Recently after the egg production dwindled a bit we inspected the chicken coops only to find a lot of Red Mite infestation. Red Mites are mainly nocturnal little blood sucking parasites that hide in cracks and crevices, they do not live on the birds but come out at night go on to the birds while they are roosting and make life very uncomfortable for them not to mention sucking out a bit of blood here and there.
You can dust the birds with Red Mite Powder and also dust in the cracks and crevices as well to actually kill the mites at source. There are also a number of chemicals that can be diluted and sprayed in the cracks to also kill the Red Mites.
Anyhow as we were treating the birds we noticed they had Mites crawling on them. Not Red Mites but these mites live on the birds all the time and make life even more miserable for them.
Here is a tip that we use to effectivly treat this problem and kill these mites without to much messing about.
In the morning before I let the birds out Sharon will wait outside while I go in and get one of the chickens, take it out to Sharon who will have some vials of DOGS ONE SPOT FLEA TREATMENT.
While I hold the chicken Sharon then pulls back some of the feathers behind its neck and applies a small drop of the One Spot to the bared skin, this quickly kills off the mites and keeps them at bay for 4-6 weeks. It does not do any harm to the birds and we have been doing it for quite a few years now without incident. The process is repeated untill all the birds are done.
If anybody has any views or alternative ways of doing this horrible task then please let me know.
After doing the job a good bath and a change of clothes are most welcome.
3 comments:
Our coop had red mite this year too, a good spraying with Poultry Shield and then dusting the bedding, nestboxes and perch with Diatom powder did the trick. We also sprayed the hens with Johnsons lice and mite spray for birds, this kills any lice instantly as our hens also had lice when we got them. We now use the Diatom powder as a preventative. Great blog!
Hi Karen
Thanks for your comment.
Its good to hear how other people cope with & treat their birds for mites, your way sounds good I have been meaning to try Poultry shield, perhaps Ill give it a go now.
Mark
Mark
After lots of years with your expertise on animal welfare I can only recommend your wise words of wisdom, I recollect Morgan Morgan being a well used saying....
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