Loads of times, they are itchy beggars aren't they? I always wear a hat but they still make me itch. 
Bodger, that creature in your sig. is just cruel! I jumped out my skin! 
Meg - Are you rid of them yet? I think I'd have gone straight for a lice treatment. Would be good to know what actually worked.
gythagirl
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Gosh, I really HOPE she's rid of them - red mite in your hair for 15 months would be no fun at all!!!!
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Bodger
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Redmite wont stay on you for 15 months. If they do get on you, they wont stay on you for any length of time, they're just passing through. I'm not talking about the ones that you manage to swallow by the way.
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yummersetter
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In one of my Victorian smallholders magazines they wrote about an autopsy on a red mite infested canary. They found some in its heart.
Anyone feeling unwell?
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Green Rosie
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I wasn't ....
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Mithril
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In one of my Victorian smallholders magazines they wrote about an autopsy on a red mite infested canary. They found some in its heart.
Anyone feeling unwell? |
Eww, thank you for that 
I hadn't noticed the date of the first post 
OtleyLad
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This happened to me a few years back (the chickens have gone now  ). I itched like crazy for a week or more. The anti-lice shampoo from the chemist didn't work either.
I think the mites came from an adjacent apple tree - it had grown over the shed and the mites simply dropped in.
I cut the branches back well away from the shed and they didn't come back (I treat the shed with some nasty chemical that you can't get anymore - it got rid of them).
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Green Rosie
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I'm just off to fry and few more 
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Chickpea
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I just spent £34 on Total mite kill, in concentrate form, can form and powder for the overnight explosion! Yesterday the whole henhouse was cleared, sprayed and dried, restocked with fresh shavings and today there are more on the underside of the perches! I sprayed there with something that said three months protection! They obviously didn't read the can!!! I've just resprayed, but the blow torch comes out later! I cannot believe how many there are, and they do crawl on you while treating... Ewwwwww horrid!
At more suggestions to help further to what I'm already doing? A
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dpack
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we recently had an outbreak among the guinea pigs.pyrethrum 1% spray did the job in 3 apps a week apart
for houses ,fire,creosote .derris powder,diatom dust in the earth bathing tub with dry earth
for people dog shampoo
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Mithril
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we recently had an outbreak among the guinea pigs.pyrethrum 1% spray did the job in 3 apps a week apart
for houses ,fire,creosote .derris powder,diatom dust in the earth bathing tub with dry earth
for people dog shampoo |
Very useful to know, thanks.
(Also, didn't realise guinea pigs got them. Oh joy).
Nicky cigreen
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I think they can come in on wild birds - they can certainly come in on new poultry - so they clearly live on the birds some of the time.
blow torch and diatom keep it under control here.. you have to make repeated attacks on them to break the cycle
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dpack
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keep at it until no more hatch.
creosote is vile stuff and properly discouraged by statute but it did work very well on wooden hencoops
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Chickpea
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Ive just taken the blow torch to them, and smeared vaseline around the legs of the perches, and then sprayed with Total Mite Kill (again), and then Diatom.... im doing all I can and wont be defeated! My girls free range in woodlands, so could they be picking them up themselves and bringing them in???
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Chickpea
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Ok, just discovered red spider mite in my hair too. They must have dropped onto me while I didn't realise they were there yesterday, and my pillow is spotted with blood, which means they have been feasting... YUKKKKKKKK. How do I get rid of the a. I've washed my hair, conditioned it, and run a nit comb through and a few came out. This is my worst nightmare....
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Mithril
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Ok, just discovered red spider mite in my hair too. They must have dropped onto me while I didn't realise they were there yesterday, and my pillow is spotted with blood, which means they have been feasting... YUKKKKKKKK. How do I get rid of the a. I've washed my hair, conditioned it, and run a nit comb through and a few came out. This is my worst nightmare.... |
Oh my goodness - what a nightmare! 
An earlier post suggested dog shampoo for your hair. Do you have a wooden bed frame? 
Chickpea
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I do have a wooden bedstead, it's been stripped back and doused with lavender oil today, no undesirables found... Now not sure these are red mite, certainly in the coop and henhouse there are, or hopefully were, but these are smaller. And are in the air.
Today the henhouse has been thoroughly sprayed again with total mite kill, and where little (no huge pockets of them today, thank goodness) the blow torch came out! We seem to be on top of it for now, but the treatment will be repeated every day for a week more, to break the cycle.
Anybody want 7 fantastic layers?
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Chickpea
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Folks, I have been blow torching, cleaning and spraying every tiny nook, cranny and wall. There were still just a very few today, I've been spraying since the 1st and it's the 7th, could it be the end of the cycle? My girls are very unsettled as I've removed all their bedding to make it earlier to blow torch! They are very very noisy, neighbours not happy!!
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Green Rosie
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Same here Chickpea - there were still a few when I wiped under the perches this morning but I think regular blow torching is the answer. Mind you staggering home from friends at 2am and then heading off to blow torch the mass eruption of the little blighters makes me very glad not to have neighbours who can see me!
That said I still have the coop from hell to deal with - the one I went to clean out after a week or so without any chooks in it and I was literally covered in the things. I blow-torched and treated that one and since then I have just left the door shut - not sure what I'll find when I re-open it but I will be doing so in the equivalent of a bee suit 
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Bodger
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Chickpea. I've bought the same stuff as you and I'm spraying every other day with the same result. I don't rate the stuff at all but still have loads of it left. To say that I'm disappointed, is to put it mildly
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Chickpea
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I've had to order more Total Mite Kill Concentrate, I've used it every day for a week, if its not working as it should the mites must be getting immune! The powder is next to useless too! When this is cleared I'm having to rehome them as the neighbours 7 houses down have made comments about the noise! It's only because I've removed their bedding!
What else can we do, any other treatment? He blow torch is ok, but it's a wooden home! I've noticed most mites are on the perches.
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Mithril
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Have you tried Poultry Sheild? The write-ups seem good and although I haven't had hens long (two years) I've never seen any trace of red mites. (I use it in the coop once a week, as a preventative).
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Poultry_Shield.html
Edit: just looked at their website and they recommend (if poultry shield and diatom don't work) the Poultry Keeper range of products.
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Poultry_Keeper_Range_Mite_Killers.html
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Annette H
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I found redmite in one of my pens last week, I think the hot weather has caused a population explosion.
I creosoted the pen inside and out first thing in the morning and replaced the bedding with old paper feed sacks. Its done the job. I am changing the paper sack every two days and using diatom on top. I burn the sacks but so far no sign of any mites hiding.
This is a pen with lots of nooks and crannies so difficult with spray. I only ever found the mite kill spray to be partly useful though. Creosote really does so the job. The hens were back in on the night with no ill effects. I think they preferred the fumes to the pesky mites 
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Nicky cigreen
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aggh this thread makes me so itchy!
Rosie - is it worth sealing up the empty hen house and trying one of those smoke cone things? I don't know if it would work but I would be tempted
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Green Rosie
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aggh this thread makes me so itchy!
Rosie - is it worth sealing up the empty hen house and trying one of those smoke cone things? I don't know if it would work but I would be tempted |
And you are red mite free!
In France we can buy aerosols of insecticide spray for houses where you put the can in a room, lock down the nozzle, leave and close door and it will fumigate the whole room. OH reckons that might work for red mite too. Reading the can it says the active ingredients are:
1. Flufénoxuron which inhibits the development of chitin and so is effective in killing eggs, larvae and adults
2. Perméthrine which kill ticks, MITES, cockroaches, spiders, ants, bugs and flies and prevents recontamination.
Whoa - nasty stuff but needs must ....
Chickpea
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I read the spray bottle of poultry shield and it seemed to be used as a general disinfectant. Only found a couple of mites today, blow torching gets them. The. Another spray of total mite kill, which isn't doing what it says! It's an uphill battle....
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Chickpea
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So where do you get creosote?
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Annette H
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So where do you get creosote? |
The drum I have came from ebay but I see they only have the substitute on sale now which I am sure I have read, does not do the job. Do you have a local farm supplier?.
I was talking to a friend earlier, she has 20 or so hens and just does the pens and perches with flyspray, apparantely Morrisons 80 pence works fine 
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I have read about Ficam too but not used it myself, It does work but needs careful handling. I tried the smoke cones a couple of years ago, no good at all but there are lots of tiny gaps in the pens where the smoke could have escaped.
I also tried Indorex flea killer as it has a 12 month residual effect, again, no good . Its only the creosote that has saved our home made wooden coops.
Bodger
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I'm going to send for some more of this stuff. Its just a matter of sorting out the best deal, what quantity I'm likely to need and which best suits my pocket.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC0.A0.Xdiatomaceous+earth.TRS0&_nkw=diatomaceous+earth&_sacat=0&_from=R40&clk_rvr_id=507948243026
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Woodburner
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I found redmite in one of my pens last week, I think the hot weather has caused a population explosion.
I creosoted the pen inside and out first thing in the morning and replaced the bedding with old paper feed sacks. Its done the job. I am changing the paper sack every two days and using diatom on top. I burn the sacks but so far no sign of any mites hiding.
This is a pen with lots of nooks and crannies so difficult with spray. I only ever found the mite kill spray to be partly useful though. Creosote really does so the job. The hens were back in on the night with no ill effects. I think they preferred the fumes to the pesky mites |
Every two days is . . . I'm tempted to say overkill, but that's not it. It's not going to help. They like nooks and crannies that smell of red mite, a bit like rats like places that smell of rats and mice like places that smell of mice, so if you take away the sacks too soon, the RM won't be in them anyway.
The first year I had chooks in a big coop, I lined the coop floor with corrugated cardboard, clearing it out with the bedding every 3 weeks to a month. I had no RM worth mentioning until the next year when I got low on cardboard and slacked off chucking it out . . .
Chickpea
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Picking real creosote up tomorrow! I WILL win this battle!!!!
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Annette H
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That is interesting about the mite smell Woodburner. Tbh after all the nooks and crannies have been flooded with creosote I am not sure the mites would try hiding in them again .
Its probably true that I am changing the paper to often but the first time there were some determined little beggars hiding in the bag lining. The last few changes, nothing at all. I do think the diatom as a back up really helps too.
Its not the largest of my coops but eight of the birds insist in living in it so the floor does get pretty messy quickly especially after the heavy rain we have had.
Good luck Chickpea. Wear old clothes and gloves!. I love the smell of creosote but my Husband absolutely hates it. The smell reminds me of childhood when everyone sloshed it on their wooden fences, its a great preservative too.
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Nicky cigreen
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big fan of diatom here
also I whitewash the hen houses when they are empty - I figured this would help fill in the crooks and nannies
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Bodger
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I've cresoted this summer and it did kill loads of the mite, you could see them crawling out of the woodwork to die but they were back within a few days.
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Mithril
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This just popped up on FB. Might be useful.
http://flytesofancy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/top-tips-for-getting-rid-of-red-mite.html?spref=fb
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Green Rosie
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No mention of blow torching though and I have found that the most effective method of eradicating them.
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Nicky cigreen
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perhaps they don't sell blow torches?
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Chickpea
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Used Jeyes Fluid in the end, thing s, there were no mites left! So maybe the TMK does work!
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Mithril
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perhaps they don't sell blow torches? |
Oh well, I thought it might have been helpful.
Green Rosie
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perhaps they don't sell blow torches? |
Oh well, I thought it might have been helpful.
It was good otherwise
Chickpea
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Gosh, they are tenacious little critters, aren't they? Half the problem was ours, in that when we had made the perches higher, the join is where all the eggs were, so daily we had a few hatching out! Legs sorted and now the tracked down old real creosote is going on... Fingers crossed, this is day 11 of daily treatment!!!!
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Bodger
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I've started to replace the tongue and groove rooves on my factory made chicken sheds with Onduline sheets. This morning, I've stripped the first one off and OMG! No wonder I've been facing an up hill struggle to keep the redmite in check this year. There were thousands of them, both under the roofing felt and where the planks were fastened to the frame. I've sprayed all the ones that have been exposed and now I'm giving the insecticide time to work before carrying on.
I've got another three sheds to do after this one and after they've been done, hopefully I'll have better luck in trying to keep things in check.  Take it from me, if you have roofing felt on your chicken sheds, you definitely need to get rid of it. 
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Chickpea
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I have one of those black wavy roofs on my whole henhouse/run, no place for the blighters to hide! I do however have a small piece of roofing felt on egg laying part, which I shall duly remove! We have done the job though, NO red mite left, every nook, cranny and other place has been blowtorched, sprayed wi various mite kill products, and lastly good old fashioned creosote soaked into the crevices. It's been going on since 1st August, and I shall not let down my guard..
Does anybody know whee these things come from? I have woodland behind the run, do they live on dead wood or something.
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Bodger
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Wild birds.
I'm going to have to cut my Onduline sheets down to fit the roof and I should have enough left to replace the board and felt roof on the nest boxes.
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Home Home Home Home Home
. She has long curly hair too.
