Little tiny bugs on the nesting area.

[cmom]

I do put dust in my birds run, nest boxes and places where they dust bathe also.

Added to say I use DE.

 

[patandchickens]

If they just crawl, at a fairly steady pace although maybe erratic in direction, they are almost certainly mites; if they jump or fly then they are definitely not mites. If that helps any.

DE *does* kill mites, however it does not kill them as effectively or thoroughly as a 'real pesticide' and will not generally wipe out an actual mite infestation (although IMO it does seem to help discourage infestations from really getting rolling). Sevin, a permethrin product, or a rotenone product are the pesticides usually chosen to handle an actual mite outbreak, being as mites can do some serious damage to birds' health and it's important to get 'em knocked down fast.

If it is mites, change the nestbox bedding (don't just knock it onto the floor, take it carefully out of the coop to the compost pile) and possibly all the coop bedding, and while things are bare nekkid use your mite treatment of choice in the nestbox and around/under the roost and where it is attached, and anywhere else accessible, *before* putting new bedding in. Then you can add more mite powder on top of the new bedding in the nestbox at least.

Good luck, hopefully it isn't mites but even if it is you can definitely deal with it,

Pat

 

[photo chick]

Great information guys, I really appreciate it. So today I bought what they had on the shelf at the farm store. It is Permethrin...dust for garden and poultry. I have a few questions now.

1.) I just cleaned out the coop and laid new shavings on all areas. This is how I found the mites. Do I now have to take all the new shavings out (3 cubic feet) and replace it all? Can I just move it around and throw this dust down underneath it and on top?

2.) We are living in a mud pit here in Vermont. There is no way for me to make a dusting area in our pen. I may be able to make one from a kids paddling pool though. If I do that, what do I have to add to the pool besides the permethrin dust. And how much dust do I add?

3.) Is there a better way to dust the chickens?

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah, if the shavings are new you might want to just try moving them to one side and putting mite dust underneath, and then some on top of it all.

To dust the chickens I like the method of putting some of the mite dust into an old sock or pantyhose foot, then using it to 'pat' all over the chicken up under the feathers (so you're sort of going 'against the lay of the feathers', you know, getting down to the skin?) all over her, not neglecting the vent and the long tailfeathers where some mites like to hang out. Wear a good dust mask.

If you do this at night after they're snoozing on the roost you can, if luck is with you, go down the row catching and dusting each hen in turn without having the sort of rodeo excitement you'd have during daytime.

There are a buncha threads on creating dustbaths, try 'search', I'm not going to even attempt to summarize since there are many different schools of thought.

Good luck,

Pat