The worst ever infestation of red mite I ever had was in my laptop and it is an example of just how successful and opportunistic these creatures are and that if you understand this you can also rid yourself of an infestation. That said, it was not so easy once they got inside the casing of the laptop and every time I switched it on, I gave them two of their triggers to emerge - heat and movement. It was an impressive sight to see hoards of them appear from hiding, itchy too as they crawled onto me as I typed!.
The catalyst for this infestation may have been, a lovely empty wild birds' nest that had blown out of a rose bush and which I had placed on a shelf above the table with the laptop below. Then I had one of my Polish hens, who had had trouble laying, as sometimes happens when they lay in Winter and whom I had placed once she had successfully laid her egg, on the cross bar of the table. Notice I say 'may have been' because I'm presuming on the wild birds' nest but there may have already been red mite in small numbers on the Polish hen but my bringing her in at night gave them the opportunity of a blood-feed, a safe place to hide away from prying beaks and an optimum temperature in which to reproduce.
PREVENTION
Nutritional Considerations
As previously discussed, red mite remain on the bird for a relatively short time and in my opinion, it really is a waste of time treating the bird. However, no mites function in an oily environment and as I have discussed before there is a direct correlation between preening and using the uropygial (oil) gland and nutritional deficiency. Lack of adequate Vitamin A in a bird can lead to keratosis, the
over-production of keratin, which can in turn engender a blocking of the preen gland and thus a build up of parasites. Making available high beta-carotene foods such as grated carrot, leafy green veg and grass would be a worthwhile exercise.
Similarly it is worth remembering if your hens are in a run, that just feeding them these foods does not mean that all of them are getting their fair shares. Food, I have observed, particularly essential nutrients are part of the pecking order for poultry, so within the flock it is well for you to identify those who are lower down the hierarchy and feed them separately. This way all your birds will have an optimum defense against parasites having ease of movement on their bodies. Furthermore, there is some, sadly not a great deal of research, on the actual composition of preen oil to show that it may have antibacterial, antifungal and quite possibly anti-parasite functions of itself. Whether this is by chemical composition or just by the oil being a physical barrier is still not known. Interestingly enough, there has however been some work done on the bacteriostatic nature of preen gland oil, in that although it may not outright kill bacteria it does prevent them from reproducing.
Similarly it is worth remembering if your hens are in a run, that just feeding them these foods does not mean that all of them are getting their fair shares. Food, I have observed, particularly essential nutrients are part of the pecking order for poultry, so within the flock it is well for you to identify those who are lower down the hierarchy and feed them separately. This way all your birds will have an optimum defense against parasites having ease of movement on their bodies. Furthermore, there is some, sadly not a great deal of research, on the actual composition of preen oil to show that it may have antibacterial, antifungal and quite possibly anti-parasite functions of itself. Whether this is by chemical composition or just by the oil being a physical barrier is still not known. Interestingly enough, there has however been some work done on the bacteriostatic nature of preen gland oil, in that although it may not outright kill bacteria it does prevent them from reproducing.
Cardboard Box Nest Boxes - Friend or Foe?
CURE
Choices of Treatment
Because I have access to all three Fire, Steam and Essential Oils, I like to use a combination of all three but any one of them used alone and then repeated within the time frame of the life-cycle of the mite I have also found to be effective.
Essential Oil Treatment
Essential oil treatment is the 'go to' one I use for an initial red mite treatment as it takes little time to set up and is the easiest to use. Oreganum compactum, which is grown or wild-harvested in the mountains of Greece and Spain and highly prized is my essential oil of choice for the treatment of red mite. However, I have also used and to great effect Organic Oreganum vugare, which tends to be cheaper. In the first place Oregano Essential oil is an amazingly powerful antiparasite as well as an equally powerful antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory. It is also an incredibly strong painkiller - I know it got me through a particularly unpleasant episode of bad dentistry before I could get to my present and brilliant biological and holistic dentist! However, the problem with oregano is it is too good an antimicrobial and therefore it needs to be used transdermally when applied for a bacterial infection because otherwise it will have a detrimental effect on the gut flora. In fact in my experience treating birds and ourselves I would always go for transdermal treatment and always avoid taking anything by mouth. I also always limit transdermal application of this oil to 1 drop diluted in 5ml (teaspoon) of carrier oil.
In this case however we are treating inanimate objects but even so the birds and yourself will be breathing it in and furthermore it is an expensive oil and there is absolutely no need to overuse it. So I use the following for my red mite treatment:-
- 3 drops of E.O. Oregano Essential oil to ¼ pint- 150ml of carrier oil
For the carrier oil any organic vegetable oil would do, I used to use safflower or sunflower, which was the cheapest until I started recuperating the big olive jars they give out at my local organic shop. These still have the oil in the bottom, usually it is full of herbs but it is easy to filter this out and use the oil as a carrier.
The main areas I treat in the coop/hen house are the roost(s)/perch(es) and the areas of the hen house wall that may be a bridge whereby the mite can travel over to the perch. Over the past years we changed the design of our perches to make it easier to prevent mites from finding places to hide and included in the design was a way in which the pole was made separate from the droppings pit, again to reduce mite numbers by limiting hiding places. I will give the link at the bottom of this article to our design and construction for this new perch. As the new pole section of the perch is fixed to the wall this is also an area I treat with essential oils and if I think the infestation is high I dismount the wall bracket and treat the wall beneath as well as the individual pieces of wood. It is also important to treat the screws as well as red mites love hiding in screw threads. I usually place all the screws I have removed into a jar of mixture and let them soak for the time I am treating the perch.
Fire
A blowtorch is a very effective weapon against red mite. We have used a blowtorch very successfully both on its own as and in combination with the essential oil treatment. It is a particularly useful addition if, as we do, you have a droppings pit covered with chicken wire, as it is difficult although not impossible to treat these areas with oil. It is however probably a lot less expensive to use the torch. The only proviso is to be careful not to set fire to the wooden perch and also for the best and most efficient treatment when used in combination, to use the fire solution first and then to follow up with the essential oil. If you have an important infestation and which we discussed how to ascertain this in the first article, then you will also need to dismantle the perch and soak the screws in the essential oil mix.
Steam
I am pretty sure that somewhere tucked in a friend's or relative's attic or wardrobe is a steam cleaner. We got ours from Andy's mother, who had been given it as a present decades ago and used it once. These gadgets are superb at getting rid of red mite, again used in combination with the other 2 solutions and/or just alone as it is quite easy to steam even the individual screws. Also because of the combination of nozzles that are usually included with these appliances it is also incredibly easy to adapt the steam jet to use on specific areas. Thus with a bad infestation you can actually use the large brush tool to steam the whole of the walls, floor and ceiling of the coop. Once again please do refer to my previous article which lays out specific tests you can use to ascertain the level of infestation and whether it is specific to certain areas or throughout the hen house. This is so important because otherwise you may involve yourself in unnecessary and costly effort, both in time and money!
And now sit back and watch the film:
Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it
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It all helps to keep me going!Until next time, all the very best from Normandie! Sue
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