Some kind of Mite? And how do I kill it?!

[JAK Rabbitry]

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No nits, i'm sure of that. I combed all through her feathers, along with my husband. They're clean and quite pretty, just have bugs on them. There's no debris, no flaky skin, no damaged feathers of any kind.
I also found these bugs on my buff orpingtons...which are gold. And no white buggy thigns of any kind were found.

 

[fdnick]

yep.. napalongtails turned us on to this stuff several years ago, never had any bugs on the chickens ever..
Bug kinda looks like a northern mite maybe.. they have a bunch of legs like 8 i think.. real thin..

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

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The northern mites I googled still look too fat and round. ...

 

[birdsNbeesNseeds]

There was a thread on here about worming, and using ivermectin; I was thinking they used a different dosage. I can't find it now, but dawg (can't recall his full username right now) knows alot about it.

 

[birdsNbeesNseeds]

What area of the country are you in?

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

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Western Pa....Pittsburgh Area.

 

[birdsNbeesNseeds]

Here is a link through a Florida site with poultry pest photos: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig140

Maybe those will help you with identification.

Good luck!

Edit- Well, if you're in PA I guess you won't have to worry about the tropical species.....

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

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The shaft louse sounds like what's going on, but the wing louse looks more like the troublemaker. ITs hard to say since these are extreme close ups and I'm just seeing them normally.

 

[ND]

IMO, the pour on Ivermectin dewormer will only target any critters that BITE the bird. Some lice/mites do not feed off the bird, but off of dead skin cells or the feathers. If it's a mite that lives on/eats the feathers or just the dander, pour on dewormer won't touch it.
I much prefer dusting with sevin thoroughly. (mostly after I had a small problem with tiny mites that weren't being killed by any amount of pour on dewormer)

Also, lice are supposed to live the entire life cycle on the bird...but most mites (not all!) live in the coop/bedding...and crawl out and feed on the bird at night. They lay their eggs and nest OFF the bird. (but some can still be found on the bird during daytime hours) Cleaning and really treating the coop out is key to getting rid of them... as it re-treatment in 14 days or so... to kill any hatching eggs that weren't killed the first go-round.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

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Thanks for the info. Snce I have no idea what they really are, I guess i'll try the pour on ivermectin first and dust the coop and if i'm still having issues I can dust the birds too.