Hello, We have three baby chicks. They are about a week from going outside. Just about the time they came home we started to get bug bites. At first I thought our dogs might have fleas (though we have lived in Phoenix for 4 years and never had any it seemed like the most obvious option) I washed the dogs and we kept being bitten. Then about a week ago I saw a tiny little mite looking think about the size of a dot (.) walking away. When I squished it I noticed it was filled with blood. I then found about 4 more. I have washed everything from the down mattress cover to the sheets. We also have a Pottery Barn sofa that has removable linen cover ... I took it all off and washed it. I still found 2 tiny bugs ... I am wondering if this has anything to do with the chickens and if so what should I do? Thanks, Charlotte Olives Mom
Are you using diatomacious earth (DE) in the coop? I hope others will know if louse powder like Sevin can be used at this age. For the house and coop, consider a no-pest strip. Some brands are Vapona, Black Flag and Home Hardware. They contain pyrethins and you can hang above the roost, out of their reach. Avoid using above food/water, for pets, poultry or humans. These strips will also rid a room of fleas and they last 3 months.
Mites will be reddish brown in color usually whereas fleas are black. Try using some food grade DE...it should take care of them. EDIT: I can find no information about cases of bird mites affecting people, everything I can find says they do not affect humans.
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef636.htm Did it look like this? I didn't know these could be carried by birds but they can. Tracy
Do exactly what with DE? Dust the coop, dust the birds, feed it too them...how much for 10 pounds of feed? I have the right stuff, I've never used it!
Now I'm freaked out about bed bugs after looking at that article. Just like when I found one tick on me the other day, for two days I felt like they were crawling all over me. Yuck.
Sounds like mites....pretty common. I have adults bird I suspected had it recently...I use IVOMEC injectable. You feed store might have something to. Personally, I would use something stronger than just DE. I use it for control in my coops but once they have them, I (IMO) would trust them to take care of them all together. Your in a tough spot though since they are little... Oh...and give them dust(dirt) to bath in. That helps control mites also, they like to dig around in it and they use it as a natural mite control
Quote:Dust the coop, the birds, let them dust bathe in it, put a little in their food as help with worming. Food grade is safe enough for you to eat daily too. If the coop is already infested, I would use some mite dust to kill them and the eggs off first and then use the DE as a maintenance.
I'm not sure if birds can get them, but if it was white in colour, and almost looked like dandruff then they're called walking dandruff, and can be killed with i believe ivermectin or something, but again... I don't think birds can get those particular mites.