Buildin with wood & mites

[Iluveggers]

Our coop is almost complete, and I am painting it now. Of course since it is outside, I see an occasional ant or other bug on it. We had some of the lumber stored in a pile outside before building. Do I need to treat for bugs before putting the chickens inside? I didn’t know if mites would possibly live on wood if there are no chickens, such as a wood pile. I am not painting the ceiling beams as they are high and the wood is not smooth.

Thanks!

 

[Iluveggers]

This is the little red speck of a bug. I’ve seen 3 this morning. Used to see them on paper at school as a kid.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I suppose fowl mites or red roost mites could live in a wood pile if wild birds or rodents frequent the area, but it's also possible that any bugs you see wouldn't be detrimental to chickens. I see little red mite like things like the one in your photo, but they don't seem to do anything, just scurry around. As the ones I have aren't red roost mites I don't worry about them.

You could also look into whitewashing the interior of the coop once it's done, some folks claim it deters bugs like mites from hanging around in the coop.

 

[Iluveggers]

I suppose fowl mites or red roost mites could live in a wood pile if wild birds or rodents frequent the area, but it's also possible that any bugs you see wouldn't be detrimental to chickens. I see little red mite like things like the one in your photo, but they don't seem to do anything, just scurry around. As the ones I have aren't red roost mites I don't worry about them.

You could also look into whitewashing the interior of the coop once it's done, some folks claim it deters bugs like mites from hanging around in the coop.

Thank you. As long as they aren’t the bad chickens mites, I am not going to worry about them. Hoping to get the girls in tomorrow so if I don’t need to deep clean that saves me the time!