A nice clean coop, hopefully mite free

Well apparently I did!  I cleaned out the coop yesterday.  While scraping out the nooks and crannies, I saw two areas of red mites, about 20 in each spot.  It took me a little while to recognize what they were.  They were so tiny and microscopic.  I could only tell they were mites because they were crawling.  Apparently, mites like to hide out in the dark corners of the coops.  At night when the chickens come in to roost, the mites crawl up the chickens’ legs and bite them.  Aside from driving the chickens crazy, they made me go nuts.

I received an email newsletter about winterizing the coop a few weeks ago.  It said that mites in coops will be on the rise during colder weather.  I scoured the coop and was more careful about putting the diatomaceous earth (DE)  into the crannies.  I pushed it in there!  Then, as I usually do, I sprinkled it all over the floor, on top on the pine shavings and straw, and then I dusted the chickens’ roosts!  I also took each of the chickens and dusted under each wings and their fluffy bottoms.  I am putting DE to the test!  I’ll let you know if I find anymore the next time I clean out the coop!  This is war…..