooks and crannies, have I got any hope of clearing them now? Or should I give up - get rid of the house & get a new plastic one?

Do they live in the ground? If I bring in a new house will that get infested too? The hens are temporarily relocated into an old run, but I'm not very happy with it because it wasn't designed for so many hens (5) so I need to make some quick decisions really.

Any advice gratefully received!

Hi, I had no idea about red mites until a hen of ours died. A friend put us on to Jeyes Fluid (what insecticide are you using?) and it's done the trick. We first sprayed the house completely, then left it for an hour or so open in the wind (you can see all the mites coming out, eurghhhh) and then sprayed it again. I think the next day my husband actually took the house apart ( it had come flat packed anyway) and he covered it in an acid (as he calles it, not neccessarily an acid, it's what he uses to clean alloy wheels on lorries....!) and then pressure washed it to clean it. Then put it back together, painted it with a Ronseal type stain as the pressure washer and acid stripped the wood and once that had dried we sprayed it again with jeyes. We spray it once a week or fortnight with Jeyes now and haven't had them back. Actually you've reminded me, it needs doing. We bought a garden sprayer, the ones where you build up the pressure by pumping the top, and it sits beside the house ready for use. It only takes a few minutes to spray it, and do make sure you get all the nooks and crannies.
So, yes it is possible but it's quite a task! Good luck, let me know how you get on!

Thanks brambelina, that was our next plan, to pull the house apart and spray all the pieces separately, although ours didn't come flat-pack, so I have no idea if it will go together again. We are using something called 'total mite kill', but I will give it a go with Jeyes.

I have a phobia of swarming insects - so this had freaked me out completely! I was all for burning the house and starting again, but DH is a bit less impulsive!

Thanks again.

We have an eglu and just power wash it and disinfect it. Never had a problem with red mites. I did however, buy three silkie chickens with scaly leg mite and have been busy fighting them with vasaline and ivermectin for the last three weeks.

How long have you had the eglu sparky? Is it worth the £££££?

We had red mite. I spent a whole summer spraying the wooden coop. Every time I thought I got on top of them they came back. Then they died down over a cold winter, but came back the next summer. I tried loads of different sprays, the smoke bombs, pressure washers, diacromatic earth ...

In the end I gave up and bought an omlet cube. The red mite have gone and it's generally so much easier to clean out. Sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear!!

I dont have a cube, just a classic. I looked on ebay until I found one cheaply in my area on buy it now. I had an old mark 1 eglu I got off gumtree for 110 for a while then I got fed up and looked out for a mark 2 version on ebay. Finally found one on buy it now for 120 about 10 miles away and bought it. Was only up 15 mins, was just lucky seeing it before someone else did. Then I sold my old mark 1 version on ebay and got 198 for it!

For 5 hens though you would need a cube.

Seeing as you have different accommodation for the hens at the moment, could you creosote the inside of the hut? I always do that when I buy either a new or a second hand wooden hut. Keeps the blighters away for a while. I do two coats, a day apart. You'd have to keep the hens out of it for a while, that's the only thing, until it had dried a bit.

Since my mark 1 classic was 10 years old and still went for 198 pounds on ebay I would say they hold their value really well. So you can reason that you would get at least half the new price back if you sold it, therefore they are not that expensive.

Though I would still look out on gumtree, preloved and ebay for a used one in your area which you could probably sell for almost the same price as you pay if you ever decide not to have any more chickens.

Yes, would need a cube - have had a quick look on gumtree but none nearby. Don't ever intend to give up my girls though, so perhaps I should see the cube as an investment!

So question is - take the old house apart and douse the little buggers in Jeyes and/or creosote or give it up as a bad job & get a cube? Maybe I'll give the old house one last go & take the roof off, but keep checking gumtree in the meantime!

Thanks for all your help everyone.

Anyone else with advice on mites?

My neighbour swears that the only thing that works is creosote!

You need a blowtorch. I hate those little fuckers and in desperation after trying everything on the market I burnt the things to death. I had 40 hens so it was a big job but it really did work. I didn't blowtorch the birds BTW, just the bird houses.

(Suspect this is a stupid question) - how do you blowtorch them without setting the house on fire?

We used one of the bomb things last summer. Fingers crossed no mites atm but am spraying all the crevices with mite kill every time I clean out. Will give the girls a precautionary dust with powder this week I think.

Where do the mites actually come from if hens are in a run (and therefore not near wild birds)?
Someone told me they can be in woodshavings but I'm not sure, the shavings I buy look pretty clean.

You keep the blowtorch moving, that way it scorches the wood but doesn't set it on fire. I had a spray bottle of water ready for any flames. In my experience the mites come with the birds.

Diatomaceous earth :)

But I had the birds for a year before we had any sign of redmite. Perhaps it has to be a certain temp before they hatch or something...

I've had my hens for 5 years and this is the first time we have had mites. I use DE liberally when I clean them out, but they seem to have overcome it on this occasion. DH reckons it is the warm winter to blame.

This stuff actually works
www.cotswoldchickens.com/ekmps/shops/cotswoldchick/images/net-tex-total-mite-kill-spray-106-p.jpg

So, red mite update (I know that you've all been on tenterhooks ).

Having had three doses of the pink stuff we stripped the house down today and painted the whole lot with wood preserver (not creosote, but we had gallons of it in the shed).

We've replaced the roofing felt and the whole lid on the nest box. The chickens have moved back in.

If the mites come back I am reverting to the 'burn it and buy an eglu' plan.

Have you hung them all upside and properly dusted them too?

Yes, twice. They were furious .

Lol :o

Oh god, they are back. After 4 days!

Did you use the pink stuff I linked to?
You have to absolutelyvsoak and rub it in and has to keep being repeated. They don't just die straight away as there will be some still on your chickens

I would make sure your chickens are being fed a pick me up too (poultry spice in cat food) and cider wine in their water x

Just carry on but I understand its a nightmare, especially when they crawling over you and biting you Urgh!