I have a lovely chicken coop and run. We rescued four ex-battery chickens, from the British Hen Welfare Trust, and all seemed well for 18 months, then one seemed to go off colour and died, another got a blocked crop and died and then another just wasted.
I kept the coop clean and the chickens well fed and watered and I checked, diligently, for red mite, which I assumed were red mites. Well, it turns out they are NOT red, they are little see through critters that cannot be seen unless they are sucking the blood out of your chickens, and when they do that they turn red.
The chickens become anaemic and are weakened.
My chickens all had their own quirks, personalities and endearing qualities. Chickens are very positive little beings, love life and mine, because they were rescued caged hens, loved their freedom. No two chickens are the same, they are bright, intelligent and they learn very quickly. They like to be picked up and petted and they enjoy wandering around the garden picking the weeds. Losing them is like losing any other pet and losing them to red mite, a preventable situation is worse.
I've written this blog for people who, like me, are fairly new to keeping chickens and don't know that red mite are a horrible pest and they are not red.
I have one of the original girls left now and four new rescues and they are getting powdered for red mite regularly, but red mite is a pest and difficult to get rid off, once it's in the coop, so the coop and chickens are getting dusted regularly.
I will keep looking for more solutions to eradicate them from the coop and if you're reading this, and do not think red mite is present, it may be a good idea to dust the coop and chickens regularly to be on the safe side.
