Red Mite are a very common poultry parasite who loved to feed on poultry blood at night. They are grey or white in colour (despite their name!) but turn red on feeding on chicken blood. A severe infestation can cause aneamia and poultry death. They are a particular problem in the summer months, and can live for 8 months.
They reproduce on poultry and although they cannot fly, they have been known to bite humans on rare occasions (This medical case study is an example).

Signs of an infestation

• Grey to red coloured mites up to 0.7mm in size – looking almost like dust
• Reduced egg production
• The comb looking less red
• Spots of blood on eggs
• Your chooks not wanting to go in the coop at night

They are persistent little mites to get rid of. And their breeding cycle is 7 days, so you have to act and keep acting!
Have a good look at your coop, lifting trays etc and checking underneath.
Pressure washer – especially in the cracks and crevices

Poultry Shield - Spray your coop thoroughly with 10% Poultry Shield – which is an excellent product for killing mites. It’s powerful cleaning action disolves the waxy coating on the outside of the mites causing them to dehydrate and die. Your chickens are safe to return once the house is dry.

Barrier Red Mite is more a deterent to dust on the birds, making them unappetising to Red Mite. It won’t kill a current infestation.

Diatomaceous Earth is one of those amazing things that has so many uses! Apparently it can be found in some toothpastes! It is the fossilized remains of deceased diatoms, a type of ancient algae. It is effective at killing red mite, because it absorbs lipids from their waxy outer layer causing them to dehydrate and die. It can also kill internal parasites and worms by its mild abrasive action. Dust it on birds, put some where they dust bath and add some to the feed.

How to get rid of a serious infestation.

1. Clear everything out of the house – nesting boxes, all the bedding etc. removes as much as you can
2. If you have a felt roof – take the felt off – or there will be thousands lurking in there
3. Thoroughly pressure wash the whole coop inside and out – especially the joints and crevices – you will get soaked, so wear old clothes. Make sure you don’t miss anywhere.
4. Let the coop dry and check for mites throughly.
5. Keep repeating the pressure wash, until there are no more mites.
6. If you had a felt roof, use some plastic sheeting for a few weeks, until you are sure you are red mite free – better still remove the boarding too and replace with a corrugated rofing product like Onduline.

When renewing the bedding, shake in a few handfuls of Diatom and rub Diatom into all the cracks and joints.

Whenever cleaning the coop use a 10% Poultry Shield water solution in one of those garden misters to clean the cracks.

Green frog designs produce recycled plastic coops with very few cracks and crevices, that dry quicker than wood – which you may find helpful in the fight against the mite!

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Diatom Buy Diatom now!*