Red mites HELP!

[DuckCommander]

My coop is completely infested with red mites. Which I just found out exsisted today! I have to go out and get whatever I need to fix this issue tomorrow. I am very limited on products around here, I tried to find Poultry Shield online and can only find it in the UK. I am in northern Alberta, Canada. I will do my best to find what I need. I have Diamateous Earth that I got today to dust the birds with. I need to know the best course of treatment for my coop. Where do I start and what products are out there that are readily available???!

 

[Judy]

First, DE is not going to do it. What works is carbaryl, sold here as Sevin 5% garden dust, and also sold as a liquid which is handy to spray on coop surfaces. A permethrin/pyrethrin/piperonyl product should also work. Here, Adams flea and tick spray, sold for dogs, is effective, contains some of these ingredients, and is readily available. Our feed stores also usually carry a "poultry duct" or "poultry spray" which is these sae ingredients. But if the dust is only DE, it will do little, maybe knock down some of them but will not stop an infestation. Some people use other flea medicines for dogs. (I don't know what you can get.) Also, there is a new product, brand name Spinosad, which some have had good luck with. I don't know exactly what it is, but is evidently a "natural product." I understand it breaks down in sunlight, though.

What is needed is to treat everything -- birds, coop, and change out litter -- once, then repeat the process in 10 days, to get the hatching eggs. Good luck!

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html