Tiny tiny black bugs in the chicken coop, help!

[NewToChix]

I haven't seen a definitive yes on if these are mites or not? I just found a TON in my coop. UGH. We have never had a bug problem so this is a major bummer. They crawl all on me when I was trying to get the eggs. So gross. Are they mites or just some other pest? They are black with a little bit of white on them and very tiny. The little ones are translucent and a rust color. I am super grossed out about this and also wondering if this has what has been causing severe skin allergies on our dog. I only just noticed them though so they must be new.

We have a 15# box of DE that I plan on using after I get in there and bleach the crap out of the coop and probably everything I see for that matter.

How hard are these to get rid of?

 

[hundleychickens]

This is all great advice! I like the getting them while they roost the best. As soon at i get some pine shavings (my grandparents have used straw for as long as they have had chickens) I'm deep cleaning/bleaching the crap out of my coop ( I call it mine since I took over carring for the chickens about 6 months ago) only using pine shavings NO MORE STRAW! And probably using all of our DE! it was so gross, i set my white phone on the corner of the nesting box so i could move the chicks to the roosting bars since they like to roost on the boxes better. when i picked up my phone it looked like dust had fallen on my phone but it was moving!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Mites and lice are very hard to eliminate . Once you have an outbreak DE is useless. You need to treat the birds , clean out all the nesting material and spray every nook and cranny with a good garden insecticide . You then need to repeat the whole procedure again in 10 days to get any hatching young. Some mites are so minuscule that it is impossible to see them with the naked eye.

http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2540&Itemid=2816

 

[Grimshaw]

Just found the same .... sprayed the whole coop with fly and whasp killer and it seams to have done the trick !!
Kept the chucks well away during.

 

[conny]

I know the last post was a while back, but out of curiosity: did you get rid of the bugs? I discovered these tiny tiny beetles/bugs in the hen house on the poop tray first. I had DE on it but those bugs didn't seem to mind. I cleaned it every few days and the hens are free of them so I didn't think of it more. Now I see that the bag of feed is full of them. Anybody know what they are? They seem too small for chickens to eat! So now I try freezing the feed before I give it to e hens

 

[conny]

this is a picture of the tiny tiny bug! Anybody knows what that is? Thanks

 

[betty105]

I've also just noticed these tiny bugs!! they were crawling on my face when I finished being in the coop, yuck!! We just put the plastic around the coop for the winter. It is open on the bottom and has wheel so we pull it up close to the house for the winter. It's only a small 4 chicken coop. I haven't noticed them ever before, and my chickens free range in the fenced in back yard. I put straw I had in our little shed from last year into the coop for winter bedding. I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me if this could be where the bugs came from?? My chickens are in great health so I can't imagine these bugs have been around for long. If it is from the old straw, I could just throw that out and buy new, or buy some DE and put it all over the straw.
Any ideas or comments would be really appreciated!!! thanks everyone!

 

[HotDesertChick]

Any chance, of good/clear pics of the offending invader?

Put something like a dime close to the beetle, when you take a pic of a non-schmooshed "bug", to offer some sense of "scale"? First, you have to I.D. the obviously-successful opportunist. Second,...look up "wire worms" and "Click Beetles". This is taking a very wild stab, without seeing any photos. NOT a "diagnosis".

Any more information? Pretty hard, to come up with solutions, when no one even understands what you are fighting?

 

[HotDesertChick]

I should have added the word "mites" to the description. Not just beetles. We still could use some sort of "comparative photo" that illustrates the size of the organism?

Was a very busy day....forgive?

 

[Chickmagnet98]

We have the same thing in our coop after having chickens for over a year. There are 20 hens, 5 roosters and 9 ducks. The little black specks look like moving dirt on the eggs in the nest boxes. You can't even feel them on you, but I looked down and they were on my hands and feet after collecting eggs and putting fresh pine shavings in the next boxes. Now I have bite marks on my legs! So gross! We have been dusting with DE, but apparently that wasn't enough. Will put up a picture as soon as I get one, no one in the family wants to go in the chicken pen anymore, lol! Hope the insecticide and pet flea and tick spray works.