saw a tiny brown bug in my hens feathers

[floridachickhatcher]

We are testing our hens to see which are layers and we will also check their feathers to see if i spot anything and today i saw a little brown bug on her im not sure if it was a flea/mite or what cause it was brown instead of black like you see on dogs and cats any idea what it was and how to get rid of it?

 

[ICallMyselfCherie']

Probably a mite, although it's hard to say just from that description. The simplest treatment would probably be DE (diatomaceous earth), which you should be able to get at health food stores or feed stores -- but make SURE you get Food Grade DE. Put it on her neck, under both wings, and vent. You can also put it where your birds take their dust baths. But if they really have a bad infestation, DE probably won't be enough. If it doesn't work, you can try giving them, I think it's called Ivomec. I still would try to find out more about the bug, though.

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Here's a link that might help you identify the parasite:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140
I recommend that you dust your birds with sevin dust, including inside their house, nests/roosts. Repeat dusting in 10 days. Sevin dust is $4.07 at Lowe's for a 1 pound canister. It's use is also recommended by the experts here at this link:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[Babetteschicks]

Poultry dust...ours had same. Gone now

 

[floridachickhatcher]

had my mom catch a chicken......its mites omg this one chicken her head was covered with what looked like fleas my mom said mites look like them and she had them all on her head and comb and above her eye so im going to look for the food grade DE now

 

[klmclain1]

Please see dawg's post. DE will not rid them of mites. Get the sevin dust as quickly as possible and treat the chickens, clean out their coop, and treat the coop and any other living areas. There is a lot of discussion about DE - some people swear by it but it seems only for prevention.

You need to get the right stuff now - mites can kill them.

 

[welasharon]

I too am in Florida. It's gonna take the seven or ivomec pour on. I prefer the seven dust. I get it at ACE Hardware or even Walmart.

 

[floridachickhatcher]

is sevin dust safe to use on chickens? i mean cause how they will peck at each other i wouldnt want them to eat the dust

oh also i should put as a note we sell the eggs to a co op