FAQ

Redmite….. the chicken keepers nightmare?  Imagine it from the chickens point of view!  You’ve had a long day scratching around in the garden and you finally decide to trot off to bed, only to be attacked by thousands of tiny, almost invisible, biting insects.  You’re locked in, so can’t escape and even if you try you are unceremoniously plonked back in the coop to be nipped and crawled over all night.  You can’t sleep, you feel tired from blood loss and exhaustion and hate your life!  

Well I believe its up to us as the responsible owner to nip this in the bud once and for all.  But its easier said than done!  It is not, however, impossible.  

You need to be proactive and not reactive.  Once the mites are established you are on an uphill battle.  You need to treat BEFORE you see any signs of mites by spraying every week, at bedtime with a product called Smite professional.  When you spray this, everything that it touches melts (except your chickens obviously.  Its safe for them but do avoid their eyes).  Its a degreasing agent that you dilute and soak the coop, preferably at night, when the birds are going to roost.  If you spray during the day you are likely to miss all the mites that are hiding away around the cracks, joins and crevices.  At night, however, the mites come out to play and walk straight into the dampness that will dissolve them!  Job done!  But, sometimes this is just not enough.  If you are still losing the battle you can try your vet to see if you can get a product called Exzolt.  It costs an absolute fortune unfortunately but it actually works.  You need the tiniest amount in their drinking water (0.05ml per kilo of bird) and once consumed 99.9% of the mites will be dead in a few hours.  Just repeat a week later and you’ll catch the eggs that were waiting to hatch.

There are obviously tonnes of products that claim to work, but, these are the ones that actually, in my opinion, do.  One of the most useless things and one that is bad for you and your birds is Diatomacious Earth (DE)…. it will get into your lungs if you are not careful and cause havoc with your health.  I personally know of two people who have been hospitalised a result of using it.  I can only imagine what it would to then hens who are trapped in the coop with a liberal sprinkling on the bedding.

On a side note please do not use hay or straw in the coop or nest box.  Not only does the tube like structure give the red mite somewhere great to live, but it may actually introduce the mites in the first place.  When damp both give off a mould that is dangerous to the chickens.  There is no good reason to use either and plenty of reasons to use neither.  Shavings or a specially designed chicken bedding is much more suitable.