Little b....rds

Asus1

Can anyone tell me what the little small mites are in my straw.I got 50 small square bales of barley straw and every time I pick it up you have these tiny mites crawling on you.I used some in my poultry sheds and now they've decided they like living on my birds.Can i kill them or do I have to dump the straw.
Its not effecting birds yet but if it does ill have to treat them.Also if the fields start to tear up a bit I sometimes winter my ponies indoors and will they effect them.Ive never seen these before so any advice is welcome.Thanks.

patsy_mccabe

Hay lice maybe?

Asus1

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Hay lice maybe?

They might be.Is there anything that kills them or were they brought in with the straw.Ive never seen them before.They could have always been around but only because there is loads of them im noticing them now.I'll try get a picture up.

Asus1

Asus1 wrote: »

They might be.Is there anything that kills them or were they brought in with the straw.Ive never seen them before.They could have always been around but only because there is loads of them im noticing them now.I'll try get a picture up.

This is them

Tig98

Whatever they are, if they are bothering the hens you need to move in fast. You can waste money on all the powders etc, but I find if you give them enough dry sand and ashes from the fire they'll get rid of them themselves. Better sooner than later though.

Did you buy it locally?

longgonesilver

Is it fresh straw or is it last years out of a sbed?

Atlantic Dawn

Not 100% but they look a little like ticks.

If they are they can spread lyme disease and are dangerous for humans.

bobbyy gee

mites


https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

flos1964

They will suck the blood from the hens and drive them crazy...had a running battle with them using the powders and found it hopeless...now i give them 3 to 4 drops of eprinex between the shoulders and it works great everytime ...hope this helps.

flos1964

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Not 100% but they look a little like ticks.

If they are they can spread lyme disease and are dangerous for humans.

Not ticks...mites.

Asus1

Last years straw bought in Meath.The birds are free ranging so they have a hole dug that they dust in each day.Like I said I could of had them for years and never noticed them but because their numbers are huge I'm only seeing it now.
I went and got the powder yesterday and 2 cans of lice and tick spray for dogs.Cleaned both sheds out and sprayed and put powder down.Hopefully that might do the job.
Maybe a cold spell might kill them in the straw bales?.

Asus1

flos1964 wrote: »

They will suck the blood from the hens and drive them crazy...had a running battle with them using the powders and found it hopeless...now i give them 3 to 4 drops of eprinex between the shoulders and it works great everytime ...hope this helps.

.Thats just the pour on for cattle or is there a bird specific one.Thanks.

flos1964

The cattle one...i thought the same but it works great...just little drops from a dropper ...i done all the things you did but did not work for me...see how the powder works first...

flos1964

If you end up using the drops pull the feathers apart and put the drops on the skin...not sure what the egg withdrawal period will be but it never bothered us after a few days...at least thats what we think...lol.