Chickens / Poultry INFO

Blood mites in chickens

General information
The red bird mite (Dermanyssus gallinae deg) is an ectoparasite, also known as the blood mite. It is mostly found in bird species such as chickens and aviary birds, but also in reptiles. Blood mites are a major pest in professional poultry farms and there are only a few control agents available. As the mites suck a lot of blood, the infested animals suffer from anaemia, which makes them much more susceptible to disease. The mite is also capable of transmitting diseases itself.
Blood mites can reproduce very quickly and thus rapidly build up huge populations. The frequent sucking of blood by the mites weakens the chickens’ health, which often results in their death.

General characteristics
An adult blood mite is approx. 1 mm in size, eight-legged and dark red in color. A female can lay 3 to 7 eggs per day, which she hides in cracks and crevices. Depending on the temperature, the larvae hatch after one to two days. If conditions are not ideal, the mites and eggs can survive for months, even up to two years. They will only hatch when the climate is more favorable for them again. In this way, blood mites can overwinter without any problems. Before the mite becomes an adult, it goes through a number of nymph stages in which the larva repeatedly takes on a different form. Blood mites can live for a maximum of six months and survive for months without food.

Lifestyle
Blood mites live in the immediate vicinity of the chickens. They live in the henhouse, where they hide in cracks and crevices during the day. They are shy of light and only come out when it is dark. Then they crawl onto their host animal and suck blood from the resting pigeons using a special suction snout. They can also often be found in incubators and on young birds.

Symptoms
It is important to detect a blood mite infestation as early as possible. Therefore, regularly check the cracks and crevices in the hutch for the presence of mites. A good place to check is the underside of the ends of the perch. This allows you to detect an infestation at an early stage. A well-known sign that indicates the presence of blood mites is the “gray haze” that becomes visible in various places. On closer inspection, it turns out that this veil consists of small gray spots, excrements of the blood mites, which they have left there during the night.

The chickens themselves also show signs when something is wrong. They get pale combs and lobes, lay significantly fewer eggs or sometimes none at all and often have a sharply protruding breastbone. If you notice these symptoms, the infestation is serious and it is high time to intervene.

Combat
Controlling blood mites is not an easy task. There are a number of chemical control agents on the market, but they are not very effective. The problem is that the mites can remain hidden for months and remain viable for up to two years.
To solve the problem effectively, you can use Dutchy’s®. These are predatory mites that have blood mites on their menu. Depending on the circumstances, they can survive in the barn for a very long time and feast on the blood mites present, which they devour with their skin and hair. The predatory mites seek out their prey and leave you no peace. It is important to use Dutchy’s® as soon as possible after detecting an infestation so that the number of blood mites does not become too high. Follow the instructions in the chicken/poultry instructions for use carefully when applying the predatory mites and calculating the required number so that you can get the problem under control as quickly as possible. You can place your order quickly and easily at tierfutterpro.de.