BabyBantam
Member
Interesting issue, not sure if I have red mite or not.
My ark is regularly dusted with diotom, cleaned out weekly and I also carefully use insecticide based powders and ivermectin to control lice (as my pekins are prone to them due to the wild bird population in the garden).
I seem to have a gritty black dust gathering in a couple of recesses near one end of the perch. I've been out nightly for the last 3 nights and rubbed a white tissue along the bottom of the perch with no red stains, and the girls are not avoiding going into the ark at night. The grit is hard, a small ball like structure less than a pinhead across and no sign of anything live in it. I have a loT of baby earwigs that seem to come and go from the crevices, but nothing else seems evident. The local allotment chooks are overrun with red mite, so I know what they look like in the flesh.
I've had chickens for 4 years and not yet seen sight or evidence of red mite in my ark, so not sure if this is their poo, or some other insect. It seems far too small to be dirt coming off the girls feathered feet, but could be wrong.
My ark is regularly dusted with diotom, cleaned out weekly and I also carefully use insecticide based powders and ivermectin to control lice (as my pekins are prone to them due to the wild bird population in the garden).
I seem to have a gritty black dust gathering in a couple of recesses near one end of the perch. I've been out nightly for the last 3 nights and rubbed a white tissue along the bottom of the perch with no red stains, and the girls are not avoiding going into the ark at night. The grit is hard, a small ball like structure less than a pinhead across and no sign of anything live in it. I have a loT of baby earwigs that seem to come and go from the crevices, but nothing else seems evident. The local allotment chooks are overrun with red mite, so I know what they look like in the flesh.
I've had chickens for 4 years and not yet seen sight or evidence of red mite in my ark, so not sure if this is their poo, or some other insect. It seems far too small to be dirt coming off the girls feathered feet, but could be wrong.