Help! What are tiny bugs the size of dust speck?

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry!
Years ago I lost three nice hens before I figured it out, and it was mites. Awful!
Get the permethrin spray concentrate, it's easier to use and less expensive than the dust.
Spray the coop, walls, roosts, everywhere, and every bird, at night while they are roosting. Wear gloves, long sleeves, and at least a N95 dust mask!!! Do it soonest, rather than waiting to clean out the coop, or at least spray all the birds, walls, etc.
You need to clean out the bedding, and then powder the floor before adding new bedding.
Mary

 

[trudyg]

Mary, it sounds like you are saying just to mist the spray on the birds as they roost. Is that what you meant? I thought we should spray it under wings, around vent and maybe on the breast area and make sure the spray gets on the skin not just feathers. Have I been making it too hard?

 

[Sea Wolf]

They are mites and a heavy infestation of them will kill the bird. There are several types from whitish color to black. All of them are bad. I had perfectly healthy peacocks killed by them. They were in the shavings that they were sleeping on.

 

[analyticalblonde]

Fantastic, thank you! I'm sorry to report, that my sweet little cochin hen just died. I can't believe it's because of the mites... perhaps something else? But it could be mites I guess, and I'm feeling just terrible about this. Broken hearted. DH has gone to TSC to get the permethrin dust, and I"ll get the flock dusted, coops cleaned and treated. Perhaps it will help mend my broken heart a bit...

This is so sad...I am sorry that she didn't make it...

 

[Folly's place]

The birds are much easier to handle at night, and yes, spray on skin, not just their feathers. It's also easier with two people, but anything is better than doing nothing at all, so go for it anyway.
A headlamp frees your hands, and low lighting is better. Avoid the rodeo!
About bathing; it would be way too stressful for a bird who's anemic! Another reason to do all this at night, less stress.
Mites and lice appear sometimes because they come in on wild birds. Some years are worse than others, and it can be years before there's a problem.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

WEAR THAT DUST MASK!!!
I nearly landed in the hospital powdering my birds the night I figured out that mites were the problem causing deaths in my flock. The birds did fine, I was sick for weeks. "Who needs a dust mask, I need to treat them RIGHT NOW!" It was a bad idea...
Mary

 

[trudyg]

Mary, just another quick question about the spraying. As long as you get it on the skin, how much coverage does it need? I read a squirt under each feather and at the vent, but does that cover the rest of them or is that just because that's where the bugs tend to hang out?

 

[Folly's place]

There's a 'dose per bird' on the label, and I generally don't go quite that high. You do want to hit the areas where many of the mites are, and spotting it on different areas of each bird works out fine.
Mary

 

[Shadrach]

Given red mite do not live on the chicken the probability is your bird has an infestation of Northern Fowl Mite. These do live and breed on the chicken and are generally considered more detrimental to a chickens health than other types of mite.
A very basic guideline is:
for red mite, treat the coop.
For Northern Fowl Mite, Scaly Leg Mite and lice, treat the chicken.

 

[cmom]

I treated all of my coops and birds even though I only found mites initially in one coop. Later I had noticed some birds in another coop had some mites. I'm pretty sure it was wild birds that were trying to build nests in that coop that introduced the mites. I initially sprayed the birds then when I was re-treating a week later I dusted the birds and also put dust in their nest boxes. I did eventually get rid of the mites. During the hot humid summer months here in Florida I have still been spraying thoroughly inside all of the coops and putting dust in the nest boxes at least every couple of weeks. So far so good.