Red roost mites?

[Txpollock]

So….it looks like I’m dealing with poultry mites! I was initially thinking we had chiggers because I was getting bites in the usual places consistent with chiggers. But now I think they are poultry mites after doing some research and checking my coops. My chickens look great! I don’t see them suffering as of yet but I want to make sure they don’t. I’ve treated once with mineral oil & Essentria IC3 which is labeled for poultry houses. That was 1 week ago and today I still have tiny red mites on my broody hen and in the coop. So now I’m searching “mite issues” here and seeing Permethirn is the way to go. Would I need to rake everything out of my chicken run and treat or just treat the entire ground in the run? I have a 16’X32’ run with 2 coops. My 7 babies (7 weeks old) are in one coop and have not been out yet but I will need to treat that coop as well. Should I use a permethrin spray and dust or would I be able to just dust everything (including chickens) really well? Or would the spray be better for getting in the cracks really well and then let that dry and dust after it dries? Should I put dust down and then the bedding or mix the dust with the bedding before laying it in the coop? I haven’t seen any mites on the babies but the coops are next to each other in the same run so I’m going to treat the babies as well. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You need to identify which type of mite you are dealing with.

Northern Fowl Mites (NFM) live on the bird with a very brief span off in bedding and roost. (They die if not feeding on the bird). You can see them day or night on the bird. They look like little, fast moving black (or red if fed) pepper specks on the skin of the chicken. Looking at the vent, you can see them moving quickly off. To treat those, permethrin spray or dust is recommended, as well as a good cleaning of the coop. You can replace bedding and sprinkle permethrin dust to hold down numbers. Repeat in 10 days.

To see Red Roost Mites (RRM), you need to go out with a flashlight to the coop. If RRM, you will need a very deep cleaning of the coop as THOSE are hard to get rid of. RRM live in the coop structure itself in tiny crevices, coming out to feed at night on the birds for a couple of hours to return to their crevices during the day. They can live for weeks (months even) between feedings. You can see them as tiny clumps of red and black "bubbles" in your crevices and on the roosts. You really have to deep clean and spray every nook and corner. Some infestations are so bad the only way to get rid of them is to burn the coop down (old fashioned way). Thankfully today we do have chemicals that will treat them. Rabon, Ravap, Permethrin and Elector PSP.

I'll link a couple of good articles to help you figure out which type you have.

https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/red-mite/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/information-sheets/external-parasites-poultry

Good luck with eradicating your structures from the mites. Remember you will need to treat then retreat in 10 days....and do regular checks for reinfestations.

LofMc

 

[Txpollock]

You need to identify which type of mite you are dealing with.

Northern Fowl Mites (NFM) live on the bird with a very brief span off in bedding and roost. (They die if not feeding on the bird). You can see them day or night on the bird. They look like little, fast moving black (or red if fed) pepper specks on the skin of the chicken. Looking at the vent, you can see them moving quickly off. To treat those, permethrin spray or dust is recommended, as well as a good cleaning of the coop. You can replace bedding and sprinkle permethrin dust to hold down numbers. Repeat in 10 days.

To see Red Roost Mites (RRM), you need to go out with a flashlight to the coop. If RRM, you will need a very deep cleaning of the coop as THOSE are hard to get rid of. RRM live in the coop structure itself in tiny crevices, coming out to feed at night on the birds for a couple of hours to return to their crevices during the day. They can live for weeks (months even) between feedings. You can see them as tiny clumps of red and black "bubbles" in your crevices and on the roosts. You really have to deep clean and spray every nook and corner. Some infestations are so bad the only way to get rid of them is to burn the coop down (old fashioned way). Thankfully today we do have chemicals that will treat them. Rabon, Ravap, Permethrin and Elector PSP.

I'll link a couple of good articles to help you figure out which type you have.

https://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/red-mite/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/information-sheets/external-parasites-poultry

Good luck with eradicating your structures from the mites. Remember you will need to treat then retreat in 10 days....and do regular checks for reinfestations.

LofMc

So then I’m looking at NFM. We treated a couple times now and seemed to have a handle on it but I just got 1 bite again yesterday. So we’re treating again today and hopefully that’ll be the end. For preventative measures do you recommend permethrin dust? Or DE?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

So then I’m looking at NFM. We treated a couple times now and seemed to have a handle on it but I just got 1 bite again yesterday. So we’re treating again today and hopefully that’ll be the end. For preventative measures do you recommend permethrin dust? Or DE?

Always use permethrin dust or spray. DE is dangerous to bird and human lungs. My Vet Tech daughter strongly recommended I not use it (as I have mild asthma). DE is made from diatom shells which is silicon. Breathing silicon dust produces silicosis. There are warnings against DE use.

Permethrin is a pyrethrin derivative which comes from chrysanthemums.

LofMc

 

[McChooky]

Elector PSP kills mites and lice in one treatment(safe non-chemical method) If you have cats don't use Permethrin its TOXIC to cats. I dip my chickens with Neem oil as a preventative : (4 tb cold pressed neem oil and 1/4 c dish washing liquid in a bucket of warm water)Treat the coop,roosting bars,nest boxes and run regardless what products you use(removing all bedding.

 

[pitsandchicks]

So….it looks like I’m dealing with poultry mites! I was initially thinking we had chiggers because I was getting bites in the usual places consistent with chiggers. But now I think they are poultry mites after doing some research and checking my coops. My chickens look great! I don’t see them suffering as of yet but I want to make sure they don’t. I’ve treated once with mineral oil & Essentria IC3 which is labeled for poultry houses. That was 1 week ago and today I still have tiny red mites on my broody hen and in the coop. So now I’m searching “mite issues” here and seeing Permethirn is the way to go. Would I need to rake everything out of my chicken run and treat or just treat the entire ground in the run? I have a 16’X32’ run with 2 coops. My 7 babies (7 weeks old) are in one coop and have not been out yet but I will need to treat that coop as well. Should I use a permethrin spray and dust or would I be able to just dust everything (including chickens) really well? Or would the spray be better for getting in the cracks really well and then let that dry and dust after it dries? Should I put dust down and then the bedding or mix the dust with the bedding before laying it in the coop? I haven’t seen any mites on the babies but the coops are next to each other in the same run so I’m going to treat the babies as well. Thanks in advance for the help!

Were your bites from the mites? I was inside the coop (deep litter) and holding hens over the weekend and throughout week noticed lots of bites similar to chigger bites as well, but I’d say they are healing faster and itched less than chigger bites usually do. They were on my ankles and hands/wrists/arms and I’m paranoid that I brought them inside and am now infested.

Anyway, if you’re currently not overrun with biting bugs in your house, I’ll feel better I’m treating chickens and coop today

 

[Txpollock]

Were your bites from the mites? I was inside the coop (deep litter) and holding hens over the weekend and throughout week noticed lots of bites similar to chigger bites as well, but I’d say they are healing faster and itched less than chigger bites usually do. They were on my ankles and hands/wrists/arms and I’m paranoid that I brought them inside and am now infested.

Anyway, if you’re currently not overrun with biting bugs in your house, I’ll feel better I’m treating chickens and coop today

I don’t think they can survive away from the chicken/coop for very long. They were indeed mites but I do t think they can be carried inside and live. The mite bites were just as intense as chiggers for me but I think we got a handle on them. Once we got control, we made a dust bath area with sand, top soil, DE, & wood ash. Seems to have helped since we haven’t had an issue since.

 

[pitsandchicks]

I don’t think they can survive away from the chicken/coop for very long. They were indeed mites but I do t think they can be carried inside and live. The mite bites were just as intense as chiggers for me but I think we got a handle on them. Once we got control, we made a dust bath area with sand, top soil, DE, & wood ash. Seems to have helped since we haven’t had an issue since.

Wow, thanks for your quick reply How long after getting bit did you notice your bites? It took me anywhere from 12-48 hours to notice all the bites I ended up with. Wondering if the ones I didn’t scratch didn’t itch until they were scratched, if that makes sense.

 

[Txpollock]

Wow, thanks for your quick reply How long after getting bit did you notice your bites? It took me anywhere from 12-48 hours to notice all the bites I ended up with. Wondering if the ones I didn’t scratch didn’t itch until they were scratched, if that makes sense.

The same with me on the time it took to notice the bites….12-24 hours. But I don’t scratch any if I can help it and they still itch like crazy and it still takes a week or more for them to go away. It could be that people react differently to the bites.

 

[pitsandchicks]

The same with me on the time it took to notice the bites….12-24 hours. But I don’t scratch any if I can help it and they still itch like crazy and it still takes a week or more for them to go away. It could be that people react differently to the bites.

I think I’m also comparing these itching to a really bad case of chiggers I got a few years ago where I ended up scratching my skin off my shins because I scratched them so bad. I had at least 60 bites. It was so bad.

Thanks again for your responses. Bugs really freak me out, so a possible house infestation since I didn’t notice the bites for a day or two was making me absolutely panic.