hi, just joined this forum because of the red mite situation. Have been keeping chucks since October last year with no problems, then suddenly the dreaded red mite appear!!! Tried mite powder without much luck and not having that much in the way of money needed to find a cheap solution. there is one suggestion on this forum that was to try white vinegar. between a heat lamp and the white vinegar,close detail to every nook and cranny, and alot of persiverance we are winning the battle. white vinegar really dose work. Spay it on the actual red ones and they just sort of melt!!!!! The grey ones after a min or two stop moving, and the heat gun is great fun, just make sure you dont set fire to the hutch!!!!!!!!!! Give it a go? not too practical for a huge coop but o.k for those with back yard chucks.

 

Hi. thanks for the replies. we've now treated the coop with Indorex spray and the chucks with Frontline from the vets. the mites have managed to turn a bit of fun recycling our scraps into eggs into a very expensive hobby! We've also added cider vinegar to the water. We seem to be winning thebattle agaisnt the mites at the mo but I'm not happy with all the chemicals and the expense and I'm not convinced we've solved the problem.

The next plan is to use as many of the cheap and more natural solutions as possble. Going to invest in a new house and treat the old one with creosote substitute and then swap coops every 12 months, try builders lime on the ground and in the bedding, re-roof with onduline, keep cider vinegar in the water and treat the birds with Frontline regularly. I'm also considering Neem oil and Poultry shield but I'm not sure what they are and where I can get them from. any help please?

If all that effort fails I will have 6 hens up for adoption!!

Going to try this too! We have a weed wand and my husband is dying to get at the little mites with it!!

I've been ok recently, last time it was a right old pain

I would very much like to have details of your herbal solution for red mites.

marlo

For those with small coops I can thouroughly recommend steam cleaning. I used a household steam cleaner with a "steam wand" and went around every nook and cranny I could get to. I can't tell you how satisfying it is when you hit a pocket of them and they turn to something that resembles blackcurrant juice! (for best effect paint the inside of your coop a light colour - the purple streaks show up better) Remember to do your coop both from the outside and the inside (they can get a long way into the cracks) and because I had a particularly bad infestation this time I'm going to do it 3 or 4 times over the period of a fortnight. This seems to get rid of the vast majority of them very quickly but I guess there'll always be a few escapees so I'm going to try some of the other great ideas in this thread as well.

I am new to keeping chickens, we only have 5 in the back garden.  We discovered Red Mite and have been treating them with powder but i will also use some of the tips i've found on here.  My question is do they live on humans and in the house.  I found two in my hair today even though i haven't been near them today so they've stayed on me since yesterday, despite showering!  I feel like i have head and body lice!!  Please help.

don't panic... they will not stay ... however we used neem oil on mum when we found them on her! put it i your hair leave it for 15 mins then shampoo out ... you can also feed chickens neem leaf the mite does not like the taste !

I have had a few mite free years then a month ago - wham! Millions of the little buggers! We ended up with almost daily spraying with Jeyes Fluid alternating with Poultry Shield, coupled with flame throwing from our Creme Brulee flame machine. Oh and newspaper on the floor changed each day. I thought we had cracked it as I have not seen any for a week but today found a little fat huddle of them under the newspaper. Presumably newly hatched from eggs.

We did notice almost dandruff like white specs where we used to find mites - would that be eggs? To be honest we're getting a bit fed up with them and hope continued spraying / burning will end it.

The birds live in a wooden house (see them here=> www.etherington.com/eggs) with zillions of hidey holes so this could be a long term battle.

Is there a support group for mite sufferers? We could use one!

I had my 5 hens laying in the garden and not in laying boxes, so looked closer at house with was horrified to find red mites, after trying powder, jeyes fluid, hot pressure washer the little things were still there.

Purchased nippon ant and crawing spray from garden centre sprayed every nook and cranny of house ( chicken were not allowed near) left for two hour's and the little blitters come out of every where, found the places for laying mite eggs are in the knot holes in the timber so make sure you spray this knots well.

Pressure washed house well and let hens back in, now using paper bedding which hens seem to like, laying well again but I still remove perch and cover with vasaline to catch odd mite at night, spray small amount around end of perch support every day and inspect house every week. Look through a magnifying glass if you older like me ? it helps.

Nippon has no comments on container about not using near pets but if carefull I have not suffered any problems.

My birds have lost ther bottom feathers is this due to sitting on pirch with bum's against wall at night, ?

 We started keeping chickens about a year now.  All the comments and advice have been really useful, and the white vinegar seems to work well.  We have recently had a bad infestation of red mite.  One of the chickens (we only have three now) died recently.  We have also been itching and seeing mites on our bodies and hair.  This has gone on now for about two-three weeks!! Tried everything from bathing in tea tree oil, riddance neam shampoo.  Now on the Derbac M liquid which is for head, crab and scabies mites.  Keep washing the bedding and hoovering.  Any advice for herbal remedies.  Help!!

 

Hi, We have kept poultry for the last 12 years and I have also been searching for a herbal remedy for this problem.  We have tried T tree oil, Citronella sprays etc.  However, the only effective treatment in our experience is either Poultry Shield or Insectaway.  Poultry Shield is a concentrate (5ltrs) or 1tr and Insectaway is ready mixed (5ltrs) both leave a residue - so when the eggs hatch or the young mites come out of the nooks and crannies - they are also killed by the residue effect.  The insectaway residue lasts for 3 months.    If you are coming out of the poultry shed covered in mites - that does indicate a very severe problem and a particularly heavy infestation.  The problem is, that the mites are feeding from the birds at night when they are perching up and will (or have) become anemic and will die unless treated very soon.  They will stop laying, show signs of not wanting to enter the poultry house at night and become inactive - simply because they do not have any energy - they will also loose the red colour in their combs.  We get ours from Interhatch in Chesterfield by mail order (am I allowed to put that?) also they will probably need frontline or pour - on to rid them of any lice.  And a good dose of Intervits electrolyte powders to give them their strength back.  Hope this helps!!

 Hi Thanks for the info.  We have moved the hens to a new coop, burnt the other one and are taking lots of precautions for the hens e.g. dusting them with red mite powder, putting garlic in their water, painters mate mastic on all the joints and spraying with white vinegar, putting a white cloth up to identify any new mites.  We are being very vigillant for any further outbreak.  We are still worried about ourselves as the G.P. has not been helpful and the mites (don't know if they are actually red mite) on us that appear usually at night (which would suggest they may be red mite) are still present - usually crawling down from the head! We have tried head lice type shampoos and scabies/crab/lice lotion which we are applying again this week for the last time.  It is really getting down as the G.P. doesnt't really know about problems with animals.  The vet suggested we stick them onto sellotape from our bodies for them to be analysed/ for us to see a dermatologist. Again G.P. was not interested in analysing them.  Has anyone got any suggestions.  All the literature on the net seems to suggest red mites do not stay for long on humans

chickpea, we had very serious problems this year (they aren't over yet and I plan to try some of the suggestions here) and also had mites on us but found after a couple of weeks they simply disappeared, so I think they really can't live on humans for long and I think those with pets should be fine if you use spot on frontline since it's used to protect chickens from mites it should also work for cats and dogs.

Joined this forum to add my experience with mites. Have had a few chickens and ducks for about 10 years and not had a problem before. I now feel that I am living in a horror film nightmare and want to warn those of you also battling to really take care you wear disposable clothing when dealing with an infected coop.

 One Friday I gave mine a good clean out end of Sept unbeknown that it was totally infested. (Have not shut my birds up for many years and did not realise they were not going to bed in the house but did find it puzzling that the house was staying quite clean. Egg laying stopped recently too.)I only put up to my elbows in as I used abroom for the rest.Then I sat in sittingroom for a quick cuppa and then drove to pick daughter up from bus stop. Whilst waiting for the bus I felt a tickle on my skin and saw a tiny mite. Not having glasses on I couldn't see very well. When I returned home I had a good look at my jumper and I was crawling!!!!Got in bath and left clothes outside.  First bites appeared on Sunday.On  Monday, hubby emptied coop and creosoted it and had his legs bitten to pieces. By Thursday I had 60 bites on my body. We were marking them with a biro to know which were fresh. They itch worse than any other bites I know and continued to itch like mad for more than a week. The marks are still there at three weeks.Each night I would be picking mites off me. Everytime I drove the car I was bitten some more. I had obviously brought them into the house and the car and we were infested. The dog and cat were scratching and I suddenly realised why my goats had been so itchy, as the chickens like to go in the goat shed when it rains.

Next weekend ,the carpet went to the tip, the dog and cat frontlined, and we sprayed our whole house from top to bottom with indorex flea spray paying particular attention to chairs etc. The goats had spot on put on and we sealed up the goatshed and chicken houses(using the spare now) as best we could and sprayed with indorex here.Went to G.P who gave me lyclear to use on my hair and derbac for body.The flea spray does work in the house and we seem to be ok. here now although have no flooring  in our sittingroom as I can't afford it. My head is still itching like mad though and am going to have a second go with the nit shampoo. Also it has left my skin hypersensitive I itch all the time. I use a tens machine, previously with no problem with the sticky pads but since this episode, I now get terrible rashes where the pads are on my skin. The dog and cat are still scratching like mad having had a second dose of the liquid frontline a week after the first. All these chemicals cost me a cool £108. I hate my chickens now and just want to get rid of them but too scared to go near them and don't want to kill them.Had a couple of bad bites this week and paranoid they are chicken mite ones again.

Sorry this is so long but it needs being said. I am not scaremongering, it is all too horribly true. I feel so much better having read these other posts like chickpeas who makes me feel we are not the only ones out there suffering this nightmare . Chin up those of you.

P.S.We also tried petrol on the ones on hubbies overalls that he left in the greenhouse....they were still on them after 2 weeks and that kills em too!