Can anyone identify these bugs and tell me how to get rid of them?

[azahn]

Hi Chicken Lady! Yes, you are right... but, if you had done the same thing with flour, you would have had the same result - neither would we wave the vacuum cleaner bag around. We'd all be hacking! DE is a fine powder, and no, we should not "breathe it in". So for the sake of newbies or veterans out there, if you decide to dust your coop, run, etc., do so while the flock is in a different area. And if you provide a dust bath for them, mix the DE in with some sand or good 'ole dirt. Same effect and they won't be dusting the place up so much! Food Grade DE is a great organic tool to have in your arsenal - but anything can be used improperly. Happy Dusting!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The bugs were VERY small. Definitely not wood lice. I would say just a touch larger than mites, or maybe they were a form of flea or mite....

Did they look like the creatures pictured below? Did you disturb anything inside the coop just before you noticed them. Say picked up a board or dumped out a nest?
if so they may be roost mites. They feed on chicken blood but only after dark. There are two verities of red mites. The sated and the hungry. The sated are red from all blood they have just eaten. The hungry roost mite is gray in color.