Incredible awful grain/mold mite infestation keeping me awake at night!

[kcan2]

The culprit: 50lb flock raiser crumbles from Purina.

Our entire garage is completely infested with grain mites which I didn't notice until I noticed (or felt) them crawling up my arm after I scooped out some feed.

I could tell you my long, sad story about our attempts to battle these creatures but my main questions are:

1. Will we ever get them out of our garage? (We threw out all of the food sources, and now my chickens - and dog have no food.) The mites are literally all over our garage refrigerator, surrounding walls, crevices, etc. even after frantic shop-vac-ing, spraying, sweeping, hosing, and invisible itching. My husband is sad about having mitey warm beer in the refrigerator, but that is aside from my plea for help.)
2. Is there a risk of them getting into the house and not getting them out?
3. Is Terminex able to get rid of these things?
4. Are there any "safer" feeds I can buy?

It's very frustrating because I have always done my utmost to keep clean birds, a clean coop, etc and now I'm worried the mites are in the coop (they were all over the self-feeder) and will never go away. Very paranoid about them getting in our house. Any sage advice would be very welcome!

These bugs are simply the worst!

Thanks for any help, BYC friends!

 

[Redchels]

We used a fogger in our garage but remove the feed. I’ve also used whole garlic cloves for Webeels good luck!

 

[kcan2]

We used a fogger in our garage but remove the feed. I’ve also used whole garlic cloves for Webeels good luck!

Thank you! Did you use any particular kind of fogger/chemical or recall where you got it from?

 

[Kiki]

The culprit: 50lb flock raiser crumbles from Purina.

Our entire garage is completely infested with grain mites which I didn't notice until I noticed (or felt) them crawling up my arm after I scooped out some feed.

I could tell you my long, sad story about our attempts to battle these creatures but my main questions are:

1. Will we ever get them out of our garage? (We threw out all of the food sources, and now my chickens - and dog have no food.) The mites are literally all over our garage refrigerator, surrounding walls, crevices, etc. even after frantic shop-vac-ing, spraying, sweeping, hosing, and invisible itching. My husband is sad about having mitey warm beer in the refrigerator, but that is aside from my plea for help.)
2. Is there a risk of them getting into the house and not getting them out?
3. Is Terminex able to get rid of these things?
4. Are there any "safer" feeds I can buy?

It's very frustrating because I have always done my utmost to keep clean birds, a clean coop, etc and now I'm worried the mites are in the coop (they were all over the self-feeder) and will never go away. Very paranoid about them getting in our house. Any sage advice would be very welcome!

These bugs are simply the worst!

Thanks for any help, BYC friends!

Grain mites are different from the mites that suck the life out of your birds.
You could have put some DE in your bag if feed and it would have killed the grain mites.


You can spray your garage and fridge with this:


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/martins-horse-stable-permethrin-citronella-spray-1-qt

 

[kcan2]

Grain mites are different from the mites that suck the life out of your birds.
You could have put some DE in your bag if feed and it would have killed the grain mites.


You can spray your garage and fridge with this:


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/martins-horse-stable-permethrin-citronella-spray-1-qt

Awesome, will try this! Kiki to the rescue!

 

[kcan2]

@Kiki Do you think it is it ok to spray the equine spray directly in the coop where the chickens roost?

 

[Folly's place]

For the coop and birds, use a permethrin product like Gordon's spray concentrate, or another permethrin product approved for the coop. It will work in the garage too, as will any insecticide.
What a miserable experience!
Was it a fresh bag, by mill date? have you complained at the store, and to Purina directly?
All the best,
Mary

 

[aart]

Been there done that...starting 5 years ago...only happens in the hot humid months.
Freaked me out too...now not so much...but you don't want them in your kitchen.
Has nothing to do with mold.
Freshness doesn't matter either.
Purina doesn't care, but they'll send you some coupons.
One summer they did start putting DE in the feed.
Haven't seen any yet this summer.

I now isolate my new feed bag on a tray in the garage, because bag can look fine(they wipe them down often) but within hours they will be on outside of bag again.
If I find them, I transfer feed into buckets with lots of DE(will still take a few days to kill them all) before transferring to coop bin.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/grain-mites.981212/

 

[Folly's place]

I've never had them here, fortunately, and the chicken feed is stored in metal garbage cans in the coop, not in the garage.
Someday, if they arrive here, i'll know what to do. Yuck!
Mary