Do I have red mite?

[BabyBantam]

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.

 

[Papa Chicken]

Hi Babybantam, I suggest getting some food grade diametric earth and dust your coop with it. It will kill any critter with a ectoskeliton such as, mites, fleas, ticks, ants, ect. I use it in my coop to keep critters away. You can sprinkle some in there nest boxes, on the floor, the dust bath areas, I even put a little in there food to keep the internal pests away. Just make sure its food grade not feed or pool grade because it can be harmful to your girls.

 

[chrismahon]

Sounds like they have been soil bathing and have shaken the dust off in the coop BB. If you are checking the perch every morning you will never get overrun by them. I've just treated a coop that looked completely clear, but the mite count on the perch was increasing to the point that they couldn't be coming in from outside. The coop still seemed clear when I stripped it down, but it hadn't been treated for 14 months. It wasn't until I put the creosote on the inside that the mite could be seen fleeing outside from the tongue and grooving of the cladding. Most had hatched whilst the coop panels were standing in the greenhouse 'cooking'. It hasn't been sunny enough in the last few days to reach the 50 -60 degrees necessary to kill them.

 

[Marigold]

If the tissue test is clear and the hens are happy I don't think its redmite. Could it possibly be earwig eggs? I know nothing about their life cycle but they're harmless. I should think the hens might be farming them, raising their own nice crunchy snacks.....

 

[BabyBantam]

It's a nice idea marigold, but not sure they eat them. Think the pincers may put them off as otherwise I wouldn't see them in the house?
Will keep checking and see if I can figure it out.

 

[Marigold]

I just checked up on earwigs life cycle here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earwig#Life_cycle_and_reproduction
Simply fascinating I didn't know the mother earwig actually looks after her eggs and keeps them clean. Obviously not what you've got, though as the eggs are pale yellow. U

 

[Papa Chicken]

As a kid I use to play with earwigs we called them pincher bugs because of the pinchers on there rump lol.

 

[BabyBantam]

We get earwig babies under the birdbath. All pale and soft, the baby blackbirds love them!
On the mite front, I've noticed today that the dust is also on the outside of the same joint in the wood, so either something is living in the groove, or it maybe something is blowing in from outside. No sign of mite again, I gave the join a good diatom dust. Tiny spider been killed by it, but nothing else in site so far.

 

[Papa Chicken]

Diametric Earth works wonders for those critters.

 

[chrismahon]

If you have red mite you will see tiny flecks of cream -their poo. This will be on the surface of the wood where they walk but will be most noticeable at the point where they enter the joint. You may need a magnifying glass. I posted a picture on here about 3 years ago to illustrate what you need to look for, but have no idea how to find it!