Red Mite

Introduction

Red Mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) is a blood-feeding ecto-parasite that lives in cracks and crevices in your chicken house, coming out at night to hop onto a bird for a feast. They cannot fly but are a very serious problem for poultry keepers and a large infestation can kill your birds by sucking their blood, making them anaemic.

Red Mite cause severe skin irritation and stress to your birds and a reduction in laying / egg numbers. Red Mite can be carried into your flock from wild birds and can also transfer from bird to bird although they mainly live in the chicken house. Mites look like moving specs of dirt, they are not species specific and will feed from any type of bird.

Have You Got Red Mite in your Chicken House?

Red Mite are hard to spot if you are inexperienced and before you know it, they are everywhere. Once you have experienced them, you will know what to look for before they multiply too much. You are looking for grey dust around cracks at perch ends.

If your perches are removable they are easier to spot. Once they have had a feed, they appear as clumps of red that turn to red blood when squashed. Since they feed at night, they are difficult to spot during the daytime. Birds will be restless at night and will have a severe skin irritation from the biting mites. Red Mites are almost white before they have fed, blood red after a feed and grey / black with partially digested blood so you will see various colours of mites. Unfortunately it usually takes several attempts to get rid of Red Mite and if they get under your roofing felt, it is usually impossible to shift them without removing and re-felting the roof.

Red Mite really are silent killers - so please be aware and check your coops regularly, especially during the summer time when the weather is warm as often this is the time of year when conditions are optimum for Red Mite infestations. The photo to the right shows an infestation under a perch that was removed.

The Life Cycle of 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.

Controlling Red Mite

Some I have used myself, some I haven't so I can't say how successful they are. I have adopted a more organic approach to flock management and many of these methods rely on some fairly strong chemicals so be careful not to harm yourself or your birds if you decide to try some of these.

• Creosote applied to the house. This has to be the old fashioned creosote, not creosote substitute that is sold in DIY stores. Old fashioned creosote I am told can still be bought at farm merchants in the UK. Paint Paraffin into cracks and crevices.
• Blow torches can be used around the cracks and crevices but be careful not to set fire to your coop!
• Steamers used for stripping wall paper can be used to get into cracks.
• Pressure Washers can be used to spray into cracks to wash out mites.
  
• Smearing a mixture of Paraffin and Vaseline into cracks and crevices. Vaseline is used frequently by poultry keepers to get rid of scaly leg mites. It smothers the mites.
• Double-sided sticky fly papers / double sided sticky tape on the underside of the perch and / or around ends of perches.
• Treating the birds with Frontline or Ivermectin. Whilst not licenced for use on poultry in the UK, vets often prescribe one or the other under their ‘clinical judgement' for lice / mite control. See the links to separate articles on these for more information. Whist these will eradicate mites that bite your chickens for some time, they will not kill of all mites since it is only the adults that bite your birds so a treatment from Frontline or Ivermectin should be used in conjunction with other measures.
• Carbolic Soap can be spread in the cracks and crevices to smother the mites.
• Coke poured into cracks to wet the mites apparently works by dissolving the waxy outer coating of the mite which then causes them to dry out, dehydrate and die.
• A dust bath can really help the birds with mites and lice and is their natural way to getting rid of external parasites. Dusting powders can be added to dust baths (like Diatomacious Earth) so the birds get it into the places you have missed. When mites hop onto your birds at night, they will rub against the diatom.

Insecticides & other products to kill Red Mite

Most insecticides contain permethrin which is a man made synthetic pyrethroid derived from dried flowers of the Chrysanthemum Daisy. Pemethrin works as a contact insecticide that damages the nervous system of the insect. It is an effective insecticide and has a low toxicity in mammals. Most products come in powder form for dusting bedding and perches. They remain active for some time but do need to be reapplied after cleaning the house / bedding out.

Battles Louse Powder

For use on bedding and around perch ends. Battles Louse Powder contains the insecticide Permethrin.

Ectosol Liquid

Ectosol Liquid is a very strong repellent that can be used to put the mites off biting the chickens whilst another product or method is used to kill them in the chicken house. If sprayed onto the house, it can be used to prevent mites and lice.

Mite-Ex

Mite-Ex is an insecticide based spray that kills mites on contact. It is also known as Milbenex and produced by Schopf and contains active ingredients Bifenthrin and Cypermethrin

Ardap Spray

Ardap is a general insecticide spray that can kill red mite. It kills mites immediately on contact.

Products that don't contain permethrin or another insecticide often work in different ways to control red mite. Some contain repellents that red mites do not like, some wash the waxy surface of the mite off a that cause it to dry out and die and diatom pierces this waxy coating with microscopically sharp edges for the same effect.

Duramitex

Duramitex was a popular concentrated solution that was diluted with water and then sprayed into cracks and crevices from a plant sprayer. It contained the active ingredient Malathion which is an organophosphate that is now banned. Duramitex has been replaced by Duramitex Plus that is pesticide free.

Poultry Shield.

Poultry Shield is a very popular solution used by poultry keepers. It is a safe liquid concentrate that doesn't contain an pesticides. It is diluted before being used to wash the poultry house or made into a stronger solution for spraying onto Red Mite infestations. Like other solutions, it has to come into contact with the mites and their eggs. The solution washes the outer wax coating of the mite which causes the mite to dehydrate and die. It takes around 48 hours to kill. Poultry shield is ideal for removing organic matter during weekly cleaning.

Smite.

Smite is a new product that is effective against Red Mite and their eggs as well as other parasites. It is a degreasant and cleaner that is good for removing organic matter during routine cleaning. Smite is a non-toxic product that doesn't contain pesticides. It has a pleasant odour and has an easy to use dosing pump fitted to the top of the container. A 3-6% dilution is required which makes it economical to us.

Smite is available from Earthly Enterprises - who we really like because they are Ecologically Responsible Suppliers.

Natural Red Mite Remedies

There are some natural insecticides and deterrents that can help you with a red mite infestation, many of these can be found in products suitable for human use - anti-mosquito products for example as well as in natural / organic powders. Red Mite Powder for example contains Tea Tree. Here is a list of some natural insecticides / deterrents that can be used to beat red mite.

• Note Red Mite can survive off a bird, without feeding for six to eight months.....

  Diatom - Diatom powder is actually micro skeletons of fossilised remains of deceased diatoms, which are a type of algae found in water.
• Tea Tree.
• Peppermint.
• Citronella - Often sold to prevent mosquitos.
  
• Eucalyptus - Trees grow well in the UK and can be bought from garden centres. Crush fresh Eucalyptus leaves and use in bedding to help to deter Red-Mites.
• Lemongrass - Can be grown from seed in the greenhouse.
• Cedarwood Oils.
• Soya Bean Oils.
• Garlic

I have used a few of these for red mite control with success the main two being garlic and diatom.

Garlic has many other health benefits as well as being a natural insecticide.
It is thought that the red mite don't like the smell that comes off the skin or the taste of blood after garlic has been eaten. I crush a couple of fresh cloves into their water, or, if I'm in a hurry, I will use dried garlic granules that I buy in big bags from an equestrian shop but it can also be added to food.

Diatom is very safe to use and can be used in organic farms. If it is dusted around the bedding and rubbed into the perches it can drastically reduce red mite numbers. Diatom has microscopically sharp edges and it works by piercing the outer waxy coating of the mite which will basically dry up (dessiccate) and die after a short while. There is no chemical toxicity since diatom controls insects by physical means rather than chemical.