Tiny tiny black bugs in the chicken coop, help!

[FrancesR]

I clean out my coops about every five to six months and I treat for mites when I do. After all the shavings are removed and the nesting boxes are emptied out I treat the entire coop and the birds. I use Adams flea and tick spray for dogs and cats. It has pyrethrins and is a quick-acting, short-lived product. It is safe enough for kittens, so adult chickens are not harmed either. I pour the stuff into a pump sprayer and treat the nesting boxes and all the places where bugs can hide, such as where the walls meet the floors, any crevices, etc. Then all new bedding is placed. Last of all, that night when the birds are roosting and asleep, I do a quick spray of their backs.....they don't even notice. Here in Hawaii, parasites are a major problem because we have no winter freezes to knock down bug populations. This routine has worked really well for me, much better than using DE did. Plus, I don't irritate the birds by trying to individually dust them. Pyrethrin is a potent insecticide made from a type of chrysanthemum extract and it really works. You really don't want to tolerate mites for very long. They are annoying to the birds and in time can cause anemia.

 

[jedclampit]

u can also buy wd40 by the gallon get u a pump up sprayer and spray the coop from one end to the other this will take care of the bugs and any eggs they have layed but u have to spray every little spot u can also spray the birds but u don't want to spray but just a little on them at there vent and under the wings i've used it and is the best thing that i have found because it kills eggs and mites

 

[Justine Cowell]

WD40?? as in the stuff we use on the car or bicycles for a lubricant?
thanks xx

 

[Hellion]

were you ever able to determine what these bugs were? I just discovered some... hadn't seen any until I just put new shavings down and I am wondering if they came from there?

 

[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