The Poultry Keeper

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2299 Location: North Cornwall

I dont think you have red mite.

Red mites live in cracks in the house, at perch ends and anywhere where they can crawl away from daylight. They are nocturnal. If you have a bad attack you find them in clusters on the under side of the perch when you open the house up first thing in the morning. They are fat with blood then and bright red. I think you may get the odd one or two left on the birds at dawn but mostly they do not live on the birds altho some will say different. I have had a couple of bad attacks but never found any on my birds.
I've spent a fortune on different products and a steam cleaner, all work but none as good and for as long as the proper creosote.
We buy ours from an agricultural merchants.

nenee · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 56 Location: north wales

Hi ya

I think ur right, i cleaned out my coop today and checked each bird thoroughly, couldnt find anything, think its me being a worrier and looking for things that arent there lol Rolling Eyes

I let them round the garden for first time today after keeping them in their new coop to get use to it for a few days, and they are soooo happy as i have a massive garden theve been in the leaves , iv seen them eat worms etc i gave them a fresh corn on the cob and they picked it dry(only afternoon time so they eat their pellets first)

my cats are scared of them and my little dog acted like they werent even there so funny

they are so friendly they follow me everywhere oh and they are nosey little girls they watched everything you do i m hooked love my girls Very Happy

Im going to get some creosote for next time i clean the coop as a preventative measure.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DRY BEFORE I PUT MY GIRLS BACK IN THE COOP ?? dont want to make them sick bless them Embarassed

cheers