mites on chickens (and me!)

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Hello all,
I know you mostly all live in the Uk and I'm on the other side of the world in Australia but am assuming that chicken mite species are global. I have recently had a very bad mite outbreak probably because I had two broody hens that weren't dusting and the weather has got very warm. I dusted the hens, the coop - everything and now there don't seem to be anymore. My question is I myself was bitten by the horrid blighters. Is this normal? Don't know what species they were but they were on the birds and everywhere else. They were black or red and super fast. How can I stop this from occurring again?
 
Hi Rebecca,mites are really gross aren't they,personally,I think mites will try to bite anything,and just stop if it isn't too their liking.I'm not sure if you have the same products available that we use for mites,but if not, there will be similar/same available to you.
Basically,to stop the gross b*****s,keep up cleaning their house regularly(weekly) with mite treatments,and,dust the hens with a reputable mite dusting powder that is suitable for use on the hens.You will need to really strip the coop,and get into every nook and cranny.Tim has written a really good article on getting rid and keeping rid of red mite,which is on Poultrykeeper website.I'm not sure how to do a link to it,but,go to the website,it is easy to find the article.
As for yourself,I would use a (not sure what they're called)but an insect repellant.You could also apply a tea tree lotion,hand or body cream before attacking your coop as mites dislike tea tree,this might stop them biting you.
 
Red mite :evil: are tiny and crawl but not -that- quickly.. they also don't really bite you, only birds. They just crawl on you and itch. A shower afterwards usually clears them.

I'm not completely sure what mites you might have in Aus.

If they are red mites, they live in the house and come out at night - you can find them crawling under the perches. They will be in clumps in corners around perch ends, nestboxes and so on in the day but not very active.

The article on Red Mite - most of the treatments will work on all types of mite so it should help.

I warn you now - they are notoriously difficult to get rid of once you have a bad infestation... :evil:

Lydia - Highlight the words you want to use as the link text, click URL and then in the first bracket where it says URL put =http://www. address.example

Like this
Code: 
[URL=http://www.address.example]Text You Highlighted is Here[/URL]
 
Tim said:
Lydia - Highlight the words you want to use as the link text, click URL and then in the first bracket where it says URL put =http://www. address.example

Like this
Code: 
[URL=http://www.address.example]Text You Highlighted is Here[/URL]
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim,i'll try and remember that :oops:
 
Thanks for info,
These mites must not be that red mite because they can live on a human for at least a few hours and like I said they are extremely fast movers. When I cleaned the coop there were no great big "nests" like in thoses pictures so maybe this is some nasty bug endemic to Os. Seem to be all gone now. I suppose the one advantage of having really itchy lumps all over me is I know when they are gone because I myself am not getting bitten!
 
They sound really nasty,hope they've gone for good and don't come back.
 
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