litte beele like bugs in the coop

[Jbrown]

I have moved and brought my chickens with me and today I was cleaning the coop and the nesting boxes and found TONS of these beetle like bugs very small, black in colr , and crunch when you kill them, but they like to hide in the cracks and under the poo???? I have NEVER had this problem before can you help or tell me what they are so I can get rid of them?


Thank you

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

First of all,

It's hard to know what you have there without a picture, but my immediate suspicion would be Lesser Mealworms (Alphitobius diaperinus). Do they look like the beetles in this article?

 

[barredbeans7]

Do they look like the size of a pepper and round? Cause if so that would be a mite. That's the only thing I can think of cause mites love to go in cracks and on chickens.

 

[Jbrown]

that is exaclty what they look like SO I have never seen this yuk before , never had then till we moved here how Do I get rid of these things?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

that is exaclty what they look like SO I have never seen this yuk before , never had then till we moved here how Do I get rid of these things?

I think that might depend on where you live. If you get a hard freeze in the winter then that may take care of the problem (if it's long enough). I would immediately start with a thorough clean out to remove as much as their food source as possible (chicken droppings, spilled feed, etc.). The problem is they're fairly resistant to a lot of chemical pesticides. Given that they burrow into wood to pupate, they're also quite protected at that stage. I would think that Sevin dust would be a good start, but I would find a liquid spray that would help penetrate in the areas where they may hide. There are some suggestions near the bottom of that article I linked earlier.

 

[Jbrown]

Oh I could cry, never had this with the old coop but we also had a cement floor this one is dirt! So this is going to be alot of hard work, But I have to do it, thank you so much, I have about 200 birds and this will be a struggle I am in Ohio so hard feezes not long enough , I will def be trying some seven dust spray will that hurt the birds?

 

[Jbrown]

Oh I could cry, never had this with the old coop but we also had a cement floor this one is dirt! So this is going to be alot of hard work, But I have to do it, thank you so much, I have about 200 birds and this will be a struggle I am in Ohio so hard feezes not long enough , I will def be trying some seven dust spray will that hurt the birds?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

It's not so bad. Ohio is good. While a hard freeze would be speediest, at 50 degrees or lower, they stop laying eggs and if you reach 40 degrees or lower for about 22 days, you can kill them off. That's a lot of help in controlling them even without chemicals. If you can keep their access to food low (by keeping it clean) then you'll be well on your way to being beetle free. Keep in mind that the litter you clean up will be contaminated so you'll have to deal with it in a way that keeps the beetles from re-infesting the coop or other structures. While I haven't ever used Sevin dust, a lot of folks here on BYC do to help control a variety of pests in their coops and on their birds.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I suspect your chickens would probably really enjoy cleaning up the mealworm beetles for you!

 

[Jbrown]

We have decided to dig up the coop floor its all dirt and lay concrete to help keep it cleaner do you think all that work would help? I was out there today and moved the ground feeder and I about died, so now all the feeders are hung and this weekend we should start to dig it out and lay the foundation, these little things are GROSS I am just not a bug person and to me its sounds like they should be a cross between a termite and a roach,, YUK> tell me what you think about the concrete floor please and thank you for all your help