Help! No-See-Ums eating us and chickens alive!

[critterkeeper25]

We are in desperate need of advice! Our chickens have been scratching and losing feathers, stomping on the roosts at night and scratching their heads/combs. We were thinking that we were having a serious mite problem, so we stripped down the entire inside of the coop, dusted it down and sprayed with neem oil. While I was doing the stripping down (of the coop) I was attacked by a huge swarm of no-see-ums! I have so many whelts on my body that there is barely any normal skin to see! They came out of the rafters in the coop when I was running the wet/dry vac in there. I am sure that they are what has been causing our chickens such grief. They haven't been themselves and we have seen a drastic decrease in egg production. ( from 13-15 eggs a day down to 5-6! ) I don't know what is safe to put on chickens to keep them away. I believe that the air is too still in the coop, and that is making it easier for the suckers to get the chickens. Is it okay to have fans blowing directly on chickens in the summer months? I know that it is important to keep them out of drafts in the winter, but I didn't know if it still holds true for the warmer months. Also, is there any insect repellent that can be used on poultry that will deter midges/no-see-ums? My heart aches for them for the torture that they are enduring!

We are certain that it is no-see-ums because my husband just went into the coop to see how they were doing and they were tap dancing on the roosts and their legs were crawling with no-see-ums!

 

[duckets]

Hi critterkeeper25,

When you say 'dusted down' your coop, are you referring to Diatomaceous Earth. This is the safest dust I know to use on animals and humans, although it can cause respiratory complications if too much is inhaled. You would want the food grade as pictured below, it can also be consumed, and some people use some on occasion for digestive problems.

And yes a fan blowing directly across your coop or enclosure is ideal for controlling most pests including 'mosquitoes', it will also help to keep your flock cool. Reference this thread;

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/988953/mosquitos#post_15395429

 

[duckets]

Hi Again critterkeeper25,

The DE I mentioned in the previous post is wonderful for prevention and you can use it generously, however here are two other compounds (one of which you may already be using) that will help to rid your infestation. They are pyrethin/pyrethrum based neurotoxins, and should only be used long enough to bring your infestation under control;

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_8qlp7b88js_b

 

[BrickWall Honey]

Sounds more like Mites. Either way lots of remedies out there including cleaning out coop, DE, peremethrin spray,

poutlry dust.

 

[aart]

Hi critterkeeper25,

When you say 'dusted down' your coop, are you referring to Diatomaceous Earth. This is the safest dust I know to use on animals and humans, although it can cause respiratory complications if too much is inhaled. You would want the food grade as pictured below, it can also be consumed, and some people use some on occasion for digestive problems.

This product could well be mostly bentonite clay....the DE component is minimal, read the ingredient labels carefully!

@critterkeeper25 the fan is probably the best bet for the 'noseeums' with the chickens.

 

[critterkeeper25]

Thank you for your responses! We dusted the coop and run with plain old DE and then sprayed down the roosts and and their attachment to the wall framing with neem oil. We did this in case we did have mites as we didn't see any, but the hens are exhibiting signs of mite infestation.

We DID, however, see swarms of NO-SEE-UMS! Clouds of them in the night inside the coop (my husband saw them in the light of his flashlight) and they were seen crawling on the chickens legs. For those of you that have not seen a no-see-um, they are about a millimeter in length and are about as wide as a horse hair. They can be seen, but only close up. I myself am covered with tiny whelts from the dozens of bites to my legs and arms and hairline from when I was cleaning out and dusting the coop. They are in our yard. When it is still and hot outside, they come out of nowhere and attack. Sometimes it is a nightmare trying to hang my laundry out in the summer because of them. We just didn't expect them to take up residence in the coop,

I also installed a box fan in the coop and attached some citronella bracelets to the fan so that it blew the smell into the coop to try to drive them out. So far the chickens have been able to rest at night without all of the stomping and scratching. So...I'm not sure if it was the mites, the no-see-ums or both that we finally got rid of (for the time being?) but our efforts seem to have paid off.

We still have not gotten many eggs though. We thought that maybe the hens were laying under the bushes/brush in the woods where it might be cooler, but we had to keep them in the run/coop yesterday and only found 2 eggs in the nest boxes. It was around 90 degrees here yesterday so maybe it was the heat? They had/have plenty of water and now have the fan to cool the coop. Is any one else experiencing a drastic cut in egg production?

 

[chuckmama]

Hello, I certainly feel for you as I am also being bitten alive and believe I have no see-umm in my coop. I scrubbed roosts and dusted them with DE, I sprayed the coop which seemed to work for awhile but now they are back. I’ve had bites and horrible scratching for 6 months and the scabs (when the do scab) just won’t go away. One of my chickens is very ill and I think she’s under stress from them. When I disturb their shaving i also feel like a rush attack on me. It’s been a nightmare trying to alleviate the itch and combat these little so and sos. My fight has been from Sept 2019 to present day (March 2020. At least now I know I’m not alone.

 

[Folly's place]

Permethrin spray is the best, least expensive, and most effective product for 'bugs' in the coop and on the birds. Permethrin dust works fine too, but doesn't get into the walls and tiny spaces that the spray will contact.
DE is the poorest choice here!
Whatever you do, wear an N95 or better face mask!!! Gloves, long sleeves, doing the birds off the roosts at night, all make this an easier process.
Using ineffective products that cause lung damage is not the best way to go! And neem oil isn't meant to be sprayed on the birds, and if it's got a very strong scent, that's bad for their hungs too.
Mary

 

[Bernis79]

Hello, I certainly feel for you as I am also being bitten alive and believe I have no see-umm in my coop. I scrubbed roosts and dusted them with DE, I sprayed the coop which seemed to work for awhile but now they are back. I’ve had bites and horrible scratching for 6 months and the scabs (when the do scab) just won’t go away. One of my chickens is very ill and I think she’s under stress from them. When I disturb their shaving i also feel like a rush attack on me. It’s been a nightmare trying to alleviate the itch and combat these little so and sos. My fight has been from Sept 2019 to present day (March 2020. At least now I know I’m not alone.

Hello, I certainly feel for you as I am also being bitten alive and believe I have no see-umm in my coop. I scrubbed roosts and dusted them with DE, I sprayed the coop which seemed to work for awhile but now they are back. I’ve had bites and horrible scratching for 6 months and the scabs (when the do scab) just won’t go away. One of my chickens is very ill and I think she’s under stress from them. When I disturb their shaving i also feel like a rush attack on me. It’s been a nightmare trying to alleviate the itch and combat these little so and sos. My fight has been from Sept 2019 to present day (March 2020. At least now I know I’m not alone.

A mixture of vanilla extract and water can be imitation or pure vanilla, just a little vanilla in a spray bottle full of water spray chickens neck and face mostly makes a big difference also fans help a bunch , the noseeums hate vanilla. If you have light colored chickens they’ll get stained brown , just temporarily when the bugs move on there color will return. Been fighting them here for years if you don’t slow them down they’ll kill a lot of birds.