RED MITES - had to condemn coop... questions, please help!!

[1livelychick]

I don't think sevin kills red mites. There is a permetherin dust for dusting the birds. DE definitely does not kill the mites...at least that was my personal experience. It might be good to place in their dusting areas but not to cure an infestation. My chickens have had mites but not to that level. start soaking and you'll feel better...your chickies will , too!

 

[technodoll]

thanks everyone... still have my first two questions unanswered though...

1 - what are the chances of red mites having traveled on the birds we just moved and treated - will this new coop be infected too? if so, what should we do to pro-actively try and stop the infestation before it gets too late, like in the condemned coop?

2 - now what we've removed the red mites' food source (and there are millions in there - HEAVY INFESTATION) - will they migrate out of the condemned coop to find other food sources, ie my banty coop that is about 15 feet away? the banty coop is up on metal legs but the birds have an outdoors pen for free-ranging during the day (9am to 7pm). How "at risk" are my banties that their coop is next in line to get infested? I threw the heavily infested poop boards about 15 feet away from the banty coop this morning (I panicked!!), on a pile of dead branches and junk - I'm terrified the pests will locate the new food source and then I have two nightmares on my hands :-(

am getting on the phone today to try and find fumigation bombs for the condemned coop and other products for the coops where my birds are... no red mites yet but i know they are coming

 

[Judy]

Sounds like you are going to be fighting this for a while. You'll probably end up doing a "whitewash" on the coops. I used the blue search and searched for red mites and selected topic only, and it came up with 6 or 7 threads, which sound like they hit all the possible approaches. Flea dips might be helpful for the birds, or just get some Ivomec Eprinex and attack the coops (again) the same day you use it.

I don't know that they will migrate, but if it were me I'd be proactive and assume they will. Seems like all it would take is a wild bird visiting both places.

I wish you luck!

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

You need to either put DE in the new coop, pelletized lime, or Stall-Dri. To keep those red mites from the old coop from spreading, you might need to put one of those three in the old coop as well. However, it sounds like you are going to need something extremely harsh to get rid of the red mites in the old coop. If there is any way at all to keep those little banties away you should do it. I wish you the best with this problem.

 

[M@M@2four]

Bomb your house and spray your coop down with permetherin spray(wear a mask)--you can get this at Tractor Supply or other feed stores. It's concentrate. I have used a garden mister in my barn when cleaning(the kind you pump)--they cost about $20, but well worth it. You can also spray the permetherin on the birds--one squirt under each wing, base of tail, and chest. Good luck!!!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Quote:
May I suggest throwing some tarps, or perhaps getting a big roll of heavy duty plastic to put over the condemned coop before bug bombing it. Just like the way folks have to tent their house for termites, I'd think that tenting if off before letting off the bug bombs would do a better job of making sure that the poison permeates all the nooks and crannies to get the blood-sucking monsters.

Please keep us all informed as to how it goes during the next week or two OK?

 

[fiberart57]

Sorry about the nightmare, it sounds truly awful.

In regards to burning the coop - in our area sometimes the fire departments will come and burn it for you so their firefighters can get some "practice". Maybe they'll come do it for you.

What if you put a protective circle of either DE and/or Sevin around the new coop and run and keep the chickens in for a week or so? I would think it would be temping to buy a truckload of insecticide and do the property, but you'll damage some benficial insects and you might have difficulties as well.

I would definitely keep the chickens confined to a run for a couple weeks so as to make sure the mites don't get anywhere else.

Mary

 

[1livelychick]

M@M@2four :

Bomb your house and spray your coop down with permetherin spray(wear a mask)--you can get this at Tractor Supply or other feed stores. It's concentrate. I have used a garden mister in my barn when cleaning(the kind you pump)--they cost about $20, but well worth it. You can also spray the permetherin on the birds--one squirt under each wing, base of tail, and chest. Good luck!!!

Completely agree!!! You don't need to burn the barn down.....just srapy every two weeks...they are blood thirsty and they will find your chickens. Use either the spray or you can buy the premetthin in a dust it's cheaper in the garden section than the poultry section..same stuff just larger can in garden section. DE will not help with infestation (this is just my personal experience) Heavy hitters all the way to get it under control. Your county ext service might even give you some advise. Good luck...so sorry you're going through this!​

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Putting the boards in you rcompost pile moved the problem there, and you will also need to treat that area. Lime, stall dry and DE will do nothing to kill the mites. Thy all have their uses, but killing bugs is not something that any of them are very good at. Use an actual pesticide that is labeled for animal premises.

I don;t know how many birds you have, but will suggest setting up a dip station and dipping all the birds in a product that contains an insect growth regulator as well as a pesticide labeled for use on animals. Thoroughly spray the new coop paying especial attention to nooks and crannies and cracks and crevases. I do think that bombing the old one is a good idea, along with tenting it in plastic first.

 

[chkn]

Maybe you can set up some kind of barrier around the condemned coop. I don't know, using sevin or DE or something. Maybe even some professional pesticide that you can order on line, something that has some staying power. Someone here awhile back had a problem and they went around and sealed up every crack in their coop with house sealant, what do you call that stuff in the tube? Anyway, they said it was painstaking but did the trick. It was also for a red mite problem.