Northern Red Mite Issue. Nothing works

[Samsg1971]

Follow BDutch’s advice. A multi-pronged consistent attack without excessive use of chemicals. Have you managed to get your silkies to roost?

I have put them up every night and they keep jumping down:/

 

[Lillith37]

I have put them up every night and they keep jumping down:/

Do you do it once it’s completely dark? Is there light that gets in the coop at night? If they can’t see they are less likely to jump down.

An alternative could be to build them a “floor nest” maybe like an open topped box made out of treated/sealed wood that’s large enough for them all to pile in. The sides don’t have to be very high but high enough to form a container and you can place their bedding materials inside. Then remove all the bedding from the rest of the coop floor to discourage them from nesting anywhere else. Then you can make some sort of moat to put around it and fill with cheap vegetable oil to trap the mites as they approach your birds at night. If the moat idea is too hard you could just put a comprehensive layer of double sided tape around the walls of the floor nest and at least you’d catch a portion of the mites every night and you would be able to monitor their population numbers.

 

[BDutch]

All the literature I have read suggests that the actual adult mite can survive without a blood meal for as long as 5 months and potentially longer. They are like bedbugs.

This first book in this online directory “Parasiticide Screening” from 2019 says the adult mites can survive starvation for up to 34 weeks:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/dermanyssus-gallinae

Even Finecto’s website claims the adult red mite can survive years in a “latent condition” in unfavourable conditions like lack of host or cold temps.

https://finecto.com/en-gb/bird/red-mites-in-birds/

Strange. In the Netherlands I have been reading something else. I found this information on the site of finecto+:

Adult red mite

Once a red mite has crawled out of its egg, it lives for about 6 to 8 weeks under normal conditions. Here you can read more about the life cycle and behavior of red mite . Without food (chickens or other poultry), a red mite survived for a maximum of 2 weeks. A red mite lice lays up to 8 eggs per day in the ideal conditions. And it is precisely these eggs that are the 'strongest link' when it comes to survival.

Red mite eggs can get at least two years old (!!) without chickens or birds nearby.

Translated from https://askfinecto.com/hoe-lang-overleven-bloedluizen-zonder-kip/
The 6-8 weeks is for the larvae, nymph (2x) and mite stage together.

 

[Samsg1971]

Do you do it once it’s completely dark? Is there light that gets in the coop at night? If they can’t see they are less likely to jump down.

An alternative could be to build them a “floor nest” maybe like an open topped box made out of treated/sealed wood that’s large enough for them all to pile in. The sides don’t have to be very high but high enough to form a container and you can place their bedding materials inside. Then remove all the bedding from the rest of the coop floor to discourage them from nesting anywhere else. Then you can make some sort of moat to put around it and fill with cheap vegetable oil to trap the mites as they approach your birds at night. If the moat idea is too hard you could just put a comprehensive layer of double sided tape around the walls of the floor nest and at least you’d catch a portion of the mites every night and you would be able to monitor their population numbers.

The coop is completely dark with black out curtains on the windows that I wash every few days. I like the moat idea! Thank you, that sounds perfect!

 

[Lillith37]

Strange. In the Netherlands I have been reading something else. I found this information on the site of finecto+:

Adult red mite

Once a red mite has crawled out of its egg, it lives for about 6 to 8 weeks under normal conditions. Here you can read more about the life cycle and behavior of red mite . Without food (chickens or other poultry), a red mite survived for a maximum of 2 weeks. A red mite lice lays up to 8 eggs per day in the ideal conditions. And it is precisely these eggs that are the 'strongest link' when it comes to survival.

Red mite eggs can get at least two years old (!!) without chickens or birds nearby.

Translated from https://askfinecto.com/hoe-lang-overleven-bloedluizen-zonder-kip/
The 6-8 weeks is for the larvae, nymph (2x) and mite stage together.

I suspect it's a bell curve of "optimal" reproduction and life cycle rates and then there are the extreme survivors on the end. Obviously when it's freezing and there's no host animal the mites are going to die off, but potentially not all of them. And under ideal conditions where populations are thriving, perhaps the adult mites aren't triggered into any latent survival state.

Dermanyssus gallinae is becoming more of a problem, thus getting more research and attention directed at it. They are an interesting creature due to their adaptability and resilience -- their increasing resistance to chemical treatment in particular makes them a significant threat.

When I went through my mite scare, I conducted many hours obsessively researching. I was uncertain exactly what I was dealing with for a couple of months. The uncertainty as well as what I learned about mites, particularly about D. gallinae, was so alarming and stressful. And this was BEFORE there was even an actual problem for my flock. I also spoke to pest control companies and entomologists in my city. I realised that the study of mites (acarology) is quite niche and constantly evolving, let alone the specific study of parasitic mites.

For instance there are over 30 species of mites in the genus Ornithonyssus (including O. sylviarum the Northern Fowl Mite, O. bursa the Tropical Bird Mite and O. bacoti the Tropical Rat Mite). Furthermore, the difference between these mites is so subtle that the entomologist has to have special skills and equipment to be able to distinguish between them. There are also predatory mites, like Hypoaspis miles, that actually predate on parasitic mites like D. gallinae as well as thrips and fungas gnats. I think the use of possible biological controls like predatory mites in commerical operations is gaining traction.

Luckily Dermanyssus gallinae is of a different genus, is easier to distinguish under a microscope and has quite specific behaviours. When dealing with these guys it's so important to identify the problem early because as poor Samsg has discovered, their populations can increase to plague proportions under our very noses and be almost impossible to completely eradicate.

 

[Lillith37]

@Samsg1971 is your coop and run attached to any other structures like your house, a fence, are there trees or shrubs that come up against it? Is there an underfloor space to your coop? These are all possible entry points for the mites where if you have stripped bare the coop and sealed the cracks etc they must still be coming from somewhere. The mites communicate to each other when they find suitable hosts but also when they find suitable hiding/nest locations. That's how they form their aggregates.

 

[AGeese]

I've set out mite predators before: https://www.naturesgoodguys.com/products/hypoaspis-miles?variant=39911211729087 I did not do this the same time I used Ivermectin as it would likely kill them too, I did it after as more of a preventative in hopes they didn't come back.

 

[McChooky]

The temps in my country are horrid for red mite too. The coldest it ever gets is about -15 C and 38 C is the hottest it ever got. Add a humid climate and you understand the Netherlands is perfect for the eggs to survive all year round and the adult red mites thrive from spring till autumn.in a chicken coop .

Beautiful there though!

 

[McChooky]

Do you do it once it’s completely dark? Is there light that gets in the coop at night? If they can’t see they are less likely to jump down.

An alternative could be to build them a “floor nest” maybe like an open topped box made out of treated/sealed wood that’s large enough for them all to pile in. The sides don’t have to be very high but high enough to form a container and you can place their bedding materials inside. Then remove all the bedding from the rest of the coop floor to discourage them from nesting anywhere else. Then you can make some sort of moat to put around it and fill with cheap vegetable oil to trap the mites as they approach your birds at night. If the moat idea is too hard you could just put a comprehensive layer of double sided tape around the walls of the floor nest and at least you’d catch a portion of the mites every night and you would be able to monitor their population numbers.

I blocked my community nest box off until I got rid of the mites (they used milk crates for over a year)

 

[BDutch]

I realised that the study of mites (acarology) is quite niche and constantly evolving, let alone the specific study of parasitic mites.

They have done several studies in my country on the red mite because of/for factory farmers. Factory farming is a huge business in the Netherlands and if the stables get infected its a loss of income. Because the resistance of poisons and Eu laws against the use of poisons the farmers use different methods nowadays.

One method is with the predatory mites. But you have to know exactly how and when to use them if you want to make it successful. They need red mite to survive and you need to use them with a loght infestation. They never kill them all and die of cold sooner than the red mite. For hobbyists with a coop its means that next spring the hidden eggs come out and it starts again.

This picture comes from a Dutch research https://www.biobestrijding.nl/vogelmijtbedrijfsplan-en-roofmijten/

The method lots of farmers use nowadays is using diatomaceous earth. After the old hens have left to the meat factory the farmer cleans the stables thoroughly and sprays all surfaces with DE. Nevertheless the red mites are coming back but the infestation doesn’t become problematic for the health of the chickens. And the farmers use other methods too like attracting the red mite into tubes filled with corrugated paper and a sent that attracts the red mite. These tubes are also used to monitor the red mite.

Beautiful there though!

Off topic:
Mmmm… The climate is okay. Not our environment though. We have too much poisonous industry, too much traffic and too much factory farmers and agricultural farmers that polluted and still pollutes our environment. The air, the water and the soil are all contaminated.

Last week the food authorities warned the people not to eat many eggs from backyard chickens after they did a research on PFAS in eggs and found high concentrations in BYC eggs. Now they are investing more to be able to tell where exactly the PFAS is problematic and where it’s safe.