Do I assume they're "bad" mites if they're on an egg in the nestbox?

[Freia]

I collected an egg from the nestbox today, and it had some specks of orange "fuzz" on it. I bushed the specks off, then realized they were little bugs.

My first assumption is that if they're in the coop, my flock is probably infested. End of story. Get out the chemicals. Hose everything down.

But now I'm thinking (dangerous, I know). All the pictures I've seen of the blood-sucking little devils I've seen, they're blood-red - a deep red, and they're extremely tiny - pinhead sized. What I saw was more bright-red - orange really, and they were at least a mm, if not 2, in diameter and round.

Egg was layed at about 2pm. I just checked all my birds, and no sign of irritation around any of their vents or under wings. I just went through the coop's cracks and crevices with an LED light and didn't see anything. I'm checking everything (and everyone) again tonight after dark.

Is it possible that they're just clover mites or spider-mites? But if they are, what on earth are they doing in my nest-box. Gads.

 

[Whittni]

It doesn't matter what kind they are, use poultry dust on all of your birds and in the nestboxes and roost bar. Clean the coop out and the run really well. Retreat the birds in 3 weeks.

 

[Freia]

Very tempting to just burn the whole coop and just go and get a plastic coop. Easier to keep clean too.

 

[Freia]

Question on treating this.

Can I use a "bug-bomb" and air out really well before tucking the hens in that night or are these too toxic for birds?

My plan is:
Clean out all the bedding and detail along all edges and corners
bug-bomb to get into all the cracks and crevices where they're hiding
Sprinkle Sevin-dust on the floor, in corners, and on the roosts
Repeat in 7-10 days.

I'm optimistic that this is in its early phases. The hens happily go into the coop at bedtime, I'm not seeing anything that looks like bites or skin irritation on them. they have bright red combs.

Learning something new all the time...

 

[tmfineg]

You can also dust the coop with sulfur. I had a bad infestation, so I dusted the entire coop at night when the mites emerged. I locked the chickens in the secure run for a night. I took a gunny sack and put the powdered sulfur in it then shook all around e coop to get on walls and everything. Good luck with your plan, mites are no fun to battle.

 

[Freia]

Huh? I just went out in the pitch dark with a super-brite LED lite to inspect the carnage. Not a bug. Not a grey one or a red one - anywhere. I checked every vent and armpit, I checked every crack and roost. Not a speck of anything. Polished clean. I ran a white tissue along the underside of every single roost. Not a blood-speck anywhere.

I just hate to throw chemicals at the birds if this is a false alarm. Is there ANY chance that these were just some spider babies that hatched in the neighborhood that were out exploring?

I'm torn between throwing a bucket of DE in there and mixing all about (and doing nightly monitoring), and doing the whole mite-treatment just-in-case.