? red mites

L

leadingjo

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
I am not sure if my 10 chickens have red mites? everywhere I read says the mites go on the birds at night? the bird have little crawling insects where their feathers join the skin! colour varies from almost clear to red but I see none in the shed off the birds. At least 4 at the base of each feather worse under the wing, can't get the chickens to the vet (to check) until Wednesday as I am at the hospital for the next 2 days, I am going to try to get some poultry shield on my way home today. One poor bird has a sore back unfortunately I was away last week and had someone looking after them, I can't seem to find purple spray does anyone know where I can get it from?

Thanks for your help
Jo
 
Hi, welcome to the forum! :D :D :D :-)99 :-)99 :-)99
Red mites hatch grey, but turn red after their first meal (blood). They live in the house during he day and some ride along on their hosts outside for the day. If the birds refuse to go into the house, or the house has grey/red things crawling around, you have got mites in your hen house. The best treatment for the birds is powder that is applied directly to the bird, and for the house... a good clean out, possibly a vacuum or a jet wash, then a mite killing spray such as net tex smite the mite . Once it has been cleaned and dried, apply a thin layer of powder to the floor and put in fresh bedding.
Hope this helps!
 
Welcome to the forum! :-)99 :-)99

Sounds like you have lice on your chooks...these live on the bird, and are visable to the eye, lookng like tiny sesame seeds, fast moving at the base of the feathers. Check the vent area and a sure sign is clusters of what looks a bit like icing sugar encrusted on the base of the feathers.

A bad lice infestation can be treated with Frontline drops..note not licensed for poultry but very effective, couple of drops to the back of the head (cat formulation) will knock them dead.

Red mite as mentioned live in nooks and crannies of your poultry housing, barely visible to the eye, like tiny slow moving dots normally only seen at night, these feed on the birds. By shining a torch at night near the perch, you will be able to spot them, or by wiping a tissue along the perches near where they roost you will detect them if they tissue is smeared with blood.

Some really good articles can be found on our website here


http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-diseases-and-disorders.html
 
these things are on the chickens all day! but sound like red mite and look like red mite, maybe I will treat as if it is that, my chickens live in a shed with a massive meshed run that I can walk in with a mesh top and concrete floor they also come out in the garden supervised as nugget likes to make a break through the fence lol. Poor snowball is the worst effected. The 2 groups live in separate groups as no one likes snowball! looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me tonight! thank you for taking the time to help me
 
Dust the birds with lice powder first before going more extreme on them. Next treatment is a few squirts of Johnsons dog or cat flea /lice spay (one under each wing and one below vent) which is pyrethum based. Last resort is Frontline which enters the bloodstream and needs an egg withdrawal period. They can overdose on it and die if not administered strictly -get spray version not 'spot-on' and halve the minimum dose ie. 3 squirts per kg body weight. None of ours died at that level. We've only needed to use it for neck lice. All the others removed with powder or occasional dog/cat spray.
We've never actually seen red mite on the hens, even though the coops have been infested. If they are on the hens they will all be red so the clear ones are actually lice.
Treat the coops with a heavy spray of 'Smite the mite' into all the joints followed half an hour later by 'Nettex total mite kill' if you can. We have found neither product particularly effective use on its own.
 
chrismahon said:
Dust the birds with lice powder first before going more extreme on them. Next treatment is a few squirts of Johnsons dog or cat flea /lice spay (one under each wing and one below vent) which is pyrethum based. Last resort is Frontline which enters the bloodstream and needs an egg withdrawal period. They can overdose on it and die if not administered strictly -get spray version not 'spot-on' and halve the minimum dose ie. 3 squirts per kg body weight. None of ours died at that level. We've only needed to use it for neck lice. All the others removed with powder or occasional dog/cat spray.
We've never actually seen red mite on the hens, even though the coops have been infested. If they are on the hens they will all be red so the clear ones are actually lice.
Treat the coops with a heavy spray of 'Smite the mite' into all the joints followed half an hour later by 'Nettex total mite kill' if you can. We have found neither product particularly effective use on its own.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, I wouldn't refer to Frontline as "extreme" treatment, however, for a bad lice infestation it is very effective, when the aim is to recover a bird as quickly as possible this would be a good course of treatment.

Frontline does not however, enter the circulatory system, but "sits" on the surface on the skin ..be it cat, dog or bird. There are no clinical trials on egg withdrawal so the usual recommendations by a vet would be to err on the side of caution.

Preventative therapies are always the first course of action, diatom powder is a good one being a naturally occuring material therefore organic. Inspecting your birds regulary, and especially new arrivals to a flock is important thereby catching it before it becomes a full blown infestation. Another good treatment is Johnsons anti -mite extra, this is designed for caged birds such as parrots and budgies etc. and contains permethrin.

Sometimes with the best will in the world these critters can land on your chickens! :o
 
Well I decided to use frontline for cats yesterday as I had it to hand, result is all the chickens 24hrs later are fine and no sign of lice today. How do lice come onto the chickens? I will get some diatom. Tou are all so helpful thank you
 
help

i am new to chicken owning and sprayed a second hand coop I have just brought with Smite and 1/2 hour later it was crawling with red mites. Will the stuff just kill them when they come out or do i have to do anything else? :(
 
hatchie said:
help

i am new to chicken owning and sprayed a second hand coop I have just brought with Smite and 1/2 hour later it was crawling with red mites. Will the stuff just kill them when they come out or do i have to do anything else? :(
Click to expand...
Try this on your house http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fumigators-Twin-Pack-11g-PROFESSIONAL/dp/B005544USO and frontline on birds as mentioned above.Good luck :-)17
 
Smite just annoys them but does flush out the eggs. Use Nettex total mite kill to follow but turn coop upside down so that spray runs around tongue into connecting grooves of the weather boarding, because that's where they hide so you can't reach them -the nasty wee things!
 
Thank you all I have found this site so helpful - just hope I can save these last two birds XX
 
i use frontline and it works fast but need some more this week didnt realise i had run out :o , i had red mite mega bad this year it gutted me so much that i got rid of my sheds the amount i had would not of been got rid of easily or quickly , i am now going to rebuild a new house out of sheets of ply and the only areas they will get into will be the 4 corners but they will be sealed up :lol: this time i am going to declare war on them :-)17 going to start getting the ground ready tomorw night then start cutting the 2 sheets saturday for the sides and doors then it goes up sunday god help the red mite that moves in :lol: :lol:
 
Hi Karminski. I thought Frontline didn't kill red mite? Kills all lice though, even the head and neck lice a few of ours had -but needed two treatments 28 days apart for two. Plywood sound good, but we used it and it turned black with mould from the moisture given off by the hens. Had to scrub it with neat Poultry Shield to kill it otherwise they would have got chest infections. Could paint it with white gloss so it can be wiped clean.
 
chrismahon said:
Hi Karminski. I thought Frontline didn't kill red mite? Kills all lice though, even the head and neck lice a few of ours had -but needed two treatments 28 days apart for two. Plywood sound good, but we used it and it turned black with mould from the moisture given off by the hens. Had to scrub it with neat Poultry Shield to kill it otherwise they would have got chest infections. Could paint it with white gloss so it can be wiped clean.
Click to expand...

I agree, techically Frontline will kill redmite..I need to check but fairly sure..however, I wouldn't think this could be an effective red mite treatment owing to the nature of the beast so to speak. Any information would be purely anectodal as Frontline has not been trialed on red mite.
People (understandably..) turn to all sorts of concoctions to sort out a redmite problem, however with a serious infestation the only way you can go is a tried and tested insecticidal formulation. The chickenvet site has some good recommendations.

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/shop/view/index.aspx/product/stingray-me-500-ml-39

I know this is expensive but will last a long time.
 
lol i was meant to put a full stop there meaning i use it for the lice :lol: thats what happens when you watch tv at the same time .
 
oh i didnt think of that { mould that is } but this house will have lots of ventaltion and will be cleaned out without fail each week , i know sometimes i got a bit slack with my other houses which is probably why i got struck with red mite but i have leant my lesson the hard way .

just looked on the link foxy have you used this one before Interkokask RTU 500ml ?
 
karminski said:
lol i was meant to put a full stop there meaning i use it for the lice :lol: thats what happens when you watch tv at the same time .
Click to expand...

Now pay attention Looby!! :lol:
 
i do pay attention sometimes :-)05 sorry auntie :lol: thanks for the warning chris about the mould starting on the ply it nearly put me of building it but nope i so cant wait to get the wood in :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top