On Mon, 9 Aug 2010 22:08:53 +0100, wrote
(in article ):

Christina Websell wrote:
When the mites come out at night,to bite the roosting chicken that has
been dusted, the mites will die. That was the advice of our vet
That has not been my experience. Redmites need serious insecticide

Well, Nick has dusted them and neem oiled them (my were the chickens unhappy
with that!) and we took the torch out to see what was going on.
As far as we can tell, there is definitely a cut in numbers, and there are a
lot of dead looking ones. But they are by no means gone.

Vicky, the point is that if you only dust the birds, it is only the mites
which land /on the birds/ which will be killed, you will do nothing to break
the breeding cycle. Not all mites will come out to feed every night, they
can live a long time away from food (ie your hens).

You really have to do the house thoroughly and frequently with an appropriate
insecticide; and I have also found that steam cleaning is brilliant /in
addition/ to the insecticide. That is why I originally said (rather
briefly!), steam clean first (borrow one if necessary), then pressure spray
with Poultry Shield (or try Tina's suggestion of Dettol, which I have no
personal experience with). Then when all is dry, add Diatom to the perches
and crannies, and dust the birds.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Posted through uk.rec.gardening

Sally Thompson wrote:
Well, Nick has dusted them and neem oiled them (my were the chickens unhappy
with that!) and we took the torch out to see what was going on.
As far as we can tell, there is definitely a cut in numbers, and there are a
lot of dead looking ones. But they are by no means gone.

Vicky, the point is that if you only dust the birds, it is only the mites
which land /on the birds/ which will be killed, you will do nothing to break
the breeding cycle. Not all mites will come out to feed every night, they
can live a long time away from food (ie your hens).

Oh, sorry, I in no way meant to imply that he was only doing the birds! he
has caked the house in dust, and has sprayed neem oil all over the place.

You really have to do the house thoroughly and frequently with an appropriate
insecticide; and I have also found that steam cleaning is brilliant /in
addition/ to the insecticide. That is why I originally said (rather
briefly!), steam clean first (borrow one if necessary), then pressure spray
with Poultry Shield (or try Tina's suggestion of Dettol, which I have no
personal experience with). Then when all is dry, add Diatom to the perches
and crannies, and dust the birds.

Yes, the plan is to take the whole thing apart and to steam clean and/or
dettol (I think Nick said Jeyes fluid, actually, but I guess they have the
same effect!) - it's just not been possible to do it so far due to various
things, which is unfortunate for the birds, but we are trying to make them
as comfortable as possible without having to totally rip their home apart
more than is necessary!


--

In article ,
Judith in France wrote:

Oh dear, red spider mites are awful things. My neighbour keeps hens,
free range, commercially. She has two sets of hen houses and each
year she rotates her stock so that 1 set is left unoccupied for a
year. She seeems to have little trouble with mites etc. I suppose
this might be a bit difficult for private use. Thankfully my hens
remained mite free.

The only hen that might suffer from red spider mite is a fat one :-)

More seriously, red spider mite is a plant parasite; fowl mites
are different.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message
...
Sally Thompson wrote:
Well, Nick has dusted them and neem oiled them (my were the chickens
unhappy
with that!) and we took the torch out to see what was going on.
As far as we can tell, there is definitely a cut in numbers, and there
are a
lot of dead looking ones. But they are by no means gone.

Vicky, the point is that if you only dust the birds, it is only the mites
which land /on the birds/ which will be killed, you will do nothing to
break
the breeding cycle. Not all mites will come out to feed every night,
they
can live a long time away from food (ie your hens).

Oh, sorry, I in no way meant to imply that he was only doing the birds!
he
has caked the house in dust, and has sprayed neem oil all over the place.

You really have to do the house thoroughly and frequently with an
appropriate
insecticide; and I have also found that steam cleaning is brilliant /in
addition/ to the insecticide. That is why I originally said (rather
briefly!), steam clean first (borrow one if necessary), then pressure
spray
with Poultry Shield (or try Tina's suggestion of Dettol, which I have no
personal experience with). Then when all is dry, add Diatom to the
perches
and crannies, and dust the birds.

It's my first try with 50% dettol solution, seem to be working.

Yes, the plan is to take the whole thing apart and to steam clean and/or
dettol (I think Nick said Jeyes fluid, actually, but I guess they have the
same effect!)

No, no, no. Never Jeyes Fluid. It's very toxic for animals and birds.

Christina Websell wrote:
It's my first try with 50% dettol solution, seem to be working.

Nick just did a late night blitz with the steam cleaner then neem oiled the
birds and the nest box again. Apparently all 6 are trying to force their
way into the little daytime 'nest' in the main run.

Yes, the plan is to take the whole thing apart and to steam clean and/or
dettol (I think Nick said Jeyes fluid, actually, but I guess they have the
same effect!)
No, no, no. Never Jeyes Fluid. It's very toxic for animals and birds.

Presumably the idea was to wash it off afterwards. But I shall pass it on.

He /says/ he couldn't see any after the steam cleaning (and it's been
getting so bad they've been swarming out in the daylight!). I guess now we
wait and see after a few days if there's any more hatching out.

Ick, I'm all itchy again now!