Shiny red bugs NOT mites sorta flea sized

[CAjerseychick]

Hi I checked out Google images pics of "chicken red mites" ( really gross)-- its not what I have thank goodness.... I did lose a young bird last weekend-- she was a bit slow for a couple days, day 3 noticed she was ruffled and sleepy and she died day 4(treated everyone with Sulmet and they have all been on medicated feed). Anyways, I had accidently turned over a pot in the run and there were all these tiny flea shaped, but much much redder bugs crawling like crazy everywhere... we pick up and play with our chickens alot (7 and 11 week olds) and I have been carefully checking their vent areas-- no bugs that I can see... Have been carefully dusting coop with DE everytime I clean it out (twice in the last 6 weeks or so-- in between I layer more straw/ shavings and DE) to the point that the DE is seriously a 1/2 inch thick on the floor of the coop (am alittle worried about the chickens respiratory system, I got a lung full last time and wheezed for several hours).... Any ideas of what these could be... also noticed some flatish brown bugs in spilled feed on the ground, I think these are feed mites....
Thanks for any input....

 

[Nsampsel]

Not sure WHAT kind of bugs you have, especially if there are none on the birds themselves. I would give the coop & run a thorough cleaning, remove ALL bedding & either dust with Sevin or spray with permethrine. I would also either dust the birds with Sevin or treat them with ivermectin just to be safe.

 

[dawg53]

Here's a link to external parasites on poultry, hopefully it will help you identify what you're dealing with if they are actually poultry parasites that you're seeing:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140