Comments on: Bugs in the chicken coop

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:14:03 +0000

For those in the future… these are North American Fowl Mites. They are hazardious to chickens as they suck the blood of the chickens. They can not get through the skin of humans so they pose no threat to us. To control them, you can power them with Seven or DE.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:09:41 +0000

I believe that I have the same issue. My daughter noticed them first when she went to get the eggs. I discovered them crawling on the watering can when I went to fill it. I had just done a thorough cleaning and sweeping of the coop, walls etc. And found what I figured to be a spider nest in the window sill area. I swept it out (since I was on a rampage) and then this all started. I figured it must be spiders since i have seen nests elsewhere. But it has been over a week now and they are getting worse. If you look at the walls, they are covered! Inside, the coop, on the nesting boxes and now on the outside of the coop as well. And some of my birds no longer want to be put to bed at night. Egg production has been cut in about half but I can’t seem to find any of the critters on the birds. (Mind you, I am pretty grossed out and likely haven’t analyzed them enough) I am very frustrated, seriously grossed out and always feel creepy crawly myself. yuk. So I suppose I will strip out all the bedding and wash the walls. I am ready to use a mild bleach solution, but I have only read about soap and water. Does anyone object to mild bleach, or should I avoid it all together?

By: Mona

Mona — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:22:20 +0000

Glad, to know we aren’t alone. We have the same crawly bugs when we go to our coop. They crawl all over us (my kids and I have all had them on us).

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:32:13 +0000

I have been frantically searching the internet today because my 2 year old daughter suddenly had bugs in her very curly hair, and then suddenly going down her neck, the back of her shirt, on on her torso. They transferred to me very quickly.

At first I thought she had head lice, but after dousing us both in DE and bathing her with Castile soap I did what I always do–hit the internet. I looked at lice and much to my dismay AND relief, the pictures looked nothing like what was crawling in my daughters hair.

I post, because we had just come from tending the chickens (we are chicken sitting the chickens at our school) and she had stuck her head inside one of the smaller coops to look for eggs. I can’t tell if the picture above is the same kind of spider, but it definitely looks like the size of the bugs crawling in her hair.

I am relieved to have found your thread!

By: Woody

Woody — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:01:52 +0000

Free protein!

By: lee

lee — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:42:56 +0000

We’re wondering if it was a spider outbreak. There’s not much sign of them at all, although the weather has been cooler too. Robin has added DE to the bedding and nesting boxes, and also on all the lips and edges in the coop (window frames, ledges in the ceiling, around the roosts, etc). If they are spiders, then the ones that survive the DE will probably grow up to be chicken feed. No sign of bugs on the birds. Whew!

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:48:32 +0000

Did you get rid of the bugs? They look like spiders to me, but I’m certainly no bug expert. Once, when my chickens were very small, I was sitting in my coop with them, holding them, and I noticed some kind of bug on my hand. I had no idea what it was, but it was small & wiggly. I freaked out & went inside & showered. The next day we cleaned the coop & started sprinkling just a little bit of DE under the bedding when we put down new pine & cedar chips. I’ve never seen anything since, and I’ve looked for bugs often.

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:52:49 +0000

YUCK!!! are those mites? Or feas or what?

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com