Red Mite: How to Identify, Prevent and Treat Them on your Chickens and Poultry
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- Red Mite is the parasite that scares chicken keepers most. We do know friends who have unfortunately lost chickens through red mite infestation so being able to identify and treat it quickly is essential.
In this video we'll show you:
- Identification: How to find them on your chicken and coop and what you're looking for
- Prevention: How you can reduce the chances of getting Red Mite including why Nestera Coops are a tool in the battle to prevent an infestation (see below for 5% discount offers).
- Treatment: How you can get rid of an infestation if you find Red Mite on your chickens
Credit for pictures and video of red mite (and our thanks for allowing us to use them):
- Instagram @egg_and_fluff
- Instagram @drchicken_
We grow our own food on our smallholding and endeavour to be self-sufficient. Subscribe to see more of our life including self sufficiency videos, recipes, garden tips and chicken keeping.
We breed Buff Orpington chickens and have kept them for a number of years.
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Opening Music credits: Artist = Earth Tree Healing
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Please, please, when mentioning Diatomaceous earth please mention that masks should always be used and is very important due to it being a lung irritant. Great sound advice and Smite was my weapon of choice.
We did specifically talk about the heath issues of DE
@@EnglishCountryLife this was not supposed to sound like a criticism, just wanted to suggest mask wearing if people use it. Yes you did mention the Cancer risks which is great
We use Neem oil as it is a natural product, add to warm water and spray onto chickens and their boxes. Also adding charcoal or wood ash to their dust bath helps suffocate mites, lice, fleas and ticks. We have not suffered with them for a long time now but all the birds get sprayed twice a year and during tick season all our four legged friends get a spray as well, not that they enjoy it! Helpful video again, thanks.
I've read a few papers on Neem oil - it does seem effective
Interesting use of wood ash. Always have plenty around here in winter.
@@EnglishCountryLife It is a substance with a wide variety of uses, only downside if used neat is the smell.
Many thanks to you Fiona and to your lovely husband. Having lived in London for nearly thirty years, I am now managing a smallholding here in our beautiful Swat valley in the mountainous region of Pakistan. Weather here is not too different from the UK.
So much have we learnt from you and your husband and it's always a pleasure watching your lovely smallholding with your healthy chickens and vegetable garden.
Thank you so much. Do the mountain slopes add difficulty to smallholding? It's very flat here which is a good thing for gardening!
@@EnglishCountryLifeit does to some degree but we are kind of used to it, even our livestock gleefully take a walk on these slopy. Mind you, from the upper levels the valley looks amazingly beautiful.
@@justicejustice9785 I bet - the flats here could use some hills!
We were fine for 10 years and didn't even know what they were. We then bought some new pullets and we have had them ever since.
I now tend to use a blow torch on the coup one a week and burn the beding. We also smite powder the chickens. We are.only in Northamptonshire so may have to pop up and see you some time.😊
Strongly recommend the Ivermectin treatment if you want to eliminate them, it really does work
We can’t seem to get rid of them. We used elector psp, ivermectin in the chickens, cleaned the whole coop, pressure washed, painted it, burned the bedding, put down Saturday lime, sprayed peppermint and tea tree oil, put sticky carpet tape on the perch and garlic in their food…still have them
One thing to mention is that ivermectin is also a wormer. There also two types the topical application, as you discussed and the oral. Ivermectin will also get rid of northern fowl mite. The oral is very good for internal pests. Make sure you only use the topical externally. Great video…
It is a very useful treatment for sure
Thanks Fiona. Here in the Charente we just got a replacement Cockerel and he brought some guests with him..... So, we're in the thick of the treatment stage here. A really clear and concise video. Thanks again.
We have a rule now - no live chickens are bought. We hatch what we need. It's not possible for everyone but it does add a measure of biosecurity against red mite, chicken lice etc.
Another well times video for me! I have been thinking of doing a mite prevention regimen for my chickens but been unsure how to do it. This video has answered all my questions - thank you!
So glad that it was timely!
We've tried lots of things. Then, a couple of weeks ago I had a brainwave - I wrapped sicky face up duct tape at each end of the perch. I sealed the edges with the same tape, sticky side down to prevent them crawling underneath. The result was outstanding - many thousands caught every night. Thing is, most seem to be freshy fed mites returning to their lair but scratching my head (sometimes literally, lolz) - not sure how they reached the hens overnight, even the unfed ones.
Very clever!
Great video, we've been lucky (touch wood) so far regarding red mites, had some lice to deal with though...
One video that would be interesting, though maybe not the prettiest. Would be identifying and treating bumblefoot.
That's a good idea Lewis. We are fortunate that we haven't had bumblefoot yet but if we see it, we will video the treatment
Thanks for all the useful information 🌹🌹
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the mite discussion!
Thanks so much 🙏
Some great tips there Fiona and Hugh, thanks for this one 👍👍. I always have a spray bottle with a mix of Fairy liquid, cooking oil and water to help kill off these beasties. An old remedy but still works if you have nothing else to hand.
That's really interesting Phil - similar action to that it has on aphids do you think?
@@EnglishCountryLife yes, it seems to be the same idea as the aphid spray, just keep shaking the bottle to keep it well mixed 👍👍
@@TheFarrierphil Interesting - it's a new one on me
@@EnglishCountryLife just another line of defense against red mite. I use DE along with other shop bought sprays plus our roosting poles are removable, forged hooks for them and that helps too. Take them out into the sunshine of the day👍👍
Very helpful as always thank you :)
Happy to help!
Thank you for the really useful info. Just wondering if steam cleaning the coop would be effective...any ideas?
That's a good idea for getting into cracks 👍
Brilliant.Many thanks
Glad It helped bob
I would love a video about your chicken fencing set up. Do you rotate chickens or move fences. I notice your grass still looks nice and green, how do you keep it this way. Do you have several flocks? Were looking at getting into breeding specific breeds and having a fee flocks so very interested. We currently have a mixed flock with rooster.
We keep one large enclosure surrounded by an electric fence. We only keep Buff Orpington cockerels as they are our main breeding flock. To avoid cross breeding, our other hens lay different colour eggs (Crested cream legbars lay blue eggs for example). We only hatch the tinted eggs from Orpingtons. When any areas of grass do get worn (which is inevitable)we fence iff that area and reseed it. Keeping separate areas for different flocks is very possible with either hot gates in-between or entirely separate fences an energisers. We sell everything you would need in our shop (www.englishcountrylife.com) & would be very happy to talk you through the options if that helps?
How clever. I'll have a think on that idea. I'm in NZ and don't need electric fences here thankfully. Don't even close the door to their hutch where we live. Although we do have falcons but they seem to know to leave the chickens alone within their fenced area.
@@LisaGray1000 You are so fortunate in that!
Thank you for the methods on treating red mite! I have never heard of the prescription Exzolt for the chickens' drinking water! I will ask my avian vet about it when I start my new flock! Do you have any recommendations on treating scaly leg mites? Those suckers are rampant out here in Southern California!
Hi! The ivermectin treatment that we mentioned works just as well on scaly leg mite thankfully - very easy to apply too!
Magpies brought them to my flock earlier in the year, not a fun time at all 😅
We know that they can be brought in by wild birds - so anyone can contract them. I'd never thought of magpies - but no reason they shouldn't be a carrier!
@@EnglishCountryLifeAs I understand it, they target any bird that re-uses a nesting site over multiple years :)
@@RenTheWren That makes sense, I know pigeons carry them
Thanks for the vid, great topic to cover, just got rid of them (I HOPE), I have been using permethrin powder and diatomaceous but they still managed to invade, the best cure for me was a blowtorch along with taking the coop apart and roasting every inch of it, thanks again
We used to blowtorch beehives with a huge roofing torch. It's effective - but, as you know, caution is needed!
@@EnglishCountryLife Take it is effective for varroa, useful knowledge for next years project of setting up a hive, yes blowtorch with great caution and and a fire extinguisher.
@@Andrew.Croft. When we kept bees we used oxalic acid as the main varoa treatment but there are newer treatments now
Thank you Fiona! Does a moist environment in the run as is sometimes the case in spring facilitate the little buggers? Does freezing in the winter kill them? I never had any but I do mix some diatomaceous earth in their sand box. I’ll have to research the cancer risk. I also dust myself (my pants) from the knees down to help with ticks. My place in N. WI is ground zero for Lyme disease, ticks, bears, wolf bobcat coyotes attacks on pets and livestock. You name it threat wise we’ve got it. So a little diatomaceous eart doesn’t seem threatening.
Hi Pamela. The numbers do rise in spring but not because of the moisture but more because of temperature. Any temperatures above 5⁰C are great for mobile adult red mites but don’t forget that overnight they benefit from the body warm of the chickens so none of us can rely on lower night time temperatures. When there is freezing weather the adults will be killed, but the eggs will remain dormant until the temperatures warm up.
DE is such a fine powder and because it works by being a super-absorber of moisture it can gradually build up in the respiratory tracts of our chickens and ourselves causing a number of respiratory issues and there are the potential carcinogen effects too. Having said that it is an incredibly useful tool in our anti-mite armoury, so if you’re using it long term, wearing a medical face mask when you apply it might be advisable as a very simple precaution.
I hope that helps.
I'm not sure I'd wanna use chemicals and medications. I use DE, but i hold my breath! Like any powder, it's not wise to breathe in. I also use Poultry Shield, which can be used in organic systems. I'm surprised you didn't mention it.
We covered the products that we have personally tested & found useful & that discussions with other breeders & poultry veterinarians indicate to be effective. We did not find Poultry Shield effective in eradicating parasites. Where there is a health & welfare issue for our flock we choose the most effective & proven solutions including medication.
@@EnglishCountryLifefair enough. I read that Red Stop Solution is natural and goes in their water. Might be worth ppl trying.
@@benw4079 We haven't seen any clinical trials on red stop. For an "in drink" solution we would suggest www.exzolt.com/
@@EnglishCountryLife yeah I saw. But I raise my chickens organically, so that rules out many chemicals and medications that aren't approved for use in organic systems.
My chickens have them for the first time. Any tips for getting them off myself?
Hi. Generally they don't infest humans but they can bite. With a bad infestation, protective clothing such as gloves is wisen& thorough washing.
Bonjour, hope you are both well. I have a question for Foxy Fiona. You have mentioned that hay is not suitable for bedding in the coop but is it ok to put in their run ? I want to make a windbreak along one side of the run and a near neighbour has bales available, otherwise it looks like an hours round trip to get straw bales.
Hi Chris, the problem with hay is that the long stranda can get caught around their legs (issue) or tangled and impacted in their crop (potentially fatal)
Zut alors ! Ah well, it'll be a nice jolly out in the countryside then. At least the straw is the same price - 2 euros a bale. Thanks for the advice. 👍@@EnglishCountryLife
@@chrishamilton-wearing3232 If you can get shavings.....
Shavings are no problem. I can get them for free from the local wood mill, I've got several sacks of them ready for bedding and litter in the coop. Just need the chickens to go with them. I am just a gnats whisker from finishing the coop/run so it's entirely possible that they might be here next week. @@EnglishCountryLife
@@chrishamilton-wearing3232 Exciting!
Thank you so much for this video. I just found red mite in my coop. I have dergall, can I use only this to treat the chickens or should I be using the ivermectine too?
Hi Simone, Dergall will kill the mites on contact but it's hard to get them all and they keep hatching. The good thing with Ivermectin is that if they bite a chicken they die. In theory, two treatments a week apart should eraditcate them although a third makes sure. Dergall is undeniably effective but we find the combination with Ivermectin gives the surest, quickest result
@EnglishCountryLife Any ideas of what I can do with the withdrawn eggs please? Can they go in the compost or is it safer to throw them?
Where did you get your chicken coops please?
Hi Cherie,
They are Nestera coops - we sell them in our shop
englishcountrylife.com/product-category/coops/coops-coops/
Our RUclips viewers get a special discount - use code ECL5 at checkout 😉
Thank you @@EnglishCountryLife
@@cherieellis2181 Any time. If you have any questions or want to see them up close, drop us an email englishcountrylife@outlook.com
@EnglishCountryLife opps sorry I meant the cute wooden house shaped ones.
@@cherieellis2181 Ah - those I built
I have a wooden coop similar to the one in your video. I got it about 12 months ago - second hand, and gave it a good clean with a pressure washer. It has been sitting in the orchard waiting for some chickens ever since. This event is now imminent! The run is 90% built, the còop needs a new roof and re- felting and things have even been videoed !! Given the time the coop has been empty and having been pressure washed what are the chances of any red mites being present. I don't have any specific red mite spray at the moment. I do have a bottle of Ark Cleanse, disinfectant/cleaner/deodoriser. Do you know of this product and is it of any use ?
Hi Chris, my reading of Ark Cleanse is that it's a disinfectant rather than an insecticide. Mites can survive for a heck of a long time. Blowtorching works but obviously carries risks of fire and to the varnish or other finish
Thanks Fiona, I thought the little buggers could still be lurking. I will have to get some anti mite spray locally and give it a good dousing. There is a French chap called " Pappy Noun" who has an interesting method of dealing with mites. @@EnglishCountryLife
@@chrishamilton-wearing3232 Interesting - what's his technique?
It's been a while since I watched it but basically he wraps corrugated card around the ends of the perches and the mites scuttle into the cavities in the morning. He then takes the card off and burns it. @@EnglishCountryLife
@@chrishamilton-wearing3232 Clever!