Bed bugs in my coop!

[a2ms4chickens]

Quote:
So much for keeping a clean coop!

I really didn't even think of bed bugs in the coop. For all out there that don't know, the bug hides in a crevice during the day, moves up onto an animal, feeds for about 5-10 minutes like a vampire sucking blood, then moves back to the crevice. It feeds about once every five days or so and molting between feeding events. I don't have any pics of the bugs, I was so disturbed I flattened every one I found after I ID'd them. If I find some more I'll post pics.

Make sure you get the dust in all of the cracks. Like you said, that is where they hide during the day. We have 5 old wood pens for the showbirds, with lots of cracks. There were 2 of us with bandanas covering our noses and mouths, with 2 old socks filled with dust.

Angie

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I just doused all the cracks with rubbing alcohol. I was able to retrieve some relatively intact corpses and now I'm wondering what these things are. The first smooshed ones looked like bed bugs, but these don't so much. The bug in the first pic appears to have recently fed and the one in the second pic looks like those that molted in the past day or so (as judging by the recent appearance of exoskeletons in the spider webs). Fortunately, the population structure of the bugs suggest a single generation. Any suggestions on what they are?

 

[TipsyDog]

I have no idea, but

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

O.K. I know it's not a bed bug. It was staring me right in the face when I looked at the posted pic. It has 8 legs so must be a mite (Acari). Anyone see this before?

 

[squeakyballs]

Kill It With Fire!!!

 

[squeakyballs]

Woah, BYC censors all caps! I wish all forums did that, except, of course, when I want to type in all caps. Hrm.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
I was ready to this morning!

 

[squeakyballs]

Ticks have 8 legs. I think it is a tick.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I wondered too, but it's so unlike any tick I've ever seen. The legs are really short. It's tick-sized though. The big one is nearly 3/8" long.

 

[OregonChickenGal]

It's a tick full of blood. It had it's last supper. LOL