dinosaw
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Just thought i would post an update on how I got on with the red mite in my green frog now that it's been a bit over three weeks, sorry if it's a bit long.
The manufacturers of plastic coops never claim that you won't get red mite in them, but one of their major selling points is that if you do it is easier to eradicate the mite, I have had a chance to put that to the test. Firstly the good news for green frog owners, I haven't seen a single mite INSIDE the coop since my first blitz on it three weeks ago, for that I took the whole thing apart, moved it 20m from the run (don't know how far red mite will crawl) and hit it with boiling water, poultry shield and permethrin powder (Wilko ant killer). Every week since, i have gone back and taken it apart in situ and given it a treatment with poultry shield and powder being careful to hit every nook and cranny.
Now the bad news, the perches!. I treated them in the same way as the house and in addition used vaseline on the perch ends, the gap between perch and house and in the lynchpin holes where I had found most of the red mite. For the first couple of days after cleaning the house I went down daily to check the perches, no mite on the perch itself, but pulling the lynchpin up there were always plenty of grey red mite, nice to know they weren't feeding but the number of new ones I was pulling up each time was worrying. It was then that the penny dropped!, the perches are hollow!!, there is an approx 9mmx2mm slit that runs all the way through them and that was where these new mite were coming from. Given that they say they can live for 6 months without feeding this was a long term problem I could do without, so I made a couple of new perches from wood, same size and shape and replaced the plastic perches, since then the coop has been completely mite free as far as I can tell. I thought it would be interesting to do a little experiment with the plastic perches so I kept them and totally sealed them with vaseline, every week I checked them, every week red mite came out on the lynchpins. At the weekend I sawed them open to see how far the mite had penetrated and found them at four inches along the perch but not as far as six inches, bearing in mind this was a small scale outbreak, (dozens of mites found in the coop rather than hundreds) it is entirely possible they could colonise the entire centre of the perch and there would be no way to kill them apart from sealing them up for six months with vaseline. This for me is a serious design flaw as there is no point in designing a house where it is very easy to eradicate mite and then provide perches where it is virtually impossible.
All in all I'm very happy with the green frog and how easy it was to fight the mite in it, but would have the following advice for fellow owners.
Remove the vent covers, the washers underneath can harbour mite and your unlikely to nee them anyway
Don't bother putting the clips through the pins that hold the coop together apart from those on the back door opening/closing handle(which you need or they fall out), the coop is perfectly sturdy without them and they really slow down taking it apart and putting it back together.
If you can replace the perches then do, the hollow is a mites dream home, if not make sure the end slits and pin holes are smothered in vaseline.
Take the coop apart FULLY every couple of months, I thought I was being quite thorough in my anti mite cleaning program but they just turned up in the areas that I hadn't dusted/disinfected.
When taking the coop apart wait till ALL of your hens have layed!!!, did I get a telling off from one of my white stars as I rushed to assemble the coop and put the nest boxes back in place for her.
The manufacturers of plastic coops never claim that you won't get red mite in them, but one of their major selling points is that if you do it is easier to eradicate the mite, I have had a chance to put that to the test. Firstly the good news for green frog owners, I haven't seen a single mite INSIDE the coop since my first blitz on it three weeks ago, for that I took the whole thing apart, moved it 20m from the run (don't know how far red mite will crawl) and hit it with boiling water, poultry shield and permethrin powder (Wilko ant killer). Every week since, i have gone back and taken it apart in situ and given it a treatment with poultry shield and powder being careful to hit every nook and cranny.
Now the bad news, the perches!. I treated them in the same way as the house and in addition used vaseline on the perch ends, the gap between perch and house and in the lynchpin holes where I had found most of the red mite. For the first couple of days after cleaning the house I went down daily to check the perches, no mite on the perch itself, but pulling the lynchpin up there were always plenty of grey red mite, nice to know they weren't feeding but the number of new ones I was pulling up each time was worrying. It was then that the penny dropped!, the perches are hollow!!, there is an approx 9mmx2mm slit that runs all the way through them and that was where these new mite were coming from. Given that they say they can live for 6 months without feeding this was a long term problem I could do without, so I made a couple of new perches from wood, same size and shape and replaced the plastic perches, since then the coop has been completely mite free as far as I can tell. I thought it would be interesting to do a little experiment with the plastic perches so I kept them and totally sealed them with vaseline, every week I checked them, every week red mite came out on the lynchpins. At the weekend I sawed them open to see how far the mite had penetrated and found them at four inches along the perch but not as far as six inches, bearing in mind this was a small scale outbreak, (dozens of mites found in the coop rather than hundreds) it is entirely possible they could colonise the entire centre of the perch and there would be no way to kill them apart from sealing them up for six months with vaseline. This for me is a serious design flaw as there is no point in designing a house where it is very easy to eradicate mite and then provide perches where it is virtually impossible.
All in all I'm very happy with the green frog and how easy it was to fight the mite in it, but would have the following advice for fellow owners.
Remove the vent covers, the washers underneath can harbour mite and your unlikely to nee them anyway
Don't bother putting the clips through the pins that hold the coop together apart from those on the back door opening/closing handle(which you need or they fall out), the coop is perfectly sturdy without them and they really slow down taking it apart and putting it back together.
If you can replace the perches then do, the hollow is a mites dream home, if not make sure the end slits and pin holes are smothered in vaseline.
Take the coop apart FULLY every couple of months, I thought I was being quite thorough in my anti mite cleaning program but they just turned up in the areas that I hadn't dusted/disinfected.
When taking the coop apart wait till ALL of your hens have layed!!!, did I get a telling off from one of my white stars as I rushed to assemble the coop and put the nest boxes back in place for her.