The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:

jewels wrote:
"pammyT" fenlandfowl @talktalk.net wrote in message
...


-- "jewels" wrote in message
...
I keep chickens and use their spent bedding to add to compost
heap.
I have an infestation of red mite in the henhouse at the moment
so
they are present in the chicken droppings/straw bedding mixture.

Is it safe to add this manure to the compost heap? I guess the
compost heap gets quite hot but red mite like the warmth.

Any advice/comments would be appreciated.

Burn the little barstewards.

purebred poultry

I'm gonna get'em, they don't know it yet but I'll get'em!

Seems a shame if the droppings etc are no good for the compost heap


Whatever kills the mites won't stop the good stuff from composting,
surely?

In a compost bin with no food supply and winter frosts, the mites
will be compost long before they meet a chicken again.

You need to sort out the problem with the chickens though. Dust the
chickens with an appropriate powder (RTFM beforehand!!!!) and
thoroughly scrub rinse and diinfect the chicken shed, then dust it when
it's dry. Burn all nest-bedding straw, and pay particular attention to
cleaning the ends of perches etc. To avoid re-infestation, keep the
chicken shed clean and make sure the birds have clean soil to dust-bathe
in. It's also useful to get your chickens well used to being picked up
and handled calmly and their feathers stroked,, so that you can turn
them over and examine under their wings without distressing them. Their
baldy little "armpits" are the commonest site to spot signs of mites

Janet