How to get rid of red mites in chicken houses

As a chicken keeper, dealing with red mite can be a quite a tricky challenge. These small parasitic mites often live in the chicken coop during the day. When the night comes, they begin to feed off the blood of the chicken. The infestation of the red mites can occur in all kinds of chicken houses. However, the one kind of coops that tend to suffer more from their infestation is the wooden chicken house. Hence, if your chicken house is wooden, you’ll probably experience this problem of red mite infestations more often. So, how do you get rid of the mites from your chicken house?

Controlling Red Mites

It’s extremely difficult to completely eradicate red mite from the coop. Deep-cleaning the coop and treating your chicken isn’t a solution. All it takes is for a few eggs of the mites or a few red mites themselves to escape your cleaning and they’ll begin to multiply again. So, the moment you discover them, your approach should be to deep-clean the housing after which you should have a plan for ongoing regular treatment. This ensures that you get to deal with them as they try to grow in number. You need to, however, know that these mites can survive for between 6 to 8 months without feeding on blood. This means that if you leave the coop for a short period won’t be effective in getting rid of them. You can, therefore, change housing and treat the infested as the birds live in the next.

Felt Proofs

If your chicken house has a felt proof, you’ll have to remove and re-felt the roof to be able to kill mites’ colonies that may be underneath the felt. Alternatively, you can remove your felt roofs and use other materials in their place.
Methods of Controlling Red Mites in Chicken Houses

There are numerous other methods that have been used by people to control the parasitic mite in their chicken houses.

Some of the ways include:

1. Application of Creosote
Creosote can be purchased from agricultural suppliers even though it was banned in 2013. The DIY substitute of creosote sold in stores isn’t very effective in dealing with the red mite infestation. To use this chemical, you need to apply it in the coop at least once every year.

2. Paint Paraffin
Another method said to be effective for dealing with the mites is through the use of paint paraffin. This is used by applying it into crevices and cracks where the parasite could be hiding.

3. Blow Torch
This is effective when used around crevice and cracks if your coop isn’t made of plastic. Take care not set your coop on fire.

4. Steamers
Steamers like those used to strip wallpaper work well when used in cracks in the chicken house.

5. Pressure Washers
Pressure washers can be used to wash out the red mites from cracks in the chicken coop. It’s sprayed directly into the cracks where the parasites are suspected to be residing.

6. A mixture of Vaseline and Paraffin
The mixture of paraffin and Vaseline is smeared into crevices and cracks.

7. Any Coke brand
This is poured into cracks thereby wetting the mites. This works by dissolving the mite’s outer coating, thereby, dehydrates and kills them.

8. Dust Bath
This is the birds’ natural way of getting external parasites from their bodies. It’s really helpful for the birds in dealing with lice and mites. You can add dusting powders to the birds’ dust baths.

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