I noticed tiny fast moving reddish bugs on a newly laid egg. Checked out our hens (2 barred rocks) and near their vent their skin and feather shafts look good but every time I parted a new area I saw about 10 of these bugs quickly skitter away. I can't see any dimension to them, they look like dark red specks/dots, mostly visible because they're moving. They got on my hands when I was looking for them, and ran all around my hands. Now I itch everywhere.
We had 2 warm days (up to 50F) and typically go down to 32 at night and up to 40 at day. It seems a little early to be seeing mites, though maybe they've had them all winter and I didn't notice. No symptoms on the birds yet.
What type of mites are these? I'm off to buy permethrin, I guess?
Because of the colder temperatures, how do I keep the chickens from freezing when I spray them?
And how far away does the old bedding need to go? These are suburbia chickens, I don't have a huge yard.
We had 2 warm days (up to 50F) and typically go down to 32 at night and up to 40 at day. It seems a little early to be seeing mites, though maybe they've had them all winter and I didn't notice. No symptoms on the birds yet.
What type of mites are these? I'm off to buy permethrin, I guess?
Because of the colder temperatures, how do I keep the chickens from freezing when I spray them?
And how far away does the old bedding need to go? These are suburbia chickens, I don't have a huge yard.