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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Posted: Fri Jul 28, 17 12:16 am Post subject: Redmite |
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Anyone else having a horrendous year for them? I had them at Christmas, nuked them all with a blowtorch and liberally dusted with diatom, job done.
But when we came back from a week away a couple of weeks ago, I had a MASSIVE infestation in one of the eglus, and a wooden coop with a stupid design. The eglu in particular was seething with the barbaric buggers.
The ground zero eglu is fine now. I pressure washed it, and sprayed with poultry shield, and moved it into the field. I replaced it with another (mite-free) eglu on the same spot, which is now also infested, despite spraying the ground liberally as well, and the poor hens being hock deep in diatom. I can't move it far within the garden, and I'm loathe to move it down to the field, as they are Jenna's special pet hens, and I want to keep them far away from the fox (who has yet to venture into the garden)
The growers wooden coop has a stupid design. You clean it with a pull out droppings tray, so it only has a small door, and its impossible to get in and spray it properly. I took the roof off, and sprayed it twice, but it's still badly infested and I can't seem to get all of the little sods.
Today, I found small numbers of mites in the big layers coop and the small growers coop, and even in the quail coop. I think there must be more in their run, because were sleeping in the coop today, and they don't usually. That's every house I have. I think the only occupied broody coop is ok, and the pressure washed eglu is fine, but it's right next to the growers coop, so it's only a matter of time before they are back in it if I don't get on top of it.
Obviously, I need to keep a better eye on them, and catch it earlier, but any tips on getting the current numbers down, especially on the ground. I'm going to try steaming cleaning the wooden coop, in the hope I can boil some of the sods in their crannies! |
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Shan
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 9075 Location: South Wales
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Midlandsman
Joined: 22 May 2014 Posts: 116
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Shan
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 9075 Location: South Wales
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Shan
Joined: 13 Jan 2009 Posts: 9075 Location: South Wales
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frewen
Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 11405
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 4630 Location: Peeping over your shoulder
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35935 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 15051 Location: East Midlands
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Posted: Mon Jul 31, 17 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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I spent a very satisfying hour torching everything I could reach in the small house. Sizzle pop! It's such a stupid design - because it has a pull out droppings tray, it only has a hen-sized door, so it's impossible to get to all of it. Still, it will be some improvement for the poor hens. I was going to steam clean it, but the steamer didn't work. I had to vacuum it first though, because of all the diatom that isn't working clogging up the cracks! I might get a site vacuum, because that was quite satisfying.
The big house is more or less ok, I think the perches were the problem. There is a lot of redmite under accumulated crud on them, so I'm just going to replace them. Then I'm going to pressure wash the problem eglu and flood the ground underneath with boiling water.
The issue now is red mite on the hens. Jenna was checking them as I was torching the house, and the damn things ARE living on them. It was 7 this evening, and it wasn't just the odd one. There were lots on them. I'll try the ivermectin, or maybe frontline if it easier to get. |
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chez
Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 35935 Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46220 Location: yes
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