somethings biting ME!

[sunket77]

Ok so we got our safe and secure coop built!

But I have not made the "tunnel" for the chickens to go from the coop to the run. So every night I am picking them up and moving them into their coop until we get the tunnel built. (operating on a budget!) Tonight after moving them all I noticed I have these bites on my hands and arms kind of like mosquito bites. Even though we are in a drought for SOME reason we do have a few mosquitoes. But I have never been bit on the hands before! I figure it's something on my birds since I have to pick them up and carry them. I don't have any bites on my feet (I wore flip flops) or anywhere else. ANY CLUES to what this might be and how to get rid of it?? I keep DE in the run but have not done the coop yet

 

[Zahboo]

Do mites bite???

 

[sunket77]

my question exactly! but these are big bites almost to big for a mosquito

 

[lurky]

mites DO bite. I rescued a hen once and she was infested. They bit me up good during the rescue. You can take a really good shower and get rid of them. Be sure to wash all the clothes you had on and stuff you were in contact with. If its mites, that will help.

 

[reesepoultry]

I would also recommend you putting down pine shavings so that your chickens may dust them selves to get rid of the mites.

 

[horsejody]

If the chickens are infested, it may be worth looking into a commercial preparation to dust them with. Then give them a dust bath area with some DE in it to prevent reinfestation.

 

[AmyRey]

Ants?

How many bites are you getting? Like one or two? Or dozens?

 

[noblehillfarm]

No see uhms will do that too I know we have a ton of them in NH. They are super small hence the name but they leave a big bite and usually it hurts when they bite. They are a tiny black fly and love chicken coops

 

[sparkles2307]

OMG I did not believe in the existence of no-see-um bugs till this 4th of July. I got bitten on the ankles about a dozen times over the weekend. No one else did, they thought I was mental, till I caught one and showed them.

 

[HennysMom]

could be chiggers too..... are you catching your birds in the grass by chance when you pick them up?

Chiggers... awful things - I've got about 50 of them from picking blackberries