Red Mite......again

On Monday I had just sat down at my laptop after playing with my chickensin the run, getting them to jump on my knee to take treats out of my hands. I spotted the unmistakable little mite wandering across the bottom of my laptop screen. Recognised it instantly, even though it was not red, i.e. had not recently fed. I squished it

I trotted back to the chickens and looked carefully in the eglu and there was one little accumulation of red mites. Just in a corner between the roosting bars and the nest box. I looked very carefully, and could see others, but very few seemed to be moving. I dust the entire eglu with diatomaceous earth each time I clean it which, if the mites wander over it, dessicates and kills them. However I had become complacent. I wasn't checking the roosting bars as carefully as I should, and I wasn't washing everything each time, so I'd allowed the little mites to gain a foothold.

So I swung into action. Here are my steps for getting rid of red mite. I video'd myself during each step, and have made a recording probably as much for my own benefit as for anyone else. Nevertheless, I recall how worried I was the first time I had red mite so I hope this post and associated video will help any other backyard chicken keepers facing this teeny enemy for the first time. 

Day 1: Monday

Having discovered the mites, my priority was to remove the chickens to somewhere safe. Over the years I have acquired 4 eglus. I use only one in the main walk in run (WIR). I have another in the outdoor run. I have one set aside as a spare (in case the main eglu gets red mite) and I have another eglu plus tunnel permanently set up and empty as a hospital eglu. In this case, I removed the chickens from their red eglu in the WIR to the green hospital eglu. However to minimise the red mites that would transfer across with the chickens, I took each one out, one by one, and rubbed diatomacious earth into their bodies, focusing on chest, under wing, back and vent. 

Having cleared the WIR, I then dismantled the red eglu and moved it, and all the perching blocks, dustbaths, run enrichment toys etc out onto the grass. I sprayed everything, every nook and cranny, with mite killer. Any proprietory brand will do the trick. I have read that if you simply jet wash everything without first killing off the mites, you spread them all over your garden. 

I then left everything in the sun to sterilise.

Also, I took all my clothes off and put straight in the washing machine and had a shower to reduce the change of introducing red mite into the house.

Day 2: Tuesday

Today I cleared out all the bedding. This was a surprisingly tiring task. Previously I have made every mistake in the book. Clearing things without first killing the red mites, for instance - I once gave red mite infestation to my large black wheely bin once! That was disgusting. 

Again, total clothes change, wash clothes and shower before joining the household.

Day 3: Wednesday

Today is the fun day - jet washing. So enjoyable, yet I couldn't say why. I jet washed the spare pink eglu first - it was clean and clear of mites, but had got a little grubby as it had been stored outside. Then I jet washed the floor of the run and lastly the red eglu that had the mites. Before washing it, I checked carefully. There were still one or two little mites alive in the roosting bars. In fact, that was where they had been hiding out - the diatomaceous earth is a powder, and all the surfaces had been well covered, but underneath the bars was clear of powder and so an ideal breeding ground for the nasty little mites. 

I zapped them with mite killer before jetwashing the entire thing. I then took the door portion from the base portion and discovered that there were crevices there where mites could hide. Important to dismantle everything.

Having washed everything, I left it in the sun to try out. The red eglu has gone into storage ready for my next red mite problem. Provided it is unused for 8 months, any mites left on it (and I believe I've got rid of them all) will have died so it should be fine. 

Day 4: Thursday

Time to reassemble everything. I used Poultry shield on the pink eglu before reassembling it. I don't know if that will make much difference, but it can only help. I put everything back together in the WIR and dusted with diatomaceous earth. Then I moved the chickens back home. I took the opportunity to spray their legs with scaley mite spray just in case. 

Looking carefully at the green hospital eglu, I could see one or two clear mites (unfed) in the poop tray so there had obviously been some on the birds when I moved them across. Each time I handle the girls, I end up with up to 3 little mites on me. However they are all clear, unfed mites so I'm hoping that infestation will not build up either in the hen house, or in my home.

My plan moving forward is to clean and change the roosting bars and poop try every 3 days, and to reapply diatomaceous earth every day. I think the mites have a 5 day life cycle, so if I clean everything thoroughly every 3 days, and if in the interim the place is full of diatomaceous earth which should kill them, I'm hoping to eradicate them. 

If you don't have a spare eglu, then much of what I have done will not be possible. The first time I had red mite, I had only one eglu and I controlled it by cleaning regularly and spraying with mite killer. If they cannot find a little dark place to accumulate and breed, I think they will eventually die out. 

Here's an 18 minute video of the whole process

Red Mites!

Found, to my horror, that I had red mite in my pink Omlet cube housing four hens. I had cube and a separate pink eglu with separate run and 3 bantams. I dusted hens in diatomaceous earth, moved them to a clean red eglu that I also treated with poultry shield (PS) & diatom earth. This eglu is at the other end of the garden.

 I also checked the pink eglu and it appeared clear but I cleaned it with PS and dusted with diatom earth. I dismantled the cube & sprayed with PS that appeared to kill the mites. By this time they were everywhere and I was creeped out so I went inside, changed, washed my clothes and showered.

3 days later I checked both eglus. There were about 10 dead mites in the diatomaceous earth in the poop tray of the pink eglu. I suspect I may have introduced them myself when I was dealing with the cube. The red eglu appeared clear. I cleaned and retreated both eglus with PS and diatomaceous earth. I jet washed the cube and left to dry.

Next day I sprayed with poultry shield. Each time I checked, I would find a few more mites that I would kill. Meanwhile my bin was teeming with mites from the bedding I'd disposed of! Yeuch.

So I covered it with poultry shield which seemed to do the trick.  I am reassembling the cube bit by bit, spraying for mites as I go. I don't plan to put the hens back until November, but I would like it to be clear. I plan to use red mite concentrate on my birds, but have been using diatomaceous earth only so far. The four hens now in the red eglu are looking much better, nice red combs etc. However I'm sure that some of the mites will have moved across with them.

As I sit here in the garden, I have the odd mite (grey) wander across my iPad or arm. I checked the deckchair and there were two under the canvas fabric. Has my jet washing spread the mites across my lawn? Is it normal to have some level of mites in the environment and can I keep on top of them by cleaning my hens assiduously every 3 days?  I've read conflicting discussions. Can red mites live on me or on my cat? I've been washing my mite infested clothes, but can they survive water? Can they only lay eggs after a feed, and could they get a feed from me or my cat? When I catch them on my iPad, they are grey not red. Have I triggered some form of technologically adept red mite? Are they using my Twitter account to tweet their followers? :)))

I've had chickens for 10 years without red mite. This is such a shock. Yeuchy Yeuchy  Yuck Yuck

 I've been using a pink eglu cube for the past year and I wonder if it needs a more thorough cleaning regime. I've ordered every red mite product under the sun and read all manner of advice. The most helpful seems to be  http://poultrykeeper.com for advice. In particular this pageon  how to kill red mites and this blog post on how-to-get-rid-of-red-mites which described step by step how to clean and this page which lists the top 8 products, many of which I now have.

watch this space