" Mites live happily on the vents and the warm undersides of
chickens. They don’t ordinarily stake
out a dark crack and wait patiently to pounce at night."
" If there are mites or lice in a chicken coop, they are living on
the chickens." - Both statements found on a popular chicken related
blog on April 24, 2016.
The two statements above indicate the flock owner’s outright
misunderstanding of the basic information that is out there about mites. There are three types of mites that are
detrimental to backyard chicken flocks.
The one that we can take out of the equation is the scaley leg mite as
it is microscopic and is not the mite that is being addressed in the statements
above. That leaves the Red Mite (a.k.a.
Chicken Mite) and the Northern Fowl Mite.
The Northern Fowl Mite lives directly on the chicken and the entire life
cycle is spent on the chicken. That
means they do not seek out cracks in the coop environment in which to
live. They prefer to live and breed on the
birds themselves. Yes, they are seen
most often in the vent area or even in thickly feathered areas in the upper
thigh and breast once the vent feathers are thinned beyond repair.
As for the Red Mite, they also feed on the chicken but can
be found in the environment of the coop. The mites retreat from the birds after
a blood meal; they usually feed on the birds at night, so look carefully when
cleaning in the environment. Look under
caked litter or in the bedding. Most
often they seek out cracks in the wood which is why I recommend sealing wood surfaces
to reduce harborage for the Red Mite when it is not on the bird feeding. To find these mites, you can go out into the
coop in the evening after the chickens have gone to roost and look at the bird
with a flashlight. Not only will they
feed at the juncture of the scales and feathers on the legs, but elsewhere on
the birds. These mites look like the
Northern Fowl mite except after a blood meal when they turn red.
During your weekly cleanout you should move and clean
equipment in the coop to disrupt hiding spaces.
If you have drapes covering nest boxes, set them up in a way so that
they are easy to remove and wash on a monthly basis. During your annual spring cleaning every inch
of the coop will need to be scrubbed with soap and water. Murphy’s oil soap or Safer Soap are both
insecticidal and work well for the cleaning step that precedes the disinfection
step.
Before making broad statements about mites, make sure that
you identify which type of mite to which you are making reference to ensure
that your statements are accurate.
Response provided by Dr. Brigid McCrea, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Extension Poultry Specialist
Delaware State University
