pests

🦅🐦 We have a big problem every winter here in Western Colorado with wild birds trying to over winter in our barn. Our chickens sleep in the barn in their coop and go out to their fenced in run through their electronic door that opens automatically in the morning. The barn is big, and the coop...

I’ve been spraying them with water/dish soap/oil every morning and the next day there seem to be even more. The chickens are showing no signs of being bitten. And I have never seen one that is a different color/looks like it’s been feeding. They don’t seem to fit the description of red/northern...

Any advice or tips to help get rid of squirrels that keep trying to eat the chicken feed. Our feed is enclosed in a bin but they keep coming into the run and eating out of the feeders to the point I’m just paying to feed squirrels 🫠 I don’t know how to get rid of them besides waiting out there...

I was sitting in the run yesterday when I noticed a few of these small red bugs crawling on a few pine flakes on the ground and on their waterer, which was sitting on a wood pallet. I’ve already ordered permethrin dust and spray, which will be delivered between today and Wednesday. I don’t...

Hello! Our flock is growing quickly & I'd like to start doing more for pest prevention. I'm currently dusting with DE... but that's it. I haven't previously had any problems with any kind of parasites (we've had pesky bugs in the coop) that are actually ON my birds... but how can I prevent...

Hi all, I have a rat problem that predates my chickens, but has gotten worse since we got them. I've got the grandpa feeder and have rat-proofed the run, but they aren't going anywhere and the traps I've tried (electric, claws, roller bar) have all been failures. I don't want to use poison...

I have an outdoor enclosure for my dove. We've been having a TERRIBLE time with ants this year. I saw in order to keep them out of my chicken's food, you're supposed to sprinkle cinnamon in the feeder! It's been working wonders.. however I'm not sure that cinnamon is safe to use around doves...

So my parents have been complaining about having rats in their chicken run for months now, but I had no idea how BAD it had become. Just to keep it short 1. They are huge. I'm talking 8 inches at the very least. 2. They have completely taken over the pen. Mom told me they devoured an entire...

My flock was attacked by a swarm of buffalo gnats it was HORRIFIC. All my pullets seem to be doing ok except for one who got the worst of it. I mean hundreds of these things eating her alive in her eyes, nose, and body. The attack happened yesterday at sunset now about 11 hours later she’s doing...

Newbie question! Exactly how do you “use” DE? I’ve seen a couple things that say dust a bird or put it in their food but I’m honestly not sure how to do either?? Amounts, techniques? (They currently have no issues of infestation, I saw red spiders and thought they were mites but they are the...

Apologies in advance to anyone who gets itchy from reading this, I got itchy writing it! I’ve recently noticed tiny bugs that make their way onto me every time I go out to the coop, and I can’t figure out that they are. They’re fast but I haven’t seen them jump. They’re so small that I can’t...

Well had a lovely free roaming Roo show up and start hanging around our flock. He appears to have stick tight fleas. I have never dealt with these before, and don't want to get an infestation. IF I scoop him up and treat him, any chance I can get rid of them and possibly integrate him or...

Unfortunately we lost a chIcken yesterday. She wasn’t looking well so I pulled her out, laid her on the snow to examine her and discovered that she was just covered with what I think were lice (A TON of teeny tiny, sand colored little bugs). She passed within 30 minutes after I found her. So...

In this thread, we will discuss the use of ivermectin both in treatment of our chickens for things like mites, and its possible use against COVID. I don’t want to take any position on ivermectin except as an excellent anti parasitic medication for cattle, pigs, chickens, and more. One of the...

Hello! I am having a serious rat and mouse problem on my farm and therefore I am considering getting a terrier to help with the rat problem. I have tried other methods of rat removal (cats, poison, plaster of paris, glue traps, electric traps, traps, digging up their nests where I find them...

Hello, a few months ago, I noticed a pair of rats (they’re small, so they may be mice) living beneath my coop. Now —I blame my tender heart for this one — I didn’t take any action because the mother was moving her babies, and I just didn’t have it in me to kill babies. Everything was fine for a...

Okay so I know this is not a new thing and other people have had this problem. But I've been through the forums and I've tried everything that I can find, and we still cannot permanently get rid of the mites. We treat them, they go away for a couple weeks and then they come back with a...

Hello, I have recently noticed a weird type of fly emerging from poop where the catch pans get cleaned off. They look like wasps at first glance but have a face like a fly. They look like they are laying eggs in the Wood of my cages. I believe they came with the game bird feed. The big question...

I was working on the fence near them when I heard something hit the ground and the flock went nuts. Thought it was a giant worm my jersey hen was working over and fighting the flock over, till I realized it was too big to be a worm. Ran inside the pen and found three of them w a foot long...

I keep finding tiny deer ticks on my chicken’s faces. It’s so upsetting. I have been drying out herbs and sprinkling them around, I have used essential oils, I have tried a natural spray.. I have sprayed around and in the coop. I have used diatomaceous earth. Their little faces are constantly...