Emma noticed about 6 weeks ago the girls started sleeping on top of the coop. An initial check in the day showed nothing. Turns out they come out at night! Checked early evening and found a few small black mites. Looks like the recent 'warm' weather is bringing them out. As they can live up to 8 months without feeding and once they do start laying eggs, which hatch every 5-7 days, its a case of getting on top of the cycle. So for the past few weeks we have been cleaning the coop with a multitude of anti-mite stuff (the latest being poultry shield) and then dusting with diatomaceous earth (DE) to help kill them. We are also dusting the girls with DE and adding it to their dustbath. Its proving to be a nightmare!
The problem with mites is that they can cause the chickens to become anaemic and as their health suffers, so does egg production and it can kill them. As they are still laying often we are hoping we are dealing with it before it gets too bad. Plus Emma is giving them extra treats and vitamins.
If the poultry shield doesn't work, we will be giving Ficam W a go. If that doesn't work we will have to replace the coop with a plastic one. Nightmare. As I said - Arghhh! Mites!!!
For those who don't know what a red mite looks like, I have put a picture below...
I hope it doesn't make you feel too itchy...
