Mites

[Eowyn]

After handling my chickens, I found tiny bugs crawling on me. I checked my girls and found the same bugs crawling around on the skin and into the feather follicle. Her is a picture of my hen's feather base. .

. I was able to capture a bug and look at it under a microscope. Here is a picture of it at 40x.

. Any idea what these are? and more importantly, how do I get rid of them? The chickens are otherwise fine, except that their egg production is a little low. They are 1year old Barred Rocks.

 

[happylittlehens]

Well it looks like mites or lice. Either way they are treated the same. Here is a good article to start with https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mites-chicken-pests-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-mites