Grain mites

[Jujubara]

I was surprised, at first, when tsc wanted me to bring the infested bags back into the store.
Thought he didn't believe me....later figured he knew well about it.

Now that I know more about them....they don't freak me out so much.
I just keep the bag isolated in metal cans and sprinkle DE in the feed, on outside of bag, inside the can, on lid of can, and on the floor around the can.

I agree, after reading up on them, they weren't as creepy. I was only worried about them getting into my kitchen. Another store told me they have issues with Blue Seal, but all their feed is kept In a separate building. Don't get me wrong, I love TSC, but after two rounds with these guys and the store is still infested, I'm driving farther and going local. The small feed store is actually cheaper than TSC. They store their feed in a way that's easier to clean.

 

[Jujubara]

All infested bags are pulled from the floor and isolated. We then bleach, spray, sweep, and wipe every location the bags came from. Purina is right. They're very common little bugs.

I've read that as well. They're almost always there, they just need the right conditions. Our infestation happened when it was pretty hot and humid in the middle of July. Second happened with a/c on, so I guess because they were alive and well on the bag, it didn't matter.

 

[Lynn Manes]

Just thought I'd post an update as someone asked about this incidence.
Still am not buying any poultry feed from TSC, but have seen the grain mites in my bins again.
Not sure if they are from the mill I use now or left overs from the TSC infestation,
but they are easily eradicated with DE......
......indeed grain mites are probably the number one reason that DE is an ingredient in many feeds.
They are really quite physically fragile insects and cause no harm directly to the chickens.

We had grain mites in a bag of wheat middlings we bought at TSC. We took the whole bag we had already poured into our galvanized can we use for storage and made them dump it and clean out our can so that we made sure to not have any infestations here. They made good on everything and we just got lucky. That grain was purchased for our mealworm farm.

 

[ladyearth]

So if I put my food grade DE in bags of grains or feed or the peanuts will it kill the grain moths or weevils too??? I am so sick of th blaney blanks.. hard to get rid of in the house. So I also use "panty pest traps"
thanks yall

 

[casportpony]

@aart, what a great thread!

 

[aart]

So if I put my food grade DE in bags of grains or feed or the peanuts will it kill the grain moths or weevils too??? I am so sick of th blaney blanks.. hard to get rid of in the house. So I also use "panty pest traps"
thanks yall

Sorry, I missed this way back when...I do not know if DE will kill weevils or grain moth larvae...I just know that it does work on the grain mites.

@aart, what a great thread!

Thanks!

Just read thru this again, never mentioned here that I noticed Purina added DE to the ingredients of Flock Raiser. Can't remember when they started adding, but remember checking a newer label with some older labels I had saved.
....and I've started buying this feed again, when it's fresher than the local mills branded products. Still see grain mites on some of the poultry feed at TSC, including FR(didn't buy it that time, bag was 3 months old). ...and I'm always on the lookout for 'dust that moves'. Once you've seen grain mites, they are pretty easy to spot in the right conditions.

 

[Kiki]

Great read...Thanks for sharing.
I personally have never heard of these little bugs! (until that other thread which lead me to here)

 

[aart]

Just got another bag with these.
Annoying but no longer as alarming(mostly).
They are pretty much inevitable in summer and not really a 'threat' to my birds.

Bag was very clean(they had probably just wiped it with pyrethrin-I could smell it), and 10 weeks old, but I noticed a few telltale 'moving white dots' as I put in in the van.
SIGH.
Brought it home and tossed it on a kennel tray in the garage, the next morning bag was covered in grain mites. Transferred and mixed in DE and dumped it in feed can in coop.
Next morning feed can and lid were covered with the teeming masses, packed edge of can and lid with DE and that contained them(should have done it right off).

Oh, and.... just realized the video in first post is no longer working, so....

 

[casportpony]

Oh, and.... just realized the video in first post is no longer working, so....

It's working now! Thank you moderators!

 

[Futuregreenefarm]

I am new to chickens. I bought a bucket with lid from Lowe's and started keeping my feed in it thinking I was being responsible. I kept seeing my chickens scratching there faces a lot more than usual and realized my feed bucket was also covered in these mites. It seemed like I also itched when I worked with the bucket. I emptied the bucket, washed it and set it in the sun to dry as I had read moisture made them worse. I left it for probably a week or more. I got new feed and tried it again and mites on it the next day. I don't use the bucket for feed anymore. I just leave it in the plastic bags. My feed is from the local TSC but it is the Dumor brand. I thought that DE is bad for chickens but you are mixing it with your feed to kill the mites??