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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 6:06 pm Post subject:

Midlandsman wrote:

I know nothing of chicken keeping, but have read that Diatomaceous Earth is very good?

MM

Yes, diatom. It's worked fine for me before, but doesn't seem to be making a dent this time. The only other thing I can think of is a small fire where the infected coop was, and a lot more steam cleaning and pressure washing.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 17 7:25 am Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

Shan wrote:

Yes, also had them this year. Creosote (the proper stuff) didn't even deter them. The wooden chicken house has been set aside for burning.

Also tried pressure washing. Fly and lice spray and the nettex red mite pink spray.

Did any of it work? I'm going to try steam cleaning next.

Nope... none of it.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 17 9:44 am Post subject:

Have you just abandoned wooden housing? The ground zero eglu I pressure washed is fine now, but a previously mite-free one on the same ground is crawling. Long term, I'm going to house growers and layers in a Perspex greenhouse (in the garage, so they won't be too hot or cold). On a concrete floor, it should be foxproof and (relatively) easy to dismantle and pressure wash. And then keep young stock, breeders and broodies in eglus. But it won't be an overnight process and I'm worried about my hens in the meantime.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 17 10:10 am Post subject:
Yes. Wood is just a complete disaster. I do put Noromectin pour on onto the birds, which does seem to help.

frewen

Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 17 3:37 pm Post subject:
I kept mine at bay by washing down weekly with paraffin. It might help?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 1:17 pm Post subject:
Anything's worth a try at this stage. If I let them out, the fox will get them, if I leave them in, the redmite will eat them alive, poor things.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4626
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 6:49 pm Post subject:
What about herbs like fleabane, wormwood....?

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 6:54 pm Post subject:
Blowtorch all the crevices of the wooden one and put vaseline liberally in all of them on the perches and joints so the buggers get stuck in it when they creep towards the hens to feed on them.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 10:24 pm Post subject:

I spent a very satisfying hour torching everything I could reach in the small house. Sizzle pop! It's such a stupid design - because it has a pull out droppings tray, it only has a hen-sized door, so it's impossible to get to all of it. Still, it will be some improvement for the poor hens. I was going to steam clean it, but the steamer didn't work. I had to vacuum it first though, because of all the diatom that isn't working clogging up the cracks! I might get a site vacuum, because that was quite satisfying.

The big house is more or less ok, I think the perches were the problem. There is a lot of redmite under accumulated crud on them, so I'm just going to replace them. Then I'm going to pressure wash the problem eglu and flood the ground underneath with boiling water.

The issue now is red mite on the hens. Jenna was checking them as I was torching the house, and the damn things ARE living on them. It was 7 this evening, and it wasn't just the odd one. There were lots on them. I'll try the ivermectin, or maybe frontline if it easier to get.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 7:20 am Post subject:
You can ask your vet to prescribe the cow stuff. Eprinex. The bottle is cow-sized and lasts for ages, obvs. Don't use it on the cock birds though, it interferes with fertility.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46169
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 12:13 pm Post subject:

every time i see the title i itch, thanks

re mites :

if you can move the birds do so, as far as possible is good, grannie limed the ground strait after moving the birds which seemed to reduce the mite load a lot as well as balancing the soil chemistry from the chook manure input.

dust or dose the birds in transit between old and new position, as well as treating the birds practice very good biosecurity during the transfer ie change clothes or carefully pass clean birds to a clean colleague etc between mitey and clean, lime treatment areas

for wood houses use genuine creosote and have enough housing that one can be "fallow" for a few months post treatment for the creosote to "mature" and any waiting mites that survived the cleaning, creosoting and liming to die off .

even if there is only one run being able to move the house and attack any mites under it is important.

boil wash clothes,have a long shower, antihistamine cream is nice

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 1:11 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

every time i see the title i itch, thanks

.....

boil wash clothes,have a long shower, antihistamine cream is nice:lol:

Sorry about the itching.

They don't bother me. For ages, I was finding mites walking across my tablet screen in bed (after I shut up the hens at night) and I thought we had head lice, so treated us for that. They don't seem bite me, although I am already on high-strength, prescription-only antihistamines so I possibly wouldn't notice if they did bite!

The mites were in the eglu, which is harder to see into than a wooden house, and I just didn't notice. Poor stockmanship, I know. I did eradicate them, but either the birds themselves or the ground underneath them has reinfected the new house in a big way, in a short length of time. I wish the steam cleaner was working. I'm sure that would do for the buggers. And it would be even more satisfying than hoovering them up.

My other issue is the quail. These are handily located between the garden eglu that is really infested, and the wooden house with the stupid design. They is the odd mite in their houses but the don't sleep in it. I can't see any in their run, but I don't think I could spot then on the ground anyway. I can move them more easily.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 1:12 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

You can ask your vet to prescribe the cow stuff. Eprinex. The bottle is cow-sized and lasts for ages, obvs. Don't use it on the cock birds though, it interferes with fertility.

Is that ivermectin? I was vaguely wondering about frontline. I've used effectively for lice before.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 17 4:31 pm Post subject:

Eprinex or ivermectin pour on - you only need 3 drops for s standars hybrid and 4 for Orps or cockerels. Dont eat the eggs for at least a week.
Treat them again in 3 weeks.

For the house we used Dairy fly spray undiluted and then when dry with new wood shaving and poured a liberal dose of antpowder on top for them to dustbathe in.
Do the house every 4 days. We jetwashed it first, then moved it at least 100 yards before treating.

Thank God I dont have hens anymore - I spent a fortune on killing red mite.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Aug 04, 17 12:31 am Post subject:

Pressure washing is my new favourite thing. It's so satisfying! Byyyeeee mites (I poured six kettlefuls of boiling water over the ground too) Surely that will make a dent in the population at the very least?!

I did the perches from the big house, too. They're a bit old and crusty, and there was redmite living underneath the crud. I was going to burn them and buy new, but now they are all as good as new. I'm never scraping perches again! Hopefully, my new steam cleaner will arrive tomorrow, and I've also been out with the blow torch. A good steam is the last chance for the small house I think, because it should be mostly doable from the outside

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