hi all -
i have 6 orpington pullets and cockerels who just (w/in the last week) have started going out and hanging out in their new run. they're still coming into the house in dog crates at night until their new coop is finished. i used to have 4 hens (long story, rehomed them so no chickens have been in the old coop or the run for a few weeks, until we got it rewired in and the new kids are spending their days out there) - never had any problems with mice or lice etc. i routinely use de in the coop/nestboxes and run. before the babies moved into the run, i added a new layer of sand and a healthy sprinkling of de.
at night when the babies come in, i also bring in their feeder and treat pan (a very large planter bottom). this morning, when i picked up the planter bottom to take goodies out to the little ones, there was a very large (50 cent piece sized...) blob of what looked like granular dust sitting where the underside of the planter had been... upon closer inspection, the dust motes were moving! EW!!! i cleaned it up with a soapy paper towel... but i don't know for sure what they were.... mites of some sort, i am guessing??? like i said, they were tiny - really did look like heavy dust (kind of a browish greyish) and i had to look VERY close to be sure that they were moving and that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. needless to say, i didn't take their treat tray out today... YUCK.
i DID look over all of my birds and i can see absolutely nothing on any of them. most of what i read about mites seems to revolve around the birds and the coop... but the coop's not done and the dog crates are clean (i checked). what might have gotten picked up on the floor of the run??? i can't decide what to do - as i said, the run has a liberal application of de in it already, and the birds dust bathe often. i am hesitant to buy and use pesticidal dust on them if it's possible that these gross bugs were something not harmful to chickens???
i suppose it's also possible (but even more distasteful!) that they didn't come from the run, but from inside my house - ew ew EW - because whatever they are, they accumulated in a clump on the underside overnight. the planter bottom was sitting on top of the tub that contains a bag of alfalfa hay, a bag of scratch, other assorted chicken stuffs.
should i just continue to dust the coop and run with de and call it good - checking the birds frequently to be sure that they don't have anyone living on them???
what would you do???
i have the itchy creepy crawlies now. gross gross gross.
i have 6 orpington pullets and cockerels who just (w/in the last week) have started going out and hanging out in their new run. they're still coming into the house in dog crates at night until their new coop is finished. i used to have 4 hens (long story, rehomed them so no chickens have been in the old coop or the run for a few weeks, until we got it rewired in and the new kids are spending their days out there) - never had any problems with mice or lice etc. i routinely use de in the coop/nestboxes and run. before the babies moved into the run, i added a new layer of sand and a healthy sprinkling of de.
at night when the babies come in, i also bring in their feeder and treat pan (a very large planter bottom). this morning, when i picked up the planter bottom to take goodies out to the little ones, there was a very large (50 cent piece sized...) blob of what looked like granular dust sitting where the underside of the planter had been... upon closer inspection, the dust motes were moving! EW!!! i cleaned it up with a soapy paper towel... but i don't know for sure what they were.... mites of some sort, i am guessing??? like i said, they were tiny - really did look like heavy dust (kind of a browish greyish) and i had to look VERY close to be sure that they were moving and that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. needless to say, i didn't take their treat tray out today... YUCK.
i DID look over all of my birds and i can see absolutely nothing on any of them. most of what i read about mites seems to revolve around the birds and the coop... but the coop's not done and the dog crates are clean (i checked). what might have gotten picked up on the floor of the run??? i can't decide what to do - as i said, the run has a liberal application of de in it already, and the birds dust bathe often. i am hesitant to buy and use pesticidal dust on them if it's possible that these gross bugs were something not harmful to chickens???
i suppose it's also possible (but even more distasteful!) that they didn't come from the run, but from inside my house - ew ew EW - because whatever they are, they accumulated in a clump on the underside overnight. the planter bottom was sitting on top of the tub that contains a bag of alfalfa hay, a bag of scratch, other assorted chicken stuffs.
should i just continue to dust the coop and run with de and call it good - checking the birds frequently to be sure that they don't have anyone living on them???
what would you do???
i have the itchy creepy crawlies now. gross gross gross.
