poultry sheild

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VALBURNHAM

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sorry did not want to hijack marks post so thought I would just start another. Im quiet interested in the comments about poultry sheid and red mite control as I am totally paranoid about red mite although to my knowledge I have never had a major outbreak touch wood. I tend to use poultry shield sometimes and I have used smite. Rather as a precaution than actually having seen red mite. Last year whilst checking one of my houses OH saw some re mite I immediately cresoted it, OH had got this as his work had had a major outbreak and he said when they painted their houses the mites ran out in their millions. I hardley had any appear so im assuming I had caught it early. Because my house is cresoted I have not treated the house with anything other than diatom,, since I painted it. Was this correct. I then read about limewash getting rid of red mite so I limewashed both my other houses, because if I spray the limewash it comes off I have not treated these houses with poultry sheild or smitre just used generous amounts of diatom which I sprinkle in the bedding on the perch edges and I coat the perchs in daitom. Amm I doing sufficient or should I be spraying with something as well as the diatom.
 
I used Poultry Shield as diected several years ago. The mites were still crawling after three applications. I doubled the concentration and sprayed three times again at intervals of a few days. Therefore my conclusion was that it was an ineffective product not to be used again. I used it up as a detergeant but I did not rely on it as a disinfectant and eventually the tub got used up. I've heard many people say they have found PS to have no effect on red mite. If I find a good product I will use it time & again obviously and am willing to recommend it to others. If I find something I'm not happy with, I say so & give reasons.
Diatom I've never used because it's seems expensive and I don't know how effective it is. So my main defense is creosote with a back up of Ant and Crawling Insect Powder from B & Q which I find has good effect.
 
I use Smite and touch wood have never actually seen a red mite to know what one looks like. There's a very old post saying that earwigs eat redmite so if you find earwigs in your coop leave them there and you will never be bothered with the little suckers.....
 
i use p/s , daitom, and smite, and adrap ,and another pink liquid stuff and i am still getting red mite :( :( killed more then 20 this week hiding in the plastic nest boxes i use as they have tons of little crevices for them to hide in. got my nephrew over the wekend and although hes only 7 he loves helping me so we will be armed and ready for action saturday morning with diatom mixed with washing up liquid and everything is going to get caked :lol: :lol: i have read that we are meant to be in for one hek of an icy blast this weekend so that might help with the mites am planning on hot water loads of washing up liquid painited into every nook and crannie then once thats dried daitom is going everywhere and i am also praying on getting on of those old white squared kitchen sinks which will be turned into one very nice dust bath area which will also have daitom in it .personally i think its a case of once you have them you have them for life but thats just what i think .
 
I don't think you should throw chemicals at your coops without good reason Val. Use the mildest stuff you feel confident with for general cleaning and only increase the strength when you spot a problem. Last year we had coops where the red mite were evolving immunity, so if we had started with the strongest stuff we would have had no treatment options left except creosote by the end of the season. Problem is that coop is fixed (converted shed) and we don't have two spare to house the chickens while it is being treated. So I would use Poultry Shield generally, Smite for the first red mite, Nettex for them when Smite is ineffective and finally 50:50 creosote:paraffin. If you want to go really technical use Elector -a biocide that attacks the mite's nervous system. Can only use it alternate years as they rapidly evolve immunity.
 
Aileen - I've also heard that chickens eat earwigs ! :)
 
I guess this red mite thing is debated over and over again. I am so rubbish at seeing them. I have to drag OH out to look for me usually kicking and screaming. Im so paranoid I have them and dont know. I go out in the depth of night armed with white tissues to wipe under the perches. My eye sight is rubbish and I actually cleaned a house out for a friend (not my hen house) and did not see it had red mite and when he checked he said there were loads. My houses are under trees which I read is a nightmare for red mite guess I cant understand why I dont have them. Any tips of a full proof way of knowing if there are any there. After OH bringing a hen home for me to take care of who was dying of a red mite infestation I never ever want it to happen to me. OH says no self respecting red mite would move into one of my houses :-)07 :-)07
 
Hi Val. Your wipe with tissues is the best way but I would aim for the corners where the perch meets the wall. Don't have to do it at night, dawn and dusk is fine. The giveaway are microscopic spots of cream poo on the woodwork around a hole or crack in the joints. Looks like dust or scattering of talc. That's where they go in and out. They favour travel least so they will be near the perches initially. When all the gaps are full they move outward and you get them in the bedding as well. But a wipe with tissues will spot them.
 
if you havent got them or dont have them then your about the only one , they are buggers to get rid of and at the mo i dont have the money to pay out for the expensive stuff that is meant to kill them off wish i did have some money that is :lol: best thing is to keep on top of them if you do have them .
i didnt think i had them until i went to pull the shed down and i was gobsmacked and sickened at the amount there was along with kicking myself for letting it happen .
 
Karminski - have you tried good old fashioned hot water, washing soda and a scrubbing brush? It does work, though it is not the easiest thing to use - but cheap as chips. :)
 
Karminski - That is exactly what I am thinking that is why I think they could be there and I am not seeing them. That is why I spend night after night pottering around the garden with my tissue :D My neighbours think im crackers. My thoughts are I cant see any so are there millions and I cant see them. OH just sighs in despair as I potter off tissue in hand :roll: :roll:
 
you must be reading my mind or older posts :lol: me and my nephrew are going out tomorrow with hot water { to cold for cold water } washing up liquid and some of what you say if we have any under the sink ;) having a winter clean up tomorrow and a move around of shelters and housing and maybe some fencing as well ??
 
We found some of them in an ark yesterday :evil: Blowtorch out today, Indorex spray & ant powder. Frontlined the birds too (from vet).
 
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