Red mite infestation

[Lillith37]

The mites might've come in with the wood or were brought in after the fact by wild birds for example, but either they hadn't colonized your coop in big enough numbers to cause issue before this - hard to say since this is the first time you've gone looking for them. I don't doubt small numbers of them are always just present in the environment, but not sure what causes them to explode in numbers and become an issue.

It's been such a weird experience. After finding them on the poop but not on birds or coop, and now in various wood bits, I'm not sure if I feel relieved or even more anxious. They are a common mite I suppose and I've thought as well there must be some degree of population free living in the environment. I tell you, sometimes ignorance sure is bliss.

 

[BDutch]

The coop floor is concrete so it would be fine for the big girls, but good to have at least a thin layer of something as chicks will hatch in a couple of weeks and I don’t want them to slip. What would you recommend? Sand? I’ve been thinking about sand but it would cost a fair bit to get enough.

The DE arrived in the mail today so I will be able to dispense with the poisons and use it as a preventative. I am also going to make up an essential oil spray (clove, eucalyptus, thyme, etc) so I can spray the wooden eaves as a preventative.

I don’t have the control rolls but I did get a big roll for the people with the infestation. I’ve been going out every night to check my birds and the roosts and haven’t seen anything.

Sand is perfect imo. If you mix 10 buckets of sand with 10 big spoons DE, it's even more perfect.You can sift the ground or use a cat litter scoop if they poop in it.

You don't have to buy sand. Just start digging in your garden.
If you ever planned to make a pond, this is the moment!

 

[Lillith37]

Sand is perfect imo. If you mix 10 buckets of sand with 10 big spoons DE, it's even more perfect.You can sift the ground or use a cat litter scoop if they poop in it.

You don't have to buy sand. Just start digging in your garden.
If you ever planned to make a pond, this is the moment!

I wish! The soil here is clay. There is no sand. But I will look into finding some.

 

[BDutch]

At my place its a mix of clay, sand and loam.
Im not sure if the sand in it is important but if you add a few bags of playground sand to the clay it probably will be fine..

 

[Lillith37]

At my place its a mix of clay, sand and loam.
Im not sure if the sand in it is important but if you add a few bags of playground sand to the clay it probably will be fine..

Oh well all soil is a combination of clay/sand/loam. I just meant the soil here is very heavily clay. Trying to dig it up results in big chunks of clay. I’d probably need gypsum as well as sand. Might be easier just to get the sand.

 

[Lillith37]

I have another update. I believe I have figured it out (or at least the most probable explanation).

A couple of months ago my partner brought home all this old wood from a friend’s place, including stumps, logs, etc. I set up a bunch of pieces around the yard for chicken enrichment.

I have been doing reconnaissance and have found the mites on these pieces of wood. The mites I find on the chook poop are always near these pieces of wood.

Before my partner’s friend got the wood, it had been sitting at a bush property where there are chickens. We went round to the friend’s place and inspected some of the same bits of wood and found mites. There are uncontrolled rats at the friend’s place and I found the most mites on the wood closest to one of the suspected rat holes.

I don’t think the mites I am seeing in my yard actually came from the massive infestation that triggered this post. I believe they came with this wood, and there has been a small population free-living in my environment for some time now. I’ve only noticed them because this whole situation has made me paranoid.

My chickens are healthy, they have dust-bathing areas, the coop is clean and fairly mite-resistant in terms of its structure — which is probably why this hasn’t turned into a problem. There are the inevitable rats and wild birds that come through here so the mites may be surviving on them.

I trap and kill the rats and pest birds. I have also been burning all the wood. I will continue to take preventative measures including all the suggestions here to address the environmental population and keep my flock safe. I’ve been checking the chickens and the coop every night and can’t see any mites or bites. Everyone seems healthy and relaxed.

I feel like I have a bit more control over this situation now and a good way of measuring the environmental load of mites when I go around and clean up the poop. I've also found a better home for the chicks!

My last bit of investigation is to take my sticky tape and microscope down to the creek where I walk with my dog. There are lots of examples of soft wood down there because the council manages the parkland which includes felling dangerous trees, chopping them up and leaving them around to enrich the environment. I turned over one of the logs and saw all kinds of bugs, including possible Dermanyssus gallinae. So I will report back what I find. I'm very curious as to how prevalent these mites are and to what degree a free-living population in the environment constitutes a problem. Everything I have read points to identification and management specifically regarding coop infestation and symptomatic birds. Or human infestation due to migratory mites from empty nests in building structures. Anyway that's all for now.

 

[UluLaté]

Hello collective wisdom of the BYC community! I need your guidance.

Today I re-homed a group of chicks to a lovely gentleman who lives on a 5 acre property half an hour from me. He has a beautiful, minimalist house and spectacular gardens.

Turns out he has a terrible infestation of - what I suspect is - red mites in his chicken coop.

He has two coops side by side. One has approximately 15 chickens, the other has a peacock and two pea hens. The coops are simple in layout and cover the necessary basics. Wooden structures with wire mesh. Straw and sand. Proper ventilation. The birds free range during the day.

We went into the chicken coop and mites immediately crawled all over my feet and my hand that I put on the roost. When we went out, mites were all over the front of our shirts. He had no idea. His wife usually cares for the animals but she has been interstate supporting family. We are experiencing very hot humid weather. It seems as a result the mite population has exploded, because they have not had this issue previously.

This guy seemed so caring and engaging, the environment was so well cared for, the coops so well set up... that I info-dumped him everything I could about mites, left him with the chicks, came home and had a panic attack. I put all the clothes I was wearing on a hot wash, sprayed the carrier and my shoes with permethrin and showered. We've since been in discussion about the best way to deal with this problem. I suggested cleaning out all the bedding from the coop, burning it, spraying the structures with liquid permethrin, put new bedding in, then treat every bird with rotenone & sulfur powder (Pestene, the go-to product here in Australia) and repeating every seven days until the situation is under control. I repeatedly offered my help because I felt so guilty about consigning my broody's precious chicks to that fate. To his credit, he immediately powdered the birds, acquired the permethrin concentrate and has stayed in contact with me all day.

He has now offered me a job. Helping with the animals (he also has bees and goats -- I told him the mite treatment will be toxic to bees, but the bees don't go in the coops) as well as yard/house maintenance. This is a great opportunity for me on several levels.

My question -- is my "treatment plan" adequate? Is there anything else I should do/consider? What about the peacock and peahens? I've never worked with them before. I don't know the first thing about them. I dealt with a very mild case of lice in my flock of hens once upon a time. I have an ongoing practice to address/prevent SLM but I've never had to deal with any kind of northern fowl or red mites before.

Best case scenario they are wood mites but I examined one I brought home with me and cross-referenced it to pictures and it looked most like an unfed red mite or red mite nymph.

@azygous @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock @Shadrach @dawg53 @BDutch @rosemarythyme you have all helped me in the past and I am so grateful. If you have any suggestions, advice or guidance I would really appreciate your experience and expertise or if you know anyone to tag who may be able to help. Thank you so much.

Sounds good.

I fill a 100 gallon water tank with a permethrin solution for chickens. Then I dip each chicken in it. I make it a bit stronger for my goats, sheep, etc, then for dogs. Cats cannot be dipped. And I don't dip my McNab. Then I take the rest and use it to spray the cleaned out coops...every surface and finally I dump the remainder to pool and dry on the coop floors.

Stuff kills everything. I picked up LGD puppy in the southern US that was chock full of ticks. She had them everywhere even between her toes. I paid $300 for the pup and drove for two days to get her. I was sure she wouldn't live through the night, but I wasn't about to return the dog. I was staying at a VRBO so I got a plastic tub some permethrin and dipped the pup. Then I went millimeter by millimeter removing ticks...I left the puppy on the patio to dry and dumped the solution on the sidewalk and driveway. I packed up our stuff and had my son take the bags to the car. He comes running back in and screams, "Mom! I almost got stung by a Scorpion!!!" I was like, "They don't have scorpions here, it was probably a potato bug....what'd you do? Where's the bag?" "i jumped over the scorpion put the bag in the car and then jumped back over it and came in". Finally I had to see for myself. Sure enough it was a scorpion, dead. It hadn't been there when I dumped the permethrin. It must've crawled across and died! Spiders mites , scorpion....

 

[BDutch]

Sounds good.

I fill a 100 gallon water tank with a permethrin solution for chickens. Then I dip each chicken in it. I make it a bit stronger for my goats, sheep, etc, then for dogs. Cats cannot be dipped. And I don't dip my McNab. Then I take the rest and use it to spray the cleaned out coops...every surface and finally I dump the remainder to pool and dry on the coop floors.

Stuff kills everything. I picked up LGD puppy in the southern US that was chock full of ticks. She had them everywhere even between her toes. I paid $300 for the pup and drove for two days to get her. I was sure she wouldn't live through the night, but I wasn't about to return the dog. I was staying at a VRBO so I got a plastic tub some permethrin and dipped the pup. Then I went millimeter by millimeter removing ticks...I left the puppy on the patio to dry and dumped the solution on the sidewalk and driveway. I packed up our stuff and had my son take the bags to the car. He comes running back in and screams, "Mom! I almost got stung by a Scorpion!!!" I was like, "They don't have scorpions here, it was probably a potato bug....what'd you do? Where's the bag?" "i jumped over the scorpion put the bag in the car and then jumped back over it and came in". Finally I had to see for myself. Sure enough it was a scorpion, dead. It hadn't been there when I dumped the permethrin. It must've crawled across and died! Spiders mites , scorpion....

I assume it’s very unhealthy to expose any wildlife and yourself to permethrin.

 

[Lillith37]

Sounds good.

I fill a 100 gallon water tank with a permethrin solution for chickens. Then I dip each chicken in it. I make it a bit stronger for my goats, sheep, etc, then for dogs. Cats cannot be dipped. And I don't dip my McNab. Then I take the rest and use it to spray the cleaned out coops...every surface and finally I dump the remainder to pool and dry on the coop floors.

Stuff kills everything. I picked up LGD puppy in the southern US that was chock full of ticks. She had them everywhere even between her toes. I paid $300 for the pup and drove for two days to get her. I was sure she wouldn't live through the night, but I wasn't about to return the dog. I was staying at a VRBO so I got a plastic tub some permethrin and dipped the pup. Then I went millimeter by millimeter removing ticks...I left the puppy on the patio to dry and dumped the solution on the sidewalk and driveway. I packed up our stuff and had my son take the bags to the car. He comes running back in and screams, "Mom! I almost got stung by a Scorpion!!!" I was like, "They don't have scorpions here, it was probably a potato bug....what'd you do? Where's the bag?" "i jumped over the scorpion put the bag in the car and then jumped back over it and came in". Finally I had to see for myself. Sure enough it was a scorpion, dead. It hadn't been there when I dumped the permethrin. It must've crawled across and died! Spiders mites , scorpion....

I’m glad you saved that puppy but I do feel sorry for the scorpion!

 

[Lillith37]

To update on this thread, I’ve come to a tentative conclusion that my vet was wrong about the mites in my backyard being Dermanyssus gallinae nymphs. I have a suspicion they are actually a predatory soil mite along the lines of Hypoaspis miles — or if actually a parasitic mite, must be Ornithonyssus bursa (bird) or bacoti (rat). I have contacted universities, a museum, the state department of agriculture and other science/environmental bodies to try to find an entomologist or acarologist who can positively identify the mites (or at least confirm whether they are predatory or parasitic).