red mite querie
- Thread starter dye29
- Start date
rick
Active member
Are you sure they are red mite Dye? Its an odd place for them to be and they don't like plastic as a hiding place.
rick
Active member
It does sound like them - how far is it from the feeder to the perch (or where they, some or all, roost at night?)
... Just to say, losing feathers is not necessarily anything to do with red mite, although you do seem to have mite around. My orp has had a bare bottom all summer and not a mite, louse or peck in sight. I think its a sensible option on her part or she would have roasted The bantam cock has moulted in the last week or so including his feet which hasn't happened before.
I had a few red mite on the perch about a week ago but they were restricted to a couple of small drill holes in the bottom as they cant get on or off the perch at either end. They probably arrived as a scout on a chicken during the day and multiplied from there.
... once you've had red mite I think its a nigh on impossibility to get rid of them completely and for good but you can make life very difficult for them. Its interesting that they have resorted to hiding in the plastic feeder - not their preference but needs must! I would paint both ends of their perch with diatom slurry, add an up-stand if necessary at the ends of the perch so they don't touch the unprotected walls with their wings when roosting and make sure they are all roosting on the protected perch. You don't need to dust everywhere, just the ends of the perches. Mite can drop from the roof but that is a strategy in nature (for a scout) to get from a branch above a roosting bird down to the branch below where they will set up a new colony on that branch and feed at night at their leisure. To support a colony they have to walk en mass onto the perch/branch and up the birds legs every night to feed and return (I suspect that they follow a reinforced hormone trail like ants.) Thats the weak spot in their plan and if you can make that behavior as difficult as possible then they will always be just surviving in very small numbers (like they are in nature as apposed to the super MacDonalds drive through that is a chicken coop!).
... Just to say, losing feathers is not necessarily anything to do with red mite, although you do seem to have mite around. My orp has had a bare bottom all summer and not a mite, louse or peck in sight. I think its a sensible option on her part or she would have roasted The bantam cock has moulted in the last week or so including his feet which hasn't happened before.
I had a few red mite on the perch about a week ago but they were restricted to a couple of small drill holes in the bottom as they cant get on or off the perch at either end. They probably arrived as a scout on a chicken during the day and multiplied from there.
... once you've had red mite I think its a nigh on impossibility to get rid of them completely and for good but you can make life very difficult for them. Its interesting that they have resorted to hiding in the plastic feeder - not their preference but needs must! I would paint both ends of their perch with diatom slurry, add an up-stand if necessary at the ends of the perch so they don't touch the unprotected walls with their wings when roosting and make sure they are all roosting on the protected perch. You don't need to dust everywhere, just the ends of the perches. Mite can drop from the roof but that is a strategy in nature (for a scout) to get from a branch above a roosting bird down to the branch below where they will set up a new colony on that branch and feed at night at their leisure. To support a colony they have to walk en mass onto the perch/branch and up the birds legs every night to feed and return (I suspect that they follow a reinforced hormone trail like ants.) Thats the weak spot in their plan and if you can make that behavior as difficult as possible then they will always be just surviving in very small numbers (like they are in nature as apposed to the super MacDonalds drive through that is a chicken coop!).
