chicken mites

[cdavis76]

I have noticed these light red bugs on the vent area of my chickens and i suppose these are mites....what are the best ways to treat and get rid of these..also will these cause my egg production to disappear..I haven't had a egg since june

 

[Pyxis]

To treat them you need to get yourself some Sevin garden dust, the 5% kind. You can find it at TSC or Walmart in the garden section, etc. Put some in a piece of pantyhose and thoroughly dust all your birds with it as if in were a powder puff, especially under the wings and around the vent. Do try to avoid getting in in their eyes. Then pull all the bedding out of the coop, clean the coop thoroughly, and dust everything in there with the Sevin. Burn the bedding. Put in new bedding mixed with the Sevin dust. Repeat everything in seven days to kill all the eggs that have hatched, and if you still notice them, keep it up till they're gone. Mites can kill birds, and could definitely stress them out enough to halt egg production. If possible, try to dust areas that the birds spend a lot of time. If you have a run, I recommend dusting it and everything in there with Sevin, too. I had to do all this when my birds contracted lice from wild birds in our area. Good luck!