The Poultry Keeper

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 497 Location: gwent

I cant beleive it but in the back of my mind i can we bought some birds in several weeks back and i kept them all separate in isolation in the houses they came in they were in poor condition when we bought them and the bloke clearley could not look after his animals so i just wanted to get them out of there anyway i isolated them for almost a month then i let the ducks in with my ducks in the big duck house but have kept the chickens separate to our lot then the day before christmas i was cleaning the chickens house out and i spotted them Shocked

damn red mite the tiniest of white specs moving slowly across the grain of the wood walking dust! Shocked

then i spotted another and then i really started to get itchy Anxious

when they were all coming out for the evening feast but i have a real good question to ask anyone with experience of them and ducks its obvious the chicken house was affected but i checked the house the ducks came in and bashed the sides cleaned out and still could not see any but the man we had them off only had them in a small garden and i was led to beleive he let them free range all the time together i also checked my duck house but can not see any signs before they went in with my duck house they were having a real good old splash in our pond and free ranged around but i wanted to know as red mite live in the housing and not on the birds whats the chances that with the ducks feathers being so tight to their body that they may of brushed them off in the pond and not carried any onto my main duck house?or am i just hoping i have treated them in red mite powder and i am waiting for my poultry sheild and diatom to arrive and have an action plan that includes creosote and ordering some ficam w as everyone recommended on here and am going to treat a few houses at a time then treat the birds and move them into the houses once they are safe until i have done every house i have just as well i have a few spare at the moment:roll:

Tarka · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 401

I can only confirm that the only 100% guaranteed sucsess would be to use " creosote " and soak it big style in every nook and cranny ..

Welsh Duck · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 2:14 pm Post subject:

I have never heard of redmite getting into a duckhouse. The main external parasite of a duck is the feather lice which can be seen underneath the wings of a duck, which is relatively easy to get rid of. I have been told that geese can occasionally get northern mites around their head.

Red mite get everywhere but I would have thought you would be very unlucky if it has got into your duckhouse. However I would probably treat it just a precaution. As for the duckhouse you bought, If the infected hens have been going in and out of it then I would definitely treat it, they may have been laying in there.

tuzo2k · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 206 Location: charente sw france

Sorry to disagree Tarka but Deosect is equally, if not more effective than creosote. I also creosote the houses as a wood preservative mainly.

tuzo2k · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 206 Location: charente sw france

Never heard of northern fowl mite around the head of a goose or duck. Where did you get that from?

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 2015 Location: norfolk

I cannot get creosote to work on mites. I have seen them doing the breaststroke in it and living in the freshly creosoted ends of perches quite happily.

I have only ever been able to get rid of them with Ficam W.

However, in January (hopefully) I am to be a distributer for a company in NZ which has a completely herbal mite destroyer. This is only a trial and I shall not be involved with this company in any way except to pass on small quantities of the mite destroyer for interested people. I have OKayed this with Stephen. The trial will be free except I will have to ask for postage. Will let you know when I get the stuff sent to me. I would be interested to know if anyone would like to try it out?

Henwife · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 3452 Location: Monmouthshire

I find creosote works and is the cheapest method of dealing with red mite.
If it's a really seriously infested house then it gets a second dose ten days later. VERY strong Black's disinfectant works too if you can live with a smelly garden - Jeyes Fluid with attitude.

Bhindi · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:17 pm Post subject:

Kated I would love to try it.. but I don't have any red mite... (yet?). so it would be pointless for me, but I'm sure there will be some willing people out there.. Have you tried it yet yourself?

CP · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:23 am Post subject:

kated, we'd be willling to give it a try, assuming the redmite make a return visit in our coop. (hopefully they won't but you never know..... Twisted Evil

)

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 2015 Location: norfolk

No Bhindi, have not yet tried it. Nor even had sight of it. I emailed a company that someone on here mentioned and they said they only supplied amounts to treat 1000 chickens upwards Shocked

I emailed them back about this forum and how there was great interest in less toxic methods of dealing with red mite and they have just replied to me out of the blue some 3 months later. They would like to do a trial and want to send me a small (ish) quantity, get me to divide it still further into tiny amounts and send it out to willing experimenters. Apparently a little of it goes a very long way. Thanks for your input Bhindi and CP. Will let you know when it arrives.

CP · Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks kated, will wait in anticipation...! Smile

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 497 Location: gwent

count me in for the trial too though i am hoping after tommorow i should have the issue sorted out but just incase some do escape all the stuff has arrived and after lastnights rain at least we had a dry forcast for tommorow so i can continue with the treatments i took all the felt off the roofs creosted one house the other evening and will be working through every house until they are all clear i am that paranoid all my bedding has gone to a new heap and my wheelbarrow is even getting the heat treatment from a plumbers torch in between houses just incase any stragglers are on it all my birds are confined to their inner runs until i am able to say they are definatley gone Wink

sunnysideuptoo · Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 2 Location: East Sussex

Hi, I had redmite in the summer and don't know if I've been able to irradicate it completely. I diatom every week when I clean the girls out and spray into the nooks and crannies too. But, I understand red mite are not very active during the cold weather and I have a feeling they'll be back with abudance in the spring. So, please count me in too!

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1633 Location: Carmarthenshire

Sorry to sound stupid but how to you know if you have red mite in the coops? I see red mite on our window ledges and on the garden walls when it's sunny but never in the coops. I do spray the coops with a mite spray every week as a precaution and mix mite, and louse, powder in the nest boxes twice a week - even during the winter. Is that enough to keep them away or should i be looking for some symptoms? I would prefer to use an organic way if possible as the stuff i use stinks and can't be very user friendly.

Chris

CP · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:51 am Post subject:

They're not the same thing Chris.

If you browse this forum you will see several threads concerning redmite - nasty things! Twisted Evil

There's also this http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/120/red-mite-and-northern-fowl-mite you can read too.

We use diatom all the time when cleaning out the coop. It does keep them away & it's a natural product. No nastY smells or chemicals. Poultry Shield can also be sprayed & we use this on occasion too.

But you have to always watch out for them as they will appear extremely fast if you let your guard down at all!