Mite bites on me - are they in my house?

[pitsandchicks]

Once you have this under control with the insecticide you might try mite predators as a preventative which eat a number of species.

I did read about mite predators and my partner was fascinated by this idea. He’s growing soldier flies now so he’s really into good pests. Have you tried it?

 

[pitsandchicks]

If your going to handle the chickens and dealing with mites, if you have to take some extra clothes . Change outside, garage, where ever. Mini wash up, 5 gallon pale whatever, garden hose.
Mites are very hard to see.
Put clothes in plastic bag, or straight to washer whatever.
I had a lot of bites last spring of course the mind starts think the worse things possible. I will have to fumigate the house type stuff ohh gosh going to cost thousands.. Then I started to do research.
I also keep hand cleaner with the alcohol by where I keep chickens. Anytime I collect eggs, new straw in nesting boxes, etc. I use the hand gel Or go out to hydrant and wash up quick.
Every year at fairs or exhibits with animals around the country there always seems to be some kids which get salmonella.

Also to be honest I would not want to handle anyones else chickens if I did not have extra clothes. I do not handle my own without changing clothes.

Exactly! My mind went straight to thinking I was going to have to clean the whole house, call an exterminator, and live the next X number of weeks battling some kind of infestation! Luckily I haven’t gotten new bites (aside from some mosquitos, but I feel those immediately) in several days. I learned my lesson about thinking I can grab a hen from the nesting box and then go about my day. I also am not one of those people who usually handles my chickens — my neighbor used to cuddle hers all the time and I’m amazed she wasn’t itchy. She also wore her coop shoes in the house. Yuck yuck yuck.

 

[pitsandchicks]

I've found NFM on me after handling birds or their bedding. Wear a white tee shirt so you can see them. Sometimes I don't see them but feel them. Other times they are just imagined. A bit of bleach in the washing machine or the bath tub seems to take care of both the real and imaginary mites..

Thanks! I didn’t see many (maybe not any?) mites when I was cleaning the coop, so I don’t think I had many… but I guess it only takes a few from the bedding to chew you up.

And I laughed out loud at the imagined mites… I have felt like my skin is crawling so much these last few days. We definitely had scaly leg mites on our rooster, so we dunked all their legs in elector, but even when I was rubbing it into his leg, I just felt itchy!

 

[AGeese]

I did read about mite predators and my partner was fascinated by this idea. He’s growing soldier flies now so he’s really into good pests. Have you tried it?

I bought them and put them out, but I couldn't tell you since I wasn't treating an infestation. I may keep doing it, but right now they're just too pricey as preventatives.