Bugs in coop - look similar to lice but I don't think they are - ??

[DanbyTodd]

We have lots of little bugs crawling around on the nest boxes and other surfaces inside our coop. They look very similar to a photo of chicken lice that I found on this forum, copied below. However, they don't look quite exactly like that. I looked at them under magnification, and their abdomens appear smooth, rather then striated. They also have fairly long antennae that they feel around with (wouldn't have seen the antennae with the naked eye, but could see them under magnification). But they are the right size for lice (1-2 mm long), straw colored, and have a body shape pretty much like this photo.

Here's the clincher: they are not on the birds (as far as I've been able to tell so far). They are just crawling around in the coop. We've had them in the coop for at least 6 weeks, maybe longer. At first I didn't pay much attention to them, didn't even look that closely at them, because all the birds looked healthy and normal, and I just thought maybe a bunch of spider larvae or something had hatched. Inspection of the birds still shows no signs of lice infestation so far. Behavior is normal, egg laying is normal, feathers and skin all look healthy and lice-free (and nit-free), including around the vents.

I'm not feeling real urgent about this, because all seems to be well, but it's starting to bug me that there are all these bugs in the coop, and I'm starting to feel concerned that they may cause some kind of problem. There are a lot of them crawling around, and it's disconcerting that they look so much like lice, even though they don't appear to be living on the birds, which is the only place lice are supposed to live, according to everything I've read about them.

Does anyone know what our bugs could be? I'd like to know if they are potentially harmful in any way. Who knows - maybe they could even be beneficial - maybe they eat mites or something (not that I've ever found mites) - ??



Just to clarify, I did not take this photo. Again, our bugs are not on the birds as far as I can tell.

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

Mites? You could dust your birds with I-forget-what-it's-called stuff but you can get it at farm stores. It's just really fine particles and so it gets in the crack of the bugs' shells and that's not good for them... When you put the stuff I can't remember the name of on them, it is recommended you have a person help you. You have the stuff in a bag and and put the chicken in the bag but have it's head out. The other person shakes the bag a bit and gets it on their feathers. Make sure it doesn't get in their eyes, noses, etc. The bugs most likely have layed eggs, so you might have to dust your chickens a second time later or put some in the coop or something.. Will add a new post when I remember the name.

 

[DanbyTodd]

Thanks for your reply. They're not mites. We have not had mites (as far as I'm aware), so I don't have first hand experience with them, but from the photos and drawings I've seen on the web, mites look very different. These really look extremely similar to lice, but, as I said, not quite exactly, as far as I can tell. Moreover, they're not on the birds, just crawling around in the coop.

I think the stuff you're talking about is diatomaceous earth. I might spread some of that in the coop to try to get rid of these bugs, but I'm hesitant to try eradicating them when I don't know what they are or if they actually cause any harm. Not all bugs are bad.

 

[ButchGood]

Start dusting the place with DE. That will get the little buggers

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

It's called diatomaceous earth