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Has anyone tried smoke bombs to control red mite in their chicken house?
If so would you recommed it and does it do the job?
Any comments welcome, Ginny

Not used them personally, however I could ask a neighbour and let you know what she used.

Yes if you don't mind, that would be helpful.
Many thanks Jane

Hi, NO they dont work at all! The best stuff we have found is dieamacias earth powder, this is prob spelt wrong but its about right! it isnt a poison like most mite kill products so it can be used either in dust bath, direct to bird or i believe you can mix it to be digested. Anyhow it is good and it works, the other thing we use is creasote painted direct to houses, this is fantastic! But very differcult to get hold of.
Good Luck!

Hi Ginny,

I agree with DnA Poultry - Diatomaceous Earth works very well - it is also a natural product created from fosilised algae and safe for birds to eat. It is microscopically sharp and pierces the waxy coating on the Mite and they dry up as a result of contact.

It does take time to work though and I would always use it after cleaning the house out with a product such as poultry shield. As well as applying on the cracks etc if your birds roost (not all do!) rub it into the perches every couple of days so it is like a gymnasts bar. This means the mites have to crawl through it to get to their hosts at night...

There are some good close up photos here of Red Mite (and eggs) so you know what to look for.

Good Luck - Red Mite are evil!

Tim

Hi Tim
I have started using diatom and at the moment there isn't a problem. During the really cold spell we had the shed was frozen so bad that there was frost on the inside of the wood. Do you think this would kill red mite?
I hope so!

Jane

when i had a red mite problem i used a product called smite after using another concentrate for weeks to no effect (costing in total around £250) i bought it off ebay in a 5 litre container costing £23.50 inc p&p and i havent looked back i still spray my coop every couple of weeks just to make sure the little bliters are not comin back :) the ony other thing i can suggest is to make sure that your sprayer that you use with these concentrates also makes a difference. I have bought a quite expensive pump sprayer which has plenty of umph to blast them out of tight crevices.
good luck
vikstix

Redmite are always a challenge when there is poultry around, some good working products have already been mentioned (smite, diatom) but one that I feel works everytime and is fairly cheap is "Poultry Shield", which like smite, can come in many different sizes (5 litre, 1 litre etc).

Hi, Ihad a plague of red mite las summer, wwe creasoted the houses, We pouder the house every ime its cleaned out, but I also give each bird 1 to 2 cloves of garlic every 2 weeks. ( i cook them in micowave first}
no taint to eggs. no had them so far this year.hope this helps

mine have it bad at mo. iv spraybombed shed then sprayed the noks with flea spray. after that still really bad so i made up a really strong mix of jays and sprayed the shed in side and out. iv also powdered the chickens with DE
a friend told me that the pound shop is doing a flea spray ha is great on them so just bought 4 bottles and sprayed again. il look see if worked tomorrow but i did notice that bigger bug were dropping dead with in seconds

Hi, i have found a very cheap way of dealing with red mites, there is a product in every supermarket to clean cooker and sinks with bleach, it sprays into a foam and it cost around one pound, i spray it weekly when i muck out all my hen houses,spray it where red mites would hide, and for past two years of using it, havnt had any red mite, fingers crossed it keeps working.

Hi Tim
I have started using diatom and at the moment there isn't a problem. During the really cold spell we had the shed was frozen so bad that there was frost on the inside of the wood. Do you think this would kill red mite?
I hope so!

Jane

I have the same question too. Do red mite survive frost?