Pinky nail size black bug

[theartsypaul]

I have put DE on these bugs and nothing has happened. What are they? If I move a nesting box some chickens will come and eat them. They seem to like to be in the dark.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have put DE on these bugs and nothing has happened. What are they? If I move a nesting box some chickens will come and eat them. They seem to like to be in the dark.

I am unsure of what they are myself, the photo is lacking in contrast but I am unsurprised that Diatomaceous Earth has no ill affect on them. Perhaps if we had a close up photo of one of these bugs on a sheet of note book paper so that we would have better contrast. In the mean time I am going to go out on a limb and say that you're looking at small hive beetles.

 

[wolfrosie]

I did a little searching and found this pic of very similar looking things. "fowl tick". I have no experience with chicken pests but I know the ticks like to hide in dark crevices until night-time when they will suck blood from your chickens... If you think this is what you have try going out with a flash light and see if you end up finding any in action. :s
I believe in order to get rid of them you will want to clean the coop out. Try finding something called "Coopex", I read it works well and is safe for farm animals or food operations.
Hopefully this helps.