miniscule black bugs in coop - not mites, so what are they???

[technodoll]

hi everyone,

been dealing with horrible miniscule black bugs in the coop lately and have had NO luck in trying to find out what they are, so that they can be killed!

please help!

we dealt with a giant red mite infestation in our now-defunct chicken coop last summer and these things are NOTHING like the mites we know, so I am trying to find out what else they could be.

-every time i go in the coop i find them crawling all over my skin and don't know how they get on me since I'm not touching anything
-they are smaller than a red mite, shiny black and seem oblong rather than round
-they are about the size of this period --> .
-they crawl very fast, do not jump and do not fly and do not bite
-they are easy to squash and leave a black dusty powder (no red)

we have done the mite test (flashlight at night, paper towel, looking for the tell-tale red squash), i do not see any bugs where the chickens sleep at night. it seems like they live in the shavings on the floor? even if i wear rubber boots and socks i will find them crawling up my bare legs and on my arms and feel them in my hair, and this happens less than a minute that i've been in the coop!

all our birds are treated with EPRINEX every 30 days, without fault, in order to avoid another red mite infestation.

these bugs have only appeared about 3 days ago, tomorrow will be 3 weeks since i changed the coop shavings. the ammonia smell is strong though, we have been having endless heat waves all summer. there is a cement floor under the shavings.

the flock free-ranges during the day, we have 48 birds for 250 square feet of space (converted horse stalls in an old barn).

we live in eastern canada and do not have access to Sevin dust or food-grade DE, which costs a fortune for a small bag. I do not want to use chemicals unless i have to as I have fragile lungs.

does anyone have any idea what these bugs could possibly be?

i now dread having to go in the coop :-(

 

[chfite]

Do you have a cooperative extension service, professional farmers and scientists, available there? If so, collecting some of the bugs and taking a sample to the cooperative extension service or entomologist could allow identification of them so you can plan what to do next.

I suspect that being able to examine a sample of the bugs would enable identification.

Chris

 

[technodoll]

I feel like such a heel...

Last night hubby and I went in the coop to find out WHERE these bugs were coming from, did the red mite test (nothing), however we did find one hen was dropping these mysterious bugs from her body...... upon inspection with a flashlight we found her CRAWLING with northern fowl mites!! i couldn't believe it - she must have had thousands on her, poor soul :-(

The one calamity that hadn't hit us yet, we've had and dealt with everything else!!

Sigh.

I had some leftover dusting powder (rotenone active ingredient) so we dusted her thoroughly and gave her another dose of Eprinex, put her in quarantine. Dusted our rooster, he had mites too. Checked out five hens at random, three had a few mites and two didn't seem to have any.

What's strange is that the whole flock is treated with Eprinex every 30 days, I was under the impression this killed all biting/sucking pests??

Anyways.

Today our sick hen got a bath with dog flea & tick shampoo (permethrin) to finish killing the mites the powder didn't get, she got a blow dry and is in a decontaminated condo until she regains her strength, she is sooo weak.

I got proper containers of dusting powder this afternoon (carbaryl active ingredient) and tonight my husband and I are going to dust all 30 birds in the coop.

Tomorrow I have to empty out the 250 square feet of shavings, sweep, dust with the carbaryl powder and add fresh shavings, it's an afternoon's work.

Question: should i also spray all the walls, nests, sleeping planks etc with a permethrin solution? I read that northern fowl mites stay on the bird (as opposed to the red mites that live in the coop and only feed on the birds a few hours per night). I don't know what to do here, any advice welcomed!

 

[what did I do]

I would go in with guns a blazing. Spray everything, treat everything. Treat the nesting boxes. And do it all over again in a week or two or whatever the directions say do not go a day longer.

 

[technodoll]

ok, thank you!

will spray with the permethrin mixture everywhere tomorrow...

we dusted all 30 chooks tonight, what a horrible chore - even with a mask on my lungs are burning.

the directions on the dusting powder say to repeat in 4 weeks if necessary - does this mean the product kills the eggs, too??

sounds strange...

good news though: some hens had no mites and most only had a few on them, so we caught the bugs in time!

 

[what did I do]

does this mean the product kills the eggs, too?? No it will not kill the mite eggs that is why you need to do it again in 4 weeks. The product will kill mites for a few days to a week before it becomes ineffective. You have to do it again to stop the life cycle. I know you may not want to do it all over again with all the birds but just do it. Do not slack off.

Did you spray everywhere the hens go?

The mites will attack the weakest hens before they go for the healthy birds. It might be wise to find some vitamins and electrolytes to give to your hens while dealing with this mite infestation.

 

[technodoll]

The mites definitely attacked my weakest hen, she got 95% on her - I don't know how long they've been in the coop but it's so disgusting.

I will keep checking the flock every other day and the second i see ONE mite, everyone's getting another dusting.

Today is coop cleaning day...

So sick and tired of these endless bugs, living in the country with free-ranging chooks is a chore!