chrismahon
Well-known member
After a few skirmishes fought off with insecticides we thought we had the Red Mite beaten last year. Much investigation came up with what appeared to be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. A biocide called Elector. It attacks the nervous system sending the mite totally gaga. They can't find the hosts (hens) and they can't find their sleeping quarters. They wander around and after a week or so die. Last year it was apparently 100% effective but the DEFA senior vet told me that it couldn't be used two years in a row because the mite build immunity. Well he was right, as a few survived the Winter and Elector did nothing to them this year.
So back to the insecticides. Poultry shield is OK for cleaning our boots but won't touch our red mite. They happily bathe in it. The two dedicated products used again this weekend were Smite and Net Tex Total Mite Kill. But this time they were used in combination.
We have 9 coops. 7 were infected. The two worst had 1lb weight of mite vaccumned out before spraying last week, but we forgot to dust the birds the day before and they were bought back in with them. So this Friday we dusted the birds and Saturday we hit all 7 coops and worked 6.40am to 7.00pm to finish them.
Stage one with each. Clean out all the bedding, remove all the screwed on bits and vaccumn the entire coop paying particular attention to the tongue and groove joints in the weather boarding. With a round nozel that is completely flat when held to the boarding the suction goes all along the joints. This clearly disturbed the mite as 15 minutes later and they were swarming out of the joints. Several more times vaccumning and the flow had reduced. I wouldn't use a Dyson here as it will clog up with squashed mite.
Stage two. Liberal spray with Smite, particularly along all joints. This product also has a rapid degreasant which dissolves mite poo and presumably the egg clusters. A yellow brown liquid ran from many of the joints and all this was mopped up with kitchen roll. The smallest coops were turned upside down to get the treatment into the grooves of the cladding. However two problems -we ran out of Smite and the red mite were not all killed, there were still loads moving about 20 minutes later.
Stage 3. Liberal spray with Net Tex. This finally finished them off. They darkened in colour quickly and managed to stagger a few inches before they died. Hooray we thought. Wait a few hours for the smell to go as Net Tex gives off some fumes (which send me a bit woozy after a while). Then screw all the bits back on and add fresh bedding.
BUT. As I said before we ran out of Stage two, Smite. The coops treated as above are fine today but the biggest ones are not. They didn't get the Smite treatment first and the eggs in the cracks hatched this morning so we have hungry little pale mite swarming all over them already. Shopping today for more Smite.
Has anyone got a better product to use apart from old style creosote (which needs a spare coop as hens can't go back for 4 weeks at least)??? What product do the commercial outfits use -accepting you may need full protective clothing and a chemical mask to apply it?
So back to the insecticides. Poultry shield is OK for cleaning our boots but won't touch our red mite. They happily bathe in it. The two dedicated products used again this weekend were Smite and Net Tex Total Mite Kill. But this time they were used in combination.
We have 9 coops. 7 were infected. The two worst had 1lb weight of mite vaccumned out before spraying last week, but we forgot to dust the birds the day before and they were bought back in with them. So this Friday we dusted the birds and Saturday we hit all 7 coops and worked 6.40am to 7.00pm to finish them.
Stage one with each. Clean out all the bedding, remove all the screwed on bits and vaccumn the entire coop paying particular attention to the tongue and groove joints in the weather boarding. With a round nozel that is completely flat when held to the boarding the suction goes all along the joints. This clearly disturbed the mite as 15 minutes later and they were swarming out of the joints. Several more times vaccumning and the flow had reduced. I wouldn't use a Dyson here as it will clog up with squashed mite.
Stage two. Liberal spray with Smite, particularly along all joints. This product also has a rapid degreasant which dissolves mite poo and presumably the egg clusters. A yellow brown liquid ran from many of the joints and all this was mopped up with kitchen roll. The smallest coops were turned upside down to get the treatment into the grooves of the cladding. However two problems -we ran out of Smite and the red mite were not all killed, there were still loads moving about 20 minutes later.
Stage 3. Liberal spray with Net Tex. This finally finished them off. They darkened in colour quickly and managed to stagger a few inches before they died. Hooray we thought. Wait a few hours for the smell to go as Net Tex gives off some fumes (which send me a bit woozy after a while). Then screw all the bits back on and add fresh bedding.
BUT. As I said before we ran out of Stage two, Smite. The coops treated as above are fine today but the biggest ones are not. They didn't get the Smite treatment first and the eggs in the cracks hatched this morning so we have hungry little pale mite swarming all over them already. Shopping today for more Smite.
Has anyone got a better product to use apart from old style creosote (which needs a spare coop as hens can't go back for 4 weeks at least)??? What product do the commercial outfits use -accepting you may need full protective clothing and a chemical mask to apply it?
