Tiny tiny black bugs in the chicken coop, help!

bantam94

Hatching
7 Years
Jun 7, 2012
1
0
7
We where cleaning out the chicken coops last week and as i lifted up the front of the pen i found LOADS of tiny black bugs all over my hands...

Ive tried the internet but cant find exactly what they are.

Theyre extremely small (probably les than a millimeter long) and all black. I cant distinguish how many legs they have.

We have already treated them with a weeks course of Flubenvet and have drenched the coops in Dyna-mite Liquid (diluted 10ml to 1litre of water) twice but they are still every where!

Does anyone know what they are and how to treat them?

Thanks
 
We have the same problem which I just discovered two days ago. I am going to hose down the coop with bleach and dust the chickens. These small (almost invisible) bugs are everywhere. Any additional suggestions would be most appreciated. We raise our birds organically and I am reluctant to use chemicals. We have a 32 bird coop and the problem has spread to our silkie coop as well (5 birds) and the chickens do not interact and they coops are not located near each other.
 
hello
just gone to clean our coop this am and we have the same very small black bugs !
we have hosed the coop but they are still there.
You posted to clean the coop with DE but what is that?
Many thanks
 
DE is diatomaceous earth. It is very fine like talc powder & it literally desicates (drys out) the bugs, killing them. No harm to the chickens unless they breathe a lot of it in. MAKE SURE to get food grade DE...available in my feed store right next to the chicken feed. I sprinkle it in their pine shavings in the coop & mix it in & also in the dirt in the run, so when the chickens dust bathe, they are bathing w part DE... ;) Good luck!
 
Hello, I am also new and have exactly the same problem. I can't see any on the actual chickens but hundreds in the nest box.

Is there a brand name for DE? and also how do you dust down a chicken and what with?

sorry for my completely moronic post!
roll.png
 
Hi Pipling...welcome to BYC! No such thing as a moronic question...except those you don't ask! :)

There isn't (to my knowledge) a specific brand name for DE. Check with your feed store...ask for food grade DE and they should know exactly what you mean. It's not terribly expensive and a little goes a long way.

Clean out the whole coop, then when you put the bedding back in, sprinkle some DE on it and sort of stir it up enough that it's not all sitting right on top...the chooks will take care of the "real" stirring as they scratch. Also put some DE in their dust bath and mix it just a little bit.

DE is perfectly harmless on the skin or even eaten...the only danger is inhaling it. So, make sure you wear a mask when working with it and take care that the chickens aren't downwind where they can breathe it in.

I found mites on mine as well, and did just this. You can actually dust the chickens, but I found that just having it where they get it on them was sufficient.

HTH
Mickey
 
Thank you :)

I will pop in a bit and try and get some. I have cleaned out the coop and let them free range this afternoon anyway in a garden full of rowdy 10 year old boys!
 

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