Smite Professional Ready To Use Spray

Pale, ‘jaundiced’ faces and wattles, through anaemia

Depressed birds, lacking vitality

Emaciation – or even weight gain!

Decreased egg production

Increase in feed intake coupled with decreased egg production

Dark dots and speckles on normally plain eggs – they may be blood spots or on closer inspection you may see the speckles move!

In extreme cases, feather loss and signs of dermatitis

Whitish-grey ‘ash’ (mite faeces) around the edges of crevices and in trails along and under perches.

Active red mite on housing which glow in the light of a torch at night. (Underneath the roofing felt is a favourite place for mite to hide!)

Hens may avoid a nesting box which is particularly badly infected.

Never assume that red mite are the problem if you can’t find any physical signs of them at all – remember, most sick hens display some similar symptoms, whatever the cause! If in doubt – ask your vet.

The Red Mite Life Cycle.

Mites feed on the bird under cover of darkness each night and return to their crevices during the day

Eggs are laid in crevices in the housing.

Eggs are pearly white and oval, approx 0.4mm x 0.25mm.

After 2-3 days, in warm conditions (longer in cooler weather), the eggs hatch into 6-legged larvae.

Within 24 hours, the larvae moult into 8-legged prontonymphs, which start to feed on the roosting birds.

Prontonymphs then moult into deutonymphs, which continue to feed, before moulting again to become adult male or female red mite.

In warm, favourable conditions, this whole life-cycle can be completed within seven to ten days, which means that Mite populations in poultry housing grow very rapidly during the summer months, but Gradual climate change and warmer winters means that rather than being a problem which is only encountered during the summer, mite are now continuing to reproduce, though at a slower rate, through the winter, so need increased vigilance to keep populations in check.

Mite can survive for up to eight months without a feed and have been known to lie dormant for ten years!

When hidden in cracks are very resistant to desiccation – so cleaning out and leaving a house empty will not prevent mite reappearing when birds are reintroduced!

Mite can be carried by wild birds and prevailing winds, so can appear even when there has been no previous evidence of infestation.

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