i feel that this section deserves a page to itself, although keeping poultry is relatively easy, the poultry RED MITE (Dermanyssus gallinae) is something that most of us will experience at some time or another when keeping hens.

Red mite is not to be confused with the red spider mite that you see running along walls and fences etc in your garden. Red mite is approx 0.7mm long and is grey when young or not yet fed to red when it has taken a feed, another common sigh for red mite is a grey dust along the perches and nooks and crannies fo the coop. This pest lives in the wood of your chicken coop and comes out at night to feed off the hens blood. This in turn can make your hens lethargic, (a good sign is a pale comb), can stop the hens laying and eventually lead to anemia and your hens can die.

There are many products on the market that can help to repel and kill red mite, all of which we stock in our shop. From powders for on bird treatment and also liquids for cleaning out your chicken coop. We also stock smoke fumers which are very easy to use. Also another favourite way of keeping red mite at bay is feeding your hens a little garlic in their feed. The principle is the same as with people who eat garlic dont tend to get bitten so much with mosquitoes. Red mite do not like garlic and will therefore shy away from feeding from the hen.

To spot red mite can be difficult as they generally only come out at night (unless you have a very bad infestation). Every few weeks go down to your hen house about an hour or so after the hens have done up to roost and wipe a white piece of tissue or kitchen roll along the perches and near where the hens are sitting, if you can see any red spots you know you have red mite.

Unfortunately it is NOT due to unhygenic practices or a poor cleaning-out regime, red mite can be passed by other wild birds which land in your garden.

The Life Cycle of a Red Mite

• A blood feed takes 1 to 2 hours.
• After feeding a female red mite crawls into a crack or crevice to mate and lay eggs.
• During mild weather, eggs hatch and the larvae emerge in 2 or 3 days.
• 24 hours later, larvae change into 8 legged protonymphs.
• The protonymphs change into deutonymphs 24 to 36 hours later.
• They start to feed and become adult red mites.
• The females start to lay eggs again and the cycle is repeated.
• The complete cycle takes about 7 days to complete.
• RED MITE CAN LIVE UPTO 8 MONTHS WITHOUT FEEDING
  

A favourite place for red mite to hide is in felt of a felt roofed coop. If you suspect you have have red mite you will need to peel away the felt to expose the wood and treat, otherwise no matter how much you treat the coop you will constantly have mites coming in from the roof. Onduline is a very good material for poultry coops.

Feel free to comment on how you combat or deter red mite