Grain mites?

[PioneerChicks]

So I pulled my chick feeders from my 7-week-old chicks out of the coop (they are outside) and found clumps of little tiny things only a little bigger that dust. They are sort of white and almost clearish. I can't see them well because they are so small, but they are moving for sure.

I got this bag of food from a friend who dropped off some chicks with it. It's not the brand I usually get. I haven't checked it closely yet because I just found an emergency in another brooder I am dealing with. Might be Coccidiosis if that contributes to this problem at all. But the brooders are separate and the chicks have only interacted a little.

Sorry for the poor photos. The mite-things are the lighter colored dust area.

Are these grain mites? I'll throw away the bag but should I do anything more? Thankfully, this bag is in a separate place from the others. Can these hurt chickens?

 

[JaeG]

Those do look like grain mites. They are no danger to the chicks other than eating the good stuff out of the feed so it is less nutritious. Throw that feed away and you can spray some fly spray around where the bag has been sitting, and just make sure if you were using a particular scoop with that feed to wash that thoroughly as well. Wash out the chick's feeder and you could change the bedding as well, just to ensure you get rid of all of them, or sprinkle some DE in there as that's one thing DE is good for - killing grain mites.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Those do look like grain mites. They are no danger to the chicks other than eating the good stuff out of the feed so it is less nutritious. Throw that feed away and you can spray some fly spray around where the bag has been sitting, and just make sure if you were using a particular scoop with that feed to wash that thoroughly as well. Wash out the chick's feeder and you could change the bedding as well, just to ensure you get rid of all of them, or sprinkle some DE in there as that's one thing DE is good for - killing grain mites.

Okay I'll give everywhere a good clean and use DE. I was worried it was something worse, like a blood-sucking mite evasion or something. Now that I know it is grain mites I know I can handle it. Thank you!