Riddle me this .....

[DTRM30]

I've been trying to find out what these are ....
I think I've figured it out - barklouse aka booklouse - wingless variety - feed on mold and etc - like dampness. dampness around my coop right now is something I have plenty of -

Or a termite ? A bit small from what I've been reading about termites though. They seem to run in the 5mm size range - these are much smaller - about 1.5 - 2mm.

ANy thoughts ?

They are approx 2mm - They are on the outside of the coop and inside, but mostly at the seams between the out and inside. Didn't think to check the girls. It was at about 11pm so it was dark out - I saw them with my flashlight. Caught some on a piece of tape - photographed and enlarged as best I could. I think I smushed them a bit pushing the tape down on them. They have six legs and two long antennae and are a dark color - greyish I want to say ...

My coop is an off the ground coop - so it is set about 3' in the air on 4x4 posts. The posts have them on them, near the bottom and they seem to be crawling up. The color in the photo shows them a bit darker than they really are - and a whole lot bigger. Hard to see the legs - but you can def. see the antennae - which are not that long on poultry lice - and they are the wrong color. And they aren't mites - mites have 8 legs and are rounder. I just want to be sure they aren't after my girls for a snack !

I'm on a quest to find some sevin this weekend (hopefully) anyway so I'll just dust around the coop as well, but .... since I've been up since 11pm trying to find out what they are - and it's now 3:30 am and I have to help out with a scouting event in the am - I think I should get to bed, no ? LOL

 

[BrattishTaz]

They do not look like termites to me. (Although I'm sure there are types that I have not seen before.)

I don't know what they are.

 

[EmtheFishLady]

In my professional opinion it is definitely a bug.

I don't think a termite though. But really, my knowledge stopped at "a bug".

 

[SilkieTime]

 

[nivtup]

I agree

Bug

 

[dawg53]

Sevin dust will take care of them, that's for sure.

 

[klmclain1]

I concur - not termites. Kinda look like bedbugs! hmmmm... Sevin Dust! Why arent' the chickens eating them??

 

[Cass]

Quote:
BUG, for sure. 6 legged kind...which is MUCH better than 8 legged kind, in my mind.

Why aren't the chickens eating them? Cuz the chickens are on the inside and the bugs are on the outside.

 

[DTRM30]

You guys crack me up LOL

I kinda had the Bug part

Not sure why the girls aren't eating them - could be b/c most of them are on the outside - could be maybe they know something I don't - or maybe they just can't see them because are really really small - I have some better pics ...

These were taken with my 90mm macro lens - and then enlarged even more with photo editing. There were a few of them still around - so not sure if they are a night time thing and hide during the day, if they are mostly gone, or what. I'm going to check again tonight to see what the scoop is.

These pics are of ones that I didn't squish - they were on the wood and keep in mind they are about the size of this dash _ to keep in in persepctive

As long as no one thinks that they are a threat to my girls I won't worry too much and will just deal with them with insect dust/powder.

I'm just more concerned if they are something that will start to feed on the birds .... and wanted to be sure they weren't lice or mites - but they aren't either from what I've been able to find on-line.

Thanks for the chuckle though - it's been a long day at the scout pinewood derby race - and my kids are not even in cub scouts anymore ...