Some (long) notes on chook bedding

[Millymollymandy]

Does that kill the black mites that they get on them? As I understand it red mites live in the bedding and nooks and crannies of chook houses and come out at night to bite the birds, yet the black mites are the ones you see crawling round chickens heads, eyes etc.

I dust my shed, the nest boxes and the indoor dust bath with a chook shed insecticide powder which contains pyrethrum. The product changed as it used to contain rotenone (derris) which was banned a year or two back. Neither of these insecticides harmed spiders cos you should see the giant cobwebs I get in there! I also put riddled wood ashes in the dust bath as I believe that helps too.

There's nothing for red mite in this country other than give your chook shed a good going over with a creosote like stuff to clean it out which is supposed to disinfect, but I won't do that whilst there are hens living in it. We did it 4 years ago just before we got the hens.