Red mite infestation....They are everywhere!

[Snowmonkey]

Here are some photos of them on a flip flop which I put on the soil floor of the lean to.
Not awfully clear, sorry...

Mites on a flip flop...

• Snowmonkey
• Jul 31, 2021

Mites on a flip flop...

• Snowmonkey
• Jul 31, 2021

Mites on a flip flop...

• Snowmonkey
• Jul 31, 2021

 

[Eggcessive]

Those do look like mites. Mites reproduce every 5-7 days. Treatment with permethrin spray works, as well as permethrin garden dust, or products with spinosad, such as Elector PSP. Treat every 7 days at least twice, then remove all bedding from nests and the coop, and treating the coop, roosts, and nests with permethrin spray before replacing with clean bedding. Straw has been known to harbor mites, and some may accidentally bring in mites that way. Mites can cause severe anemia and kill chickens, so is much more serious than lice.

 

[Snowmonkey]

None of them are red, which means they aren't getting fed (which I assume is good)...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I hope you are able to get rid of them.
Do you have straw in your run and/or coop?
I wonder if that's where they came from.

 

[Banana01]

Are those actually the mites? They are too tiny to photograph, but my eyes used to be good enough to see them, but now I can't even strain enough to see them anymore.

I lost a few entire broods of baby bantams to mites. Recently five babies died, so I understand how big of a priority it is for you. For me the mites live in the walls of the house where they were sleeping so I've had to rehome the chickens that try to sleep there. They are deadly to the babies, but the adults seem to know how to bathe them off.

I did an autopsy on one of them. There were infestations of red clusters around the beak and under the throat from first look, but when I looked behind his legs and under his abdomen it was shocking how many there were. The are invisible and tiny and only when you see a red cluster its too late. Ivermectin seems to help kill the red clusters. I had to give ivermectin to some new babies and they responded well, I think it did kill the living mites on their bodies.

They probably live in the layers of dry dead grass and any other dry organic leafy materials. Maybe even dried chicken droppings too. They seem worse in the cool and shady places. My walls contain dried grass. If they are in your grass it means there is a layer decomposting and if you rake your grass and remove the dead layer, you may disrupt their living space.

I moved my bantam broods just a few meters and put some wood planks for them to sleep on instead of the dirt. So far the mites aren't present in their new area yet but two more babies disappeared suddenly today, so I need to check again. I sadly don't have anywhere else to put them.