Mites on me from my chicken coop???? Help!

[poiuytrewq]

Ive just been and cleaned out my chicken house. There was a dead hen and i climbed right in to remove her and clean the old shavings out properly.
Since ive been itching madly and keep finding tiny tiny little bugs on me.........do i have mites? they are not red. How long will they be on me.
What do i do Im covered!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

shower! and if you have tea tree oil shampoo/gel all the better (tea tree oil kills mites-it is however, toxic to chickens-and dogs and cats)

 

[poiuytrewq]

I did! I posted that in panic waiting for the water to get slightly warm! What a trauma!!!
I've been and purchased some powder and will send the O/H down later to sort it out! I am never going near a hen again as long as I live....

 

[Honey08]

If they're on you, your hens will be suffering too. I think powder is fine for prevention, but you need something better to get rid of them. Ours got scaly leg a few weeks ago, we bought a spray called 'kill mite' ( friend who is a vet suggested it) and sprayed every inch of the coop every four days, then smeared a greasy mite treatment all over the perches. The hens have been treated twice a week. It's been a pain, but I think we're getting on top of it.

 

[irishdraft]

Red mite wont hurt you but not good for the chickens, the mite populations explode this warm weather, you just have to keep clearing out the hen house & try to keep on top of it, nothing really gets rid of them completly they seem to be indestructible

 

[poiuytrewq]

Oh really? What a pain. My o/h bought a spray mite killer and plastered the house and hens in it and I've bought powder.
How do I know if they are still bad? Bearing in mind until yesterday I didn't know we had mites at all in there! They are not red tho' ?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

red mite are only red once they've fed. a good way of checking is wait until chickens are roosting at night, run a damp white paper towel on bottom of perch-any blood spots/smears indicate red mite. its not necessarily red mite though (its the first suspect though this weather) -there are many different kinds-forage mite etc are pretty harmless.

 

[Olderrider]

Found a huge number in my hen house a few days ago too - they are disgusting. Bought some more powder, and couldn't help but think just how much it costs us to control vermin of one sort or another.

 

[Dry Rot]

I had red mite in a breeding aviary for goshawks which are rather valuable birds so I did not want them to be poisoned!

Apparently, mites are quite fragile but they hide away in cracks and crevices only coming out at night so are not so easy to kill. I was advised to spray everything with white vinegar and give it a good soaking, then repeat in ten days because the eggs will survive and hatch. It worked a treat. The birds were not harmed and the mites disappeared. Vinegar from a catering supplier is not expensive and can be applied with a knapsack sprayer.

 

[poiuytrewq]

My partner is a farmer and got me some uber expensive farm disinfectant apparently designed safe for animal use but to kill all bugs and nasties (not sure if this means just bacteria or mites included!)
We thought we could actually paint all the house surfaces with it. Would this help?

 

[Suelin]

I had red mite in a breeding aviary for goshawks which are rather valuable birds so I did not want them to be poisoned!

Apparently, mites are quite fragile but they hide away in cracks and crevices only coming out at night so are not so easy to kill. I was advised to spray everything with white vinegar and give it a good soaking, then repeat in ten days because the eggs will survive and hatch. It worked a treat. The birds were not harmed and the mites disappeared. Vinegar from a catering supplier is not expensive and can be applied with a knapsack sprayer.

Fabulous tip Mr Dry Rot. Many thanks, will store this info for future use.