Mite bites??

[rush6menow]

I see a lot of posts about mites/lice, but no one seems to say they are getting bit. I woke up with 3 bites, next day 5 more, now today 6 more. My son, who holds the chickens a lot, got 2 bites yesterday and so far no more. His are not together as move are in groups, 4 here 3 there, etc. They itch really bad and I only get them during the night. I've washed bedding, vacuumed, shower, etc but still getting bites. My baby sleeps with me and he has none. Anyone know what's going on? Are these red mite bites? If so why doesn't my son have more? I haven't checked my chickens for fear of getting even more bites. Advice? Ideas? Do red mites do this to humans?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Whenever my chickens have had mites and they've gotten on me, I've been bitten. But, I've never brought them in the house with me.
If your chickens are the cause of this, then they must be SEVERELY infested. In which case, you need to start treating the source- the coop and birds. Clean out everything. Spray down everything with pesticide spray (I use Adams Flea and Tick spray), bleach or strong vinegar solution, rinse. Let dry and then dust every crack and crevice with Sevin or something similar. I put a generous helping on the coop floor and under the bedding in the nest boxes. And guess what!?!?! After 10 days, you get to do it all over again! Doesn't that sound like fun!?!?! You HAVE to retreat. If you don't, you wont break the cycle and they will start all over again.
As for treating the chickens, you can put some Sevin in a trash bag, put the chicken in the bag with its head out of the top, then shake the bag around to give them a generous dusting. If you have lots of birds to treat, something like Ivernmectin (sp?) pour on might be easier.
Also, make sure you don't have fleas in your house! LOTS of people have complained this year about fleas, and their pets monthly preventative not working. We had a huge problem last year when our Frontline stopped doing its job. Even if you don't have indoor pets, you could still have fleas! If a neighbor, someones you've visited or has visited you recently or someone you've bought something from has an infestation, they can easily share them with you!

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[appps]

Yeah we got bitten. They tended to bite in skin folds and must come out more at night because that's when they would itch the worst and first thing in the morning.

The good news is they only live a couple of days off the chooks so don't panic too much about them being in the house.

Now though you are going to have to put your big girl panties on and deal with them on the chooks. Lol

First time we used ivermectin drops. We just had to put a couple of drops on the back of their necks on the skin and in two days the mites were gone. The whole coop was then cleaned out and sprayed with fido dog spray as per the directions. The down side of this treatment is two weeks of not being able to eat the eggs.

The second time I used a poultry dust because they had lice and the ivermectin didn't kill them. Messy job but it worked and no two week with holding on the eggs. Had to repeat the treatment again in a couple of weeks though to also get any eggs.

As soon as you have finished cleaning and treating so straight and shower as I found that helped me not end up with more bites.


Good luck!!