Chicken mite help!

[kimmom]

EWWWWW! We had been losing frizzle chicks and had a batch of coccidiosis go through so I figured it was the tail end of that. But the last one that died a few days ago we looked at closely and there was teeny pale bugs crawling all over it, EVERYWHERE! They are not lice but mites I think. I can't see any on the live birds but LOTS and LOTS just crawling everywhere under waterers, feeders and in bedding. My daughter even got bit moving the birds last night. I am grossed out and so scared we are going to infest our house and children cause they DO bite! I think they came in on the last batch of straw maybe?? I have dusted the birds and the areas they were in and closed off where they were. But will they move and look for blood?

 

[Judy]

They won't infest people, even though one may occasionally bite a person. But you will need to do a thorough cleaning of the coop and trating the birds, and repeat it in 10 days to kill new hatchlings, to even have a chance of getting rid of them. I would suggest you purchase both the 5% Sevin dust and some of the liquid, and use the liquid for painting places like cracks and corners of the coop and the undersides of the roosts.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

If you object to Sevin, you should be able to treat them effectively with a permethrin/pyrethrin spray and dust. Pyrethrin is made from chrysanthemums and at least used to be considered organic, but it breaks down in sunlight quickly.

 

[kimmom]

When I searched chicken mites it says they can live on people and infect homes and are very very hard to gt rid of.. I was scratching all night, think it might be freaking out a bit though..
We did dust the birds and this weekend will be doing the whole coop. We had some of the birds seperated off in hutches and those are where the mites are.Taking the chickens away and dusting those areas I am hoping are enough to kill those infested areas off.