They do not fly, They do however crawl all over you, in your hair, everywhere and with my experience with mites previously they did not crawl all over me they stayed in the usual locations on the chickens IE vents, under wings or hiding out in the nooks and crannies. Thanks guys, guess im in for alot of work. Ivermectin is another thought but I was trying to avoid spending that much money but if these other methods aren't working I guess I have no choice but to cough up the donuts. What is strange about these is they have no interest in feeding on the chicken she is the only one with any trace of them on her, they seem to like the rubbermaid tub ledge. The hen is not even twitching one bit even tho they are crawling on her and if they were mites she'd be preening like crazy
Have you considered getting them identified at a local agricultural extension or maybe a university near you? If they seem different than the "mites" you already treated for, then maybe it is just another buggie that reproduced in high numbers due to some sort of favorable conditions. It might save you time and worry to wait a day or two and try this route. I don't think an extra day or two will harm your girl from the sound of things. (Going by the point you made that she seems unaffected by whatever it is) Good luck, however you decide to manage it!!!
I like Autumn Mama's advice. Sounds like you have treated properly for mites. If it is not them, you are spinning your wheels treating for them again. Your extension agent, in the phone book under county government, should be able to help. The agricultural department of a nearby university could also be a great resource. It is probably where the extension agent will send you anyway.
It appeared to be an isolated incident. I checked the whole flock and got in the coop sifting thru the bedding with a magnifying glass and the coop was clear as were all the other chickens. I took her out of her tub, sprayed her down again and cleaned out the tub. The bedding in there was just covered in them and so was the hen. As soon as I sprayed them they died (the bugs). I never thought of the county extention thing but everything costs a small fortune. I called them once to see how much a necropsy would be on a hen who died unexpectedly and for that alone was over $80 and a close to 50 mile trip just to get there. I am sure if i brought some bug in they would charge big bucks to have it identified and we are barely making ends meet as it is. The hen is now bug free and in a clean tote back on her precious eggs Thank you all for the advice. I am sooo thrilled this was just on the one hen and not the whole flock.
Hopefully you put an end to the bug problem before your whole flock became infected. Do you have any idea where they came from?
I sure hope so. I have no idea how they got in her box so bad. I check her everyday so I think it was just some sort of gnator something along those lines. There is a lake across the street and lots of wooded areas around here. We feed the wild birds which could also be a contributing factor. My eyes are peeled now so all I can do is hope they don't come back
They could be something so innocuous as "book lice", a harmless insect that eats mold found on paper/wood products. You have shavings in there - if there is a little mold something like this could be present and I would think they would NOT bother chickens. Definitely best to have them identified a your local agricultural extension office. And let me know if they are "book lice"...
DE kills our ants in the kitchen, not just preventive Mites are harder to get rid of with any kind of dust. Dust is best for feather eating lice (well, the long thin brown ones I find on my pigeons sometimes. Dunno if chickens have them too) since they end up eating the dust on the feathers. But the mites are easily taken care of with a dip in permethrin. I add a tad bit of dish soap to help it completely penetrate the feathers to really get everything.
Quote:The necropsy I understand - however they should not charge you ANYTHING to look at an insect. I had our extension service identify a plant for me once - it was a parasitic plant that was killing another plant of mine. It was the strangest looking thing, I had never seen anything like it. I brought some in to them, they told me what it was and how to get rid of it. No charge whatsoever. A necropsy is a long and involved specialized procedure. Glancing at something is why they have experts on hand to serve their area. However, a 50-mile trip is another thing. Next time if you take a close-up picture of them, post it and see how the rest of us can do. I have a book on bugs from the milling/feed industry, so I can get at least a family identification on most food pests...