Red Mite In Green Frog

dinosaw

dinosaw

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Never rains but it pours it would seem, was poo picking the coop this morning when i felt very itchy on my head, I wiped it with the back of my hand and there in all it's bloodsucking glory was our friend the redmite. The reason I am posting this is that I gave the coop a minor clean on Tuesday and spotted nothing, so I thought it may be helpful to other green frog owners to know where I found the little blighters when I took the whole coop apart to treat it this morning. When I do a major clean I remove the roof, back panel, nestbox and perches, I do this once a month (three weeks ago and no sign of mite), when doing a minor clean I only remove the back panel but disinfect and wipe everywhere. I always run a tissue under the perches to check for mite and on Tuesday there was nothing. Where they had congregated was in the hole for the lynchpin on the perches, the joints between the oval roof pieces and sides and also behind the washers on the vent covers. I would have spotted them on the next major clean only when I removed the perches, otherwise they would have gone undetected. Interestingly there was no sign of them at any level lower than the perch possibly because i dust with permethrin. As a result of finding them behind the vent covers I have permanently removed them as they were always open anyway. It will be interesting to see if one treatment eradicates them as I was able to get into every crevice and green frog use this as a major selling point. From now on I will be removing the nestbox and perches EVERY time I clean, just feel sorry for my poor chickens having to deal with worms and redmite at the same time.
 
Really useful post Dinosaw. :-)17 Easy to get a little complacent with plastic housing and redmite,( Obviously not in your case though!) as being redmite free is a major plus point for them.
It just shows that is there are chickens there will be redmite and in the smallest of nooks and crannies!
 
No real surprise I'm afraid, knowing where red mite can be found - on the bottom of plastic feeders for instance. However, forwarned is forrmed and it will be useful for other keepers to be aware. I'm sure there will be less crevices on a 'frog' so hopefully they will be easier to treat. I hope there are not too many people living with a false sense of security.
 
Thanks for the kind words Foxy, Chuck. To be honest I've been feeling a bit lousy about the fact they have mite and worms, I suppose you are always going to feel it's your fault a bit, especially when you see your birds starting to look under the weather. The funny thing about the green frog is that it actually has more crevices than you would have thought, they are just really small. I had never really thought about it until I had to dust every single one today, there are at least 20 slotholes in the construction and at least 12 edges where panels meet, the good thing is that they are all easy to get to as you can take the thing apart.
 
Right, thanks Dinosaw - that's sorted out what I need to do on Christmas Eve morning!
Quite surprised at an outbreak now, though, especially if you checked so recently.
 
I was surprised to see it now too!, I suppose just because there was no mite in the perch holes doesn't mean that they weren't in those rotating vent covers and the two curved roof supports as I haven't taken them off the coop for ages Marigold, when doing a regular clean you have to stop somewhere. I was planning a total strip down of the coop in January this has obviously pre-empted that.
 
think i need to look up this green frog housing never seen it before , but i pretty much always thought redmite hated plastic until i found more then a few hundred in those garden plastic stores sheds which i converted , each of my houses { except rabbit hutch thats being done tomorrow } have vaseline put into every seam and it gets refreshed every month or as its surprising how long it lasts for and i have not noticed any mites what so every on any of the wood in the houses but they do adore the plastic mail boxes i use as nest boxes as they have tiny little hideaway corners on them .
i cant wait tell tomorrow when i get in the run for a major winter cleanup also these plastic sheds have also been painted in liquid paraffin and the mites havent been back since .
 
I use vaseline in the gaps between the perches and the holes they sit in and maybe that's why I didn't find any actually on the perch itself. I would count the number of mites I've found in the dozens rather than the hundreds. In fairness to green frog they never did claim that their houses were mite proof, just less likely to get mite and easier to clean if you did, I'm still a fan of them regardless of this.
 
Thanks for this dinosaw. I have only been using mine a week but I'll be going over it closely tomorrow......Eurgh I do not want red mite!!

pennyblackchooks
 
I also have Green Frog coops, and (touch wood) haven't had red mite in them yet. I put vaseline on the perch ends, and liberal amounts of ant powder and Diatom on any surface it'll stay on. But I'll be doing a very thorough check!
 
Hi Dinosaw. Suprised you have mite so fast after a major clean. I suspect whatever you are using isn't killing the eggs, only the mite, which is the problem we all face with the chemicals available. Perhaps a through clean with Smite or Nettex three times done a week apart each time will get rid of them completely, as it will kill the hatched mite before they are adult enough to lay eggs?
 
Hi Chris, good to hear from you, your probably right, though I have been thinking about things overnight, the three areas where mite were found don't really get cleaned properly. Sure they get sprayed with disinfectent and dusted with permethrin but especially the area behind those vent covers is completely enclosed and held in place with a screw and bolt with washer, I hadn't even considered removing them during cleaning (they are off permanently now). The hole for the lynchpin in the perch is very small maybe 4-5mm max and while I treat the whole perch I hadn't given the hole any special attention. The joint between the arches and the sides where I found mite is also very small and while I have sprayed at it, it is held down by a pin and clip which needs to be prised off to remove it. I think the upshot is that while I thought that removing 6 pieces from the coop once a month to clean was a thorough clean it perhaps wasn't thorough enough. Pennyblack, don't worry if you have only had the coop a week you won't have mite, btw this is my first attack in 6 months
 
Thanks Marigold and dinosaw

Did check the perches late last night and no sign of anything mite-ish. Just contented sleepy chickens :-)20

Nevertheless spent a contented afternoon being even more silly with the diatom - now not only all over the floor of the coop and nestboxes under ths sheeting I am using to make it easier to keep the inside clean, but also rubbed all over the perches and into the ends where they meet the side wall.....

Also vaseline on the top edge of the front and back walls where meets roof, into the lynchpin holes of the perches at both ends, all up the inside corners of the coop and each nest box. I have tried to 'think like a red mite'....... :-)19 :-)19

Also removed the vent covers cos like yours dinosaw, they are open anyway and I cannot think of any time I would want to close them. I didn't have vents in the old 'outdoor' pen with branches :roll: The roof and odd sheets protected them from the worst of the wind and rain, that's all.

Going off topic to the condensation (though it is connected) I also put loads of holes with a drill ( well I held the wall and OH did the drilling - tricky doing both at once) so now lots of holes along from the existing vents into the two side walls, and some in the back door wall (same height) and some in the outer wall of the nest box, under the lip of the nest box lid. All of these new holes are protected by edges of the roof or lid. All are the size of the drill bit but there are lots and lots of them.

I can't help thinking (soley based on my experiences with the pen for so long) that equalling out the temperature between inside the coop and outside in all weathers, and creating a free flowing air set up, is the key to a few chicken issues so I am still really wanting to re-create an 'indoor/outdoor' sleeping environment for my chickens despite having to use a coop now. That's my main goal. Not getting condensation even when the temp really drops will be a good sign I may have achieved this I think. Fingers crossed. And if it helps to make this Frog coop even more inhospitable to red mite too then that will be even better. You never know....

You have all given me lots to think about regarding the mite/condensation issues with my Frog coop over the last few days, I'm very glad I finally joined this forum as opposed to googling for the odd thing. Many thanks.

Happy Christmas! :-)99
 
i'll keep my fingers crossed that you dont get red mite :D they are nasty blighters as i have said on here before the one thing i love is the popping sound they make when you squash them :lol: its like rice crackle and pop :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
i got that wrong it should of been snap crackle and pop :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I fill the holes for the pins with vaseline after each major clean. Same with any cracks at the end of the perches. I did a good check today and didn't see any signs. :)
 
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