Anyone ever buy MARTH brand wood shavings???

[Chickenaddict]

I bought tons of bags of this stuff from my local Fleet Farm store and all the bags are infested with these tiny little wood mites. I did alot of cleaning of coops ect yesterday and now I am crawling in these darn bugs as well as my birds and every enclosure I have around here in the house and garage. I am beyond upset! Not only did it take hours to clean all the enclosures but now I got all this clean bedding crawling in these little bugs. All over me, all over my birds, all over everything. The worst part of this is these suckers don't DIE!
I have used permetherine powder, Adams flea and tick spray sprayed directly on these bugs, DE NOTHING works

I was sooo upset I sent an email directly to the company. Where the heck am I gonna put all these infested shavings?? Has anyone else experienced something like this?? Any advice how to kill them? They don't bother the birds but If I so much as brush up against the enclosure I am covered in them. They are about the size of a small spec of pepper, super tiny and extremely difficult to get a photo of. ANy advice is greatly appreciated.


Scuse me while i literally crawl out of my skin.....

 

[CoopCrazy]

Poor thing.. I dont have an answer but I am sure someone can help

 

[purr]

I think I would try to get all the shavings out and burn them. And I'd take some put them in a bag and bring them back to where I got them and demand a refund. They should know so they don't sell anymore to unsuspecting costomers. I'm sure they would rather be informed than to have 30 angry people in their store

 

[Chickenaddict]

Purr my chickens are in my double garage, the bedding is EVERYWHERE. It would take hours to just get it out of there and pine shavings don't burn well without pouring gas on it and then it becomes very unsafe. I cut out the middle man (mills fleet farm) where I got the shavings and went directly to the company. I missed the call when the guy from Marth called back. He wanted the tracking number on the bags, well yesterday was garbage day and all the empty bags were in the garbage can when the garbage was picked up. There goes that. Because we don't have long distance and our calling card has expiresd with 700 minutes left on it I have no way to contact them until I get another calling card. The man who called said this was the first he had heard of any problems with the shavings. This is the second time I have had problems with this brand, the first time was over the summer. Thats when I figured out you can't kill these bugs they don't die no matter what you spray or dust them with. The eggs the hens lay are covered in these bugs, this morning while making a cup of coffee I grabbed the sugar canister..... The bugs were crawling on top of the sugar canister too!!!!!!

I have babies due to hatch any day now and the nest box the mama hen is in is also covered in these little bugs. My hair is covered in them, my clothes, my house. I am going nuts feeling like my skin is crawling and have no clue as to how to get rid of them seeing as once they leave the shavings they cover the walls, floors, enclosures, everything. This has turned into a massive nightmare. Our fire pit is still under 2 ft of snow or more so burning anything at this point isn't an option. You also need a "burning permit" to have a bonfire now n days around here. It would take 30-40 huge garbage bags to get every inch of bedding out of the garage. Another few bags for the enclosures in the house. I am 100% positive these are not chicken mites or lice. The strange thing is I bought about 10 or more bags of this stuff because it was cheap and stored them in the garage (unheated part) over the course of winter, you would think the cold would have killed these things but it didn't phase them. I am about ready to scream....

 

[purr]

wow i'm so sorry , maybe try picking up as much as you can by hand and then using a shop vac. I would be going crazy with that skin crawling thing.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

this will help mama hen, give mama a bath the bugs should float to the top, and if you have bubbles scoup the bubbles off before you remove mama, blow dry mama, wrap the eggs in a warm towl when bathing. its alot but should work. No more Marth for me I will begettinmy chips at the co-op now, can you go to fleet and complain, let them deal with Marth

 

[Chickenaddict]

Thanks buckcreekchickens. I think I am gonna go to fleet farm and file a complaint, I can't imagine noone else had this problem. Mama hens babies are due to hatch probably today so I am not sure If I want to take her off the nest to bath her as it takes a good few hours to blowdry her. I could probably get another one of my broodies to sit on the eggs tho. The bugs don't phase the chickens at all they don't itch uncontrollably like they do when they had the bad mites. The money I spent on these shavings on top of the time I spent battling them with chemicals and powders is insane. I wonder how they plan on compensating me for that? WHen we had this issue last summer I wondered if it was the shavings to I took an unopened bag, opened it and stuck my hand in for 5 seconds. When I took my hand out of the bag my hand and arm were crawling with them. this is sooooooo aweful

 

[fordmommy]

I have the same problem...but I didn't contribute it to the woodchips. I didn't even think to look in there. Now the bag is half gone, so I don't think the bugs are still in there. I bought my wood chips from Fleet Farm here. But I use the other brand, in the white bag. I have been using is brand since I started my chickens June. Not a problem. I just thought it was because it's spring. But now I realize that they came right after I opened that new bag of shavings. Hmmmm. I wonder if it comes from the warehouse. They do store these bags next to eachother and mine was open a little and taped shut.

I am using the Poultry Powder from Fleet Farm for treatment. It seems to be helping.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Fordmommy I am glad to hear I am not the only one with this issue! I am sorry you are going thru this too tho. STick your hand in that half used bag of shavings and see if you can see those buggies crawling around on your hand, my guess is you will. Seems they LOVE shavings, eggs, and human skin. When I first had this problem last summer I thought the same as you, they must have crawled in from outside? Nope came in the shavings. Stopped buying that brand for awhile but started again because it is cheaper there and figured the problem would have just gone away. I bought several bags and stocked up for winter. I do the deep litter method in the coop and run set up in the garage which pretty much takes up alll that space and the bedding is at least 6 inches deep, I added to it all winter as well as added DE once a week when I stirred the bedding up and added new. I sprayed adamns flea and tick spray right on the buggers and they swam right thru it. I tried permetherine poultry dust and had the same outcome. This is soooo frusterating I don't even want to touch the birds or go near their enclosures or I am crawling in these things in no time flat. I looked like an idiot frantically itching myself in walmart yesterday because of them. Guess it's buying the more expensive shavings and travleing a little farther to get them from now on. I just want them to pull the product from the shelf so no one else has to go thru this. I haven't gotten a chance to call Fleet farm yet because I am working but will do so as soon as I get back home. I doubt they will do a darn thing for me seeing as I have no proof like receipt or empty bags ect. We shall see

 

[Rooster#3]

ut o i will have got to go outside and check our bags thats the brand we have