Could I be dealing with mites?

yomama

Crowing
10 Years
Nov 6, 2009
5,206
46
251
outside, except when I'm inside
A week ago I did a major overhaul of the outside of the chicken coops, bleach cleaning, primer, then painting, all within a 3 day process. Not until I was painting the coop with the final coat of color, that my arms had tiny little bugs crawling on me. I couldn't tell if they were mites, really tiny baby spiders or what. They didn't squish easily, so I ruled out spiders. From what I can tell from the naked eye, and what I have seen on the Internet, they have the shape of maybe a bird mite? They are kind of a translucent tan in color, with a little head and bigger body. But like I said, super tiny.What is weird, is I have check a few hens at night with a flashlight, and a few birds during the day, and no one has any signs of parasites. They have sand in their coop as bedding, and I am down there every single day cleaning up poop, and up till now, never had bugs on me. My girls do free range, and we do have wild birds and squirrels that frequent the yard. I have checked over the coop closely, plus went over handfuls of the coop sand and have found nothing as well. About 4 -5 months ago, my neighbors had a bad case of red mites, and actually lost some hens. However, our hens are at least about 50 yards or so away from them. I have lice and fly dust, but it is for horse, cattle and sheep. I also have lice and mite spray that I got for my finch a few years back, when I thought he had mites. (turned out he just grooms excessively) but not sure how far that would go. Anyway, anyone know what these could be? I do have Ivermectin pour on that I have used on my goats, plus Ivermectin injectable 1%, though I have never used either on my chickens. ( except when one bird had scaly leg mite, then I used the injectible mixed with water and applied to legs) I would appreciate any suggestions. Btw, the bugs seem to just be on the upper half of my body, mostly arms, when this happens, and went away when I showered.
Thanks!
 
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I am dealing with mites!!!! Just went out in broad daylight and checked one of the girls around the vent area. (I had been checking along back and under wings) She had creepy crawlies on her, the same ones that were on me!!!!! I feel so icky right now just thinking about them. Just got to figure out what kind they are. I thought red mites only come out at dark? Off to do more research, ugh.
 
Don't worry about the research.. you need to dust every thing (chickens, coop, dust baths) with Sevin ASAP. Be sure to clean out all the old bedding first. Then repeat in 10 days! That will get rid of all the mites. Be sure to get into the cracks and crevices of the coop. I'm itching just thinking about it!
 

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