teeny- tiny little bugs in coop but don't appear on chickens?????

[flick]

yep, thank you,,,its just frustrating...thanks for your imput..wish us luck...sprayed the empty cages soo many times...gonna kill these bugs if that is what it is

 

[rising rooster]

mites you can kill, diseases are impossible. its not the hay the cage the feeders... just never figured it out

 

[flick]

thank you

 

[bird boy]

If you are still having these issues you could post a close up picture of these bugs. I have a good friend that is in the bug business and could probably tell you what you have and how to exterminate it.

 

[Litleburgs]

So sorry that you lost so many birds. That would be terrible. Hoping all is going better for you now. Take care. Mollie

 

[nurse_turtle]

The tiny black critters are not what's killing your birds. It sounds like if there are feathers missing, a predator is getting to them through the wire and a chicken can easily be killed while attempting to pull one through a fence. Other scenario, there is an infectious process making its way through your flock. IMO you're cleaning your cage too much. Some bacteria, dirt, and germs are good and beneficial. We only create stronger, more resistant strains of infectious diseases when we keep suck a clean environment for an animal that has never, in its history, lived in such a clean environment. Have you considered worming your flock? I never have, but if I had symptoms in the flock, it's be one of the first things I did. Also, you can place a couple drops of Advantage for Dogs, or similar product, on the back of each bird's lower neck and external parasites will be killed for at least 30 days. MANY people will tell you not to put those drops on your birds. It's easier and more effective than anything else I've tried. I also sprinkle Sevin dust and DE in the coops and in the dust bathing area monthly. If your flock free ranges, there will be episodes of lice and mites. Wild birds carry and bring those pests into our yards. Chickens are supposed to have lice and mites, theoretically. It's why they dust bathe. The less chickens are treated like chickens, the more problems we'll create. I feel the benefit of free-ranging FAR outweighs the risks and consequences. Even if I lose a chicken to predation, I feel the chicken had a better life free-ranging than it ever would have had penned in a cage.

 

[lisa523]

Hello-

I have a small coop that houses 3 chickens and they free range during the day.  Anyways, i clean the coop every other day- pull out bedding, spray down and then once the coop dries i dust with DE and replace pine bedding and do a light dusting again of DE.  Anyways, i have noticed when i remove the pine shavings there the tiniest little bugs (not an infestation- just noticeable if i look extremely close and watch for them) that i have ever seen in some places on the wood.  They appear to be gray in color and do not fly or jump but they are fast little things.  If you touch them they literally smash and you cannot even pick them up to look at them closely.  Anyways, i totally examine the chickens pulling back feathers, etc., and do not see them on the birds anywhere.  

My question is this:  is there a chance these are just little bugs that are normal for a coop OR do these sound like i have a huge problem like lice or mites or something that will eventually be on my chickens?  

ANY help on this would be soooo greatly appreciated!  Thanks! Mollie

Hi. Glad I found this post. I have these on the outside of my coops. I also found them under some told. Poultry dust does not kill them, they just walk around it. Birds have no bugs on them, after frantically checking. I hope they are not lice or mites. They only seem to be on the window ledges and on a pop door outside.