allergy to my chickens, mites, straw or hopefully something else?

[txredchick]

Yes the grey mites/northern mites live in te straw/ hay and are a real pain ad thu bite as well. ( as said before). For that reason we use wood shavings, personally I blend in some pestine powder an de powder into their bedding so that when they sit in it they are still protected. Over here we were using disel ( the car/truck type) with industrial strength ripcord ( which is now impossible to get) it worked well in a pressure sprayer to get in every crack, however after about 5 years of use the mites including the red blood ones have become resistant, now we use carbaryl with detergent ( to make it sticky so it stays there) and water which kills almost on contact. The trick is to keep on top of it , in between sprays I like to use industrial strength disinfectant as well. The grey mites cannot live on human blood but they will bite and try to whilst swarming, all lice and mites are irritating to the chicken as well When spraying you need to make sure you get into every crack and crevice including the joinery of wood etc and just douse them

Thank you for your response.

I had a full allergy panel yesterday & alfalfa, among other molds, cat hair I tested positive for. It's very weird, since I've never owned a cat - mow/bale alfalfa pastures for the last ten yrs - never an issue. We burned the bales of hay that we were using, including entire contents of remainder hay & saw dust inside the coup. Then dusted.

I copied your response to my husband regarding the use of diesel ( he was going to do some research on it ). Again, very new to chicken raising - we had invested so much research / effort in building them a secure home, the thought of being allergic to my new pals was daunting.

 

[Stiggy]

well at least you now know what it is, and what to avoid. I hope that the spraying/ dusting goes well, and I would be interested to know how that goes and wether or not you feel better after all of this. it is weird that things crop up like that, as for the first 12 years I never had a problem with the cat or its fur, then bam it started suddenly. but good luck none the less

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I am glad you found out the reason!

 

[Ajcoops]

I got a rash on neck and body after putting straw in run. Mites loved hiding in the hollows and biting me too. Itchy whenever I left the coop. I had red mites and straw itch mites in there in the thousands. Funny thing was I have never seen them in my coop which has shavings with dust, metal poop decks, plastic nesting boxes also dusted, and perches wrapped in rubber as a preventative. Maybe try using something other than straw or hay. Dust free wood shavings are my choice now.