Bitey Things

[BockBegock]

We are having an issue with getting eaten alive when we go out to the pin to check on the chickens and do our daily maintenance. Initially it seemed only to occur in the evening when my husband goes out to close the coop after they have put themselves to "bed". He would get dozens of bites below the knee. Now this happens at any time during the day. And we can't see them either. The chickens seem to be perfectly comfortable settling down to rest on the ground. I haven't seen any feather loss or scaly leg issues. They look and act to be in good health. Does anyone have an idea of could be feasting on us. We initially thought of no-see-ums; but in the middle of the day? And I figured if mites were the issue, we would see something happening with the chickens.​

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi & welcome to BYC!

Have you made a thorough check of your coop? Under perches, in nest boxes & nooks & crannies?

 

[BockBegock]

I have not. However, the floor of the enclosed portion of the coop is what is below the perches and the whole thing gets pulled out daily to dry in the sun and get cleared of droppings. I use sand and small pine shavings for the litter on the board and then sprinkle Coop and Compost granules over the litter to help with odor. I've only just installed the nesting boxes yesterday as they're just coming into sexual maturity and we've not even made it through our first bag of layer feed.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Could it be fleas?

 

[BockBegock]

I thought about fleas but haven't seen any issue with them on the dog. I don't even see any come off of her when she gets bathed. And she isn't regularly treated.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Welcome!

What general area are you located? That might help people in ruling out various "bitey things"... if they don't occur in your area.

 

[BockBegock]

We're in North Georgia. About 40 minutes north of Atlanta. I've attached a couple of photos of something we found in the grain when I cleaned out the feeder a couple weeks ago. It had to have come from the yard as we did not find any in the bag when we checked for it. The images are really zoomed in as these things are super tiny. They do fly but seemed to have no interest in us when we were inspecting them. I talked to someone at the local feed store who has come across them on her farm but says they haven't really caused any problems and she doesn't know what they are.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Those bugs in the pics are not biters....they eat the feed... but, since you say you live in Georgia, I guess you know just about every other bug here does bite. No see ums, chiggers, fleas, sand flies, mosquitoes... the no see ums would be my suspects. They are apparently a biting midge. I live very close to the "gnat line" in Georgia and the bugs are crazy on bad days.

https://mountainx.com/opinion/commentary/bug_bites_the_lowdown_on_no-see-ums/

I believe mosquito repellent is effective against them.

 

[SueT]

Chiggers?

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I live very close to the "gnat line" in Georgia.../

I'm already itching after reading this thread, and that link... so I might as well ask, what is this "gnat line"? Does it relate to different forest type? Of something else?