Help! Little Bugs Everywhere

[sprig]

I am brand new to raising chickens and have two that free range in my backyard but roost, feed, and water in thei coopr. This morning I went out to fill up their water and noticed thousands of tiny bugs everywhere in the coop. What are these and how do I get rid of them. I included a pict of the feeder to show the magnitude. This is a really close up picture . There were none of these things just two days ago and now they are everywhere. What the heck are they?

 

[GuppyTJ]

It looks like mites. There are several kinds, with red mites being the most common with chickens and in warmer climates. They increase quickly in hot weather. Was your weather especially hot lately? You can get rid of them by cleaning the coop thoroughly and dusting with a poultry-approved pesticide, paying special attention to crevices and cracks. You have to repeat the dusting until you get rid of them. Here are a few resources that might help you.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/2-5/laura_e_john/
http://blog.poultrykeeper.com/tim-chicken-blog/how-to-get-rid-of-red-mite/Guppy

Guppy

 

[sprig]

Guppy
Thanks for the links. In those links it says poultry mites are dark brown or black, but these are very light in color. Could those still be mites? The chickens dint seem to be doing any excessive itching but they also dont stay in the coop very long except in the morning or at night. Again thanks for the help.

 

[GuppyTJ]

Sprig,

Glad to try to help. In "The Chicken Health Handbook" which is a great resource BTW, it says that the red mite, also called the chicken mite because it's the most common mite found around chickens is "grey until they suck a chicken's blood and turn red." Are these bugs on your chickens? You want to check them especially at night, which is when the red mites prowl for food. Look for them on the roost and crawling on the legs of your chickens.

Do you have a magnifying glass or even better, a kid's microscope, by chance? If you do, compare your bugs to images you get when you google for images (select images instead of web) of "poultry mite" or "red mite on poultry." Just another thought.

I also looked up other things it could be but you might try this too. Look up other parasites that are around chickens (lice, fleas, bed bugs). I don't think it's any of those given your picture and the description of each type of parasite.

Guppy

 

[sprig]

Alright I just did a thorough check of chickens and coop and I'm pretty sure they are grain mites. I didn't see any of the mites on the chickens nor did I see any bites. The heavy majority of the mites are in and on the feeder. Couldnt find any that were anything but white or light grey.
I just started using this feeder earlier this week so I'm guessing they came from it. I've had the feeder for a month but it had been in the box. Now I'll need to figure out how to treat them!

 

[GuppyTJ]

Well, that is great news and thanks for posting this so we can learn from you. Good detective work on your part. Grain mites... need to file that one away for future reference.

Thanks for sharing,
Guppy