Mite Identification

[Mebrou]

Hi all! I’ve seen several posts regarding mites and identification but nothing concrete on this type I’ve found in my garden area where I house two hens. I’ve seen them crawl on top of the hens but not on their vents or within feathers and no sign of eggs. I BELIEVE they’re clover mites based on a similar post I’ve seen here but there didn’t seem to be solid confirmation. As a precaution I’ve sprinkled permethrin powder under their little coop and dusted them as well. I use lime and some food grade DE in their dust bath/nest box. I still see them everywhere but this area is mostly garden beds and moist mulch so I’m assuming clover/soil mites of some sort. They don’t exist in the main coop and run which is dryer/warmer and 90% sand. Any help would be appreciated so I can stop stressing about this. Ant in photo for scale. Thank you!!!

 

[BDutch]

The one top right is an ant. The small ones look like some kind of mites. But if they crawl around in broad daylight these are not red mites. Not the time of the year for red mites either in parts of the world were we still have winter.

What is your location? Put it in your profile too. Can be helpful.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Those don't look like fowl-parasitic type mites to me (which would be northern fowl mite, tropical fowl mite, or red roost mite). Wrong shape. Could be clover mites. There are many types of harmless mites as far as chickens go and exact ID can be really hard. Some of those other mite types get into feed and eat damp wood, which can be a nuissance if they get going in a coop in a humid region, but still doesn't harm the birds.