What to do with bedding when trying to eliminate mites

[Maureen in Chesterton]

We just realized we have a mite infestation. I'll buy some poultry dust, we'll clean out the coop, spray it down, dust it, dust the birds, put fresh pine flakes in. It looks like most people say to 'bag the old bedding and throw it away'. I hate to throw stuff into the land fill if it can be composted. It's early winter here in NW Indiana, even though right now we have a spell of above freezing temperatures, we have at least 2 months' worth of mostly freezing temperatures ahead of us. I'm wondering if I can still compost the bedding. I'd put it at the far end of the vegetable garden (which is adjacent to the chicken run), and not let the chickens into the vegetable garden for at least a month (I like to have the chickens wander the vegetable garden over the winter months, for their scratching / bug eating / fertilizing assistance). Would mites and mite eggs survive that? Surely they couldn't crawl 50' or more (straight line distance) back to the chicken yard?

 

[orelsi]

I burn it all. Nuke the little buggers. Only way to make sure. They are surprisingly resilient.

 

[Percheron chick]

Freezing will kill mites. I'd bag it up and leave it outside for now. If you change your mind, toss it in the burn barrel.

 

[Maureen in Chesterton]

We put the old bedding in the veg. garden and burned it....if any nasties survived the fire, hopefully they will freeze. We'll keep the chickens away from that for a while.