Fight The Mite

Red mite can be a nightmare for the poultry keeper. Grant Brereton looks at the problem, and our vet, Victoria Roberts, offers some solutions

- Grant Brereton & Victoria Roberts

Last spring I was sat round the kitchen table when a family member asked if I’d like a poultry house they’d purchased only a couple of years previously for £350. It was a smart one with an attached run - and I could have it delivered for £50. They had decided that keeping a few hens wasn’t for them, so no longer had use for it. I knew the brand name well, but had never been able to afford such luxurious housing, so was duly excited… that was until my heart sank a little and I asked the question that any experienced poultry keeper should ask: “Has it ever had red mite?” The response was ‘yes’ but I was assured that the necessary treatment had been effective.

I class myself as a positive person, but still had the nagging cynicism that if any house was to get the dreaded red mite that year, it would be my newly acquired coop. It seemed mite-free for a month or so but then bingo! ... one day I opened the door to clean out and found the typical dusty areas by the joins in the timber, as well as the door hinges clustered with the little critters. Now, all of a sudden, this coop was the one that got let out and shut away last so that the poultry keeper (me) couldn’t act as a source of transportation for the little pests. Now this coop was a problem! And the house had no roofing felt, which some manufacturers would have you believe avoids the issue. That’s not true at all. Yes, red mite may prefer the area between the timber and roofing felt, but will live virtually anywhere. They will more than happily reside in the numerous timber joins that your poultry house has to offer.