Chicken Mites: Everything You Need to Know About These Tiny Terrors!

I’ll be honest with you. The first time I dealt with chicken mites, I had no idea what was happening. My hens were acting weird, constantly scratching themselves, and their beautiful red combs started looking pale and sad. Egg production dropped. I was confused and worried.

Turns out, these microscopic little vampires had moved into my coop. And once I learned what I was dealing with? Everything made sense.

So let’s talk about chicken mites. Because chances are, if you keep chickens long enough, you’re going to run into them eventually. The good news is they’re totally manageable once you know what you’re doing.

What Exactly Are We Dealing With Here?

Chicken mites are tiny parasites. And when I say tiny, I mean really tiny—we’re talking less than a millimeter. You can barely see them without a magnifying glass, which is part of what makes them so sneaky.

These little pests feed on your chickens’ blood. Yep, they’re basically miniature vampires. But here’s something interesting that surprised me when I first learned about them: most mite species don’t actually live on your chickens. They live in your coop and just visit your birds at night for dinner.

That’s right. They’re like the worst houseguests ever.

This behavior is exactly why mites are so frustrating to get rid of. You can’t just treat your chickens and call it a day. You’ve got to deal with the whole environment.

The Main Culprits

There are three types of mites you’re most likely to encounter, and they each have their own annoying quirks.

Red poultry mites are the most common troublemakers. They hide during the day in every crack and crevice they can find. Nest boxes, perch joints, those little gaps in your coop walls—anywhere dark and cozy. Then when night falls, they crawl out and feed on your sleeping chickens. If you grab a white paper towel and wipe down a roosting bar at night, you’ll see red or black smears. That’s them.

These guys love warm weather. Summer is basically their party season, and populations can explode fast.

Northern fowl mites are different. They actually live on your chickens full-time, which honestly makes them a bit easier to spot. Look around your chickens’ vent area and you might see dark specks moving around. These mites prefer cooler weather, so they’re more of a problem in northern climates or during fall and winter.

The scary thing about northern fowl mites is how fast they reproduce. Their entire life cycle takes only 5-12 days, so a small problem can become a big problem really quickly.

Scaly leg mites are probably the easiest to identify because the damage they cause is so distinctive. They burrow under the scales on your chickens’ legs and feet. The scales start lifting up and getting crusty and thick. It looks uncomfortable because it is uncomfortable. Left untreated, these can actually cause permanent damage.

How Do You Know If You’ve Got Them?

Your chickens will tell you, but you have to know what to look for.

The scratching is usually the first sign. All chickens scratch and preen sometimes—that’s normal. But when you’ve got mites, it becomes excessive. Your birds will be constantly pecking at themselves, scratching with their feet, acting generally irritated and uncomfortable.

Feather loss comes next, especially around the vent area, under the wings, and on the breast. Now, chickens lose feathers for lots of reasons (molting, bullying, poor nutrition), so you can’t assume it’s mites just from that. But combined with other symptoms? Yeah, probably mites.

Pale combs are a red flag. Literally. When combs that should be bright red start looking pale or whitish, that’s anemia from blood loss. It means the infestation has gotten serious.

You might also notice your egg production dropping even though nothing else has changed. Stressed, uncomfortable chickens don’t lay as well. Makes sense.

Here’s a weird one that took me by surprise: sometimes chickens will refuse to go into the coop at night. If you’ve got red mites, your birds might actually know the coop is where they’re getting attacked. They’ll stand outside, reluctant to roost. That’s a pretty clear signal something’s wrong in there.

As for checking the coop itself, you’re looking for gray or white dusty stuff (mite poop, gross), dark specks on eggs or perches, and silver-gray deposits in corners where mites lay their eggs in clusters.

But here’s my best tip: check your coop at night with a flashlight. That’s when red mites are active and crawling around. You’ll see them moving on the perches and on your chickens. It’s creepy but super effective for confirming an infestation.

Where Do These Things Even Come From?

Wild birds are usually the culprits. Sparrows, starlings, pigeons—they can all carry mites and drop them off near your coop. You might never even see it happen.

Introducing new chickens without quarantining them properly is another common way. That’s why experienced chicken keepers are so insistent about quarantine periods. Thirty days minimum. I know it seems excessive, but it’s really not.

Used equipment can harbor mites too. That secondhand coop that seemed like such a great deal? Might come with free mites. Not such a great deal after all.

Even rodents can bring them in. Mice and rats carry mites and love to hang around chicken coops for the free food. Another reason to keep your feed secure and your coop rodent-proof.

Getting Rid of the Little Monsters

Okay, so you’ve confirmed you have mites. Now what?

You need a two-part strategy. Treat the chickens and treat the environment. Do one without the other and you’ll just end up with mites again in a couple weeks.

For treating your actual birds, you’ve got several options. Chemical treatments work fast—things like permethrin sprays, ivermectin, or poultry dust. These are effective but come with egg withdrawal periods, meaning you can’t eat the eggs for a certain number of days after treatment. Read the labels carefully.

A lot of people (myself included) prefer starting with natural options, especially for smaller backyard flocks.

Diatomaceous earth is popular. It’s basically fossilized algae ground into a super fine powder. The sharp microscopic edges cut through the mites’ exoskeletons and dry them out. You can add it to dust baths, sprinkle it in nest boxes, along perches, wherever. Just be careful not to breathe it in—use a mask during application. Your lungs won’t appreciate fine dust any more than the mites will.

For scaly leg mites specifically, vegetable oil works surprisingly well. Just coat the affected legs with olive oil or coconut oil. This suffocates the mites under the scales. Do it every few days for a couple weeks and you should see improvement.

Some people swear by essential oil sprays—lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree, that kind of thing. Mix a few drops with water in a spray bottle. I’ve tried this with mixed results. It seems to help repel mites but might not kill an established infestation on its own.

Now for the coop. This is where the real work happens.

First, get your chickens out. Put them somewhere else temporarily. Then strip everything—all bedding, all nesting material, everything removable.

Vacuum like your life depends on it. Get into every corner, every crack, every crevice. Those are exactly where mites hide during the day.

Scrub everything down with hot soapy water. Then spray or dust with your treatment of choice—commercial mite spray, diatomaceous earth, whatever you’re using. Really saturate the area. Don’t forget roosts, nest boxes, walls, floor, ceiling, everything.

Let it dry completely before putting your chickens back in with fresh, clean bedding.

And here’s the important part: do it again in 7-10 days. Why? Because treatments don’t always kill mite eggs. So newly hatched mites will emerge after your first treatment. The second round catches them before they can reproduce.

For severe infestations, some people use a torch to carefully burn mites out of wooden cracks. Others pressure-wash the whole coop. Do what makes sense for your situation.

Keeping Them From Coming Back

Prevention is way easier than treatment. Trust me on this.

Keep your coop clean. I’m not talking about a deep scrub every week (though regular spot-cleaning helps). But do a thorough deep clean a few times a year. Less poop and debris means fewer places for mites to hide.

Inspect your chickens monthly. Just a quick check-up. Look them over, check under wings, around vents, look at their legs. Catch problems early and they’re way easier to deal with.

Provide dust baths. Chickens instinctively dust bathe to control parasites, but they need the right materials. Sand, dirt, wood ash, and a little diatomaceous earth make a good mix. Toss in some dried herbs if you want—lavender, mint, rosemary. Your chickens will use it and it actually helps.

Seal up your coop. Fill in cracks, fix gaps, make it harder for mites to find hiding spots. Bonus: this also helps with drafts in winter.

If you’re adding new birds, quarantine them. Thirty days in a separate area where they can’t contact your existing flock. Watch for any health issues. It’s tedious but worth it.

Make your coop less attractive to wild birds. They can’t bring mites if they don’t hang around. Store feed in sealed containers, don’t leave water bowls out where wild birds can access them, fix any holes in your coop’s exterior.

Quick Reference: Mite Types at a Glance

Sometimes you just need the facts fast. Here’s a comparison table I wish I’d had when I first started dealing with this:

My Go-To Treatment Timeline (What Actually Worked for Me)

I’ve tried a bunch of different approaches over the years. Here’s the routine that finally got me consistently good results:

Day 1: Discovery and First Treatment

• Morning: Confirm the infestation (check chickens and coop)
• Afternoon: Remove all bedding and burn it or bag it for trash
• Treat chickens with your chosen method (I use DE and herbal spray combo)
• Deep clean the coop—scrub, spray, dust everywhere
• Add fresh bedding with DE mixed in

Days 2-6: Monitoring

• Check chickens daily for improvement
• Add DE to dust bath areas
• Watch for any chickens that seem worse

Day 7-8: Second Treatment

• Repeat the whole process
• This catches newly hatched mites from eggs
• Don’t skip this! I learned that the hard way

Days 9-14: Follow-up

• Keep monitoring closely
• If you still see mites, you might need chemical treatment

Week 3 onwards: Prevention Mode

• Monthly coop inspections
• Keep dust baths available
• Weekly bedding changes

The 5 Biggest Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)

1. Only treating the chickens and not the coop. Total waste of time. The mites just come right back from their hiding spots in the coop. You’ve got to do both simultaneously.
2. Stopping after one treatment. I thought I’d won. Two weeks later, boom, they were back. Those eggs hatched and I was back to square one. Always do at least two rounds.
3. Using wooden roosting bars. Mites LOVE wood because they can hide in the grain and tiny cracks. Switching to metal or smooth plastic bars made a huge difference.
4. Not quarantining new birds. Brought home three “healthy” hens from a farm sale. They had mites. My entire flock got infested within a month. Expensive lesson learned.
5. Thinking “a few mites” weren’t a big deal. A few mites today is a massive infestation in two weeks. They reproduce insanely fast. Deal with it immediately, even if it seems minor.

Natural Remedy Recipes That People Swear By

I’m a big fan of trying natural options first. Here are some recipes from my notebook:

All-Purpose Herbal Mite Spray

• 2 cups water
• 10 drops lavender oil
• 10 drops peppermint oil
• 5 drops eucalyptus oil
• 1 tablespoon dish soap (helps it stick)

Mix in a spray bottle. Shake before each use. Spray directly on chickens, avoiding eyes. Also spray roosts, nest boxes, and coop walls.

Heavy-Duty Coop Cleaner

• 1 gallon hot water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup dish soap
• 10 drops tea tree oil

Scrub this on all surfaces during your deep clean. The vinegar helps break down biofilm where mites hide.

Dust Bath Deluxe

• 3 parts fine sand
• 2 parts dirt or topsoil
• 1 part wood ash (from untreated wood only!)
• 1/2 part food-grade diatomaceous earth
• Handful of dried herbs (lavender, mint, rosemary, whatever you have)

Mix it all in a shallow container or designated dusty spot. Your chickens will go absolutely crazy for this.

Scaly Leg Soaking Solution

• Warm water
• 2 tablespoons Epsom salt
• Few drops tea tree oil

Soak affected legs for 5-10 minutes, then coat with coconut oil. Do this twice a week.

Signs Your Treatment Is Working (And When It’s Not)

Good signs after 3-5 days:

• Less frantic scratching
• Chickens seem calmer overall
• Combs getting redder and healthier looking
• Finding fewer mites during night checks
• Birds willing to roost in the coop again

Bad signs that mean you need to change tactics:

• Scratching getting worse, not better
• Still seeing lots of mites moving around
• Chickens looking more lethargic
• Egg production continuing to drop
• New patches of feather loss appearing

If you’re not seeing improvement within a week, switch to a different treatment method. What works great for one person’s setup might not work for yours.

When to Call in the Professionals

Most of the time, you can handle mites yourself. But sometimes you need help.

If your chickens are severely anemic—like, really pale combs and wattles, acting lethargic—call a vet. That’s serious and they might need more aggressive treatment or even supportive care.

If you’ve tried multiple treatments and nothing’s working, get professional advice. Maybe you’ve misidentified the pest, maybe you need a different approach, maybe there’s something else going on.

If you’re not sure what you’re dealing with or you’re nervous about using chemical treatments, a vet can help. There’s no shame in asking for help.

Final Thoughts

Look, chicken mites suck. There’s no way around it. They’re annoying, they’re persistent, and dealing with them is work.

But they’re also manageable. Totally beatable. Most chicken keepers deal with them at some point, so you’re definitely not alone if you’re facing an infestation right now.

The key is catching them early and being thorough with treatment. Don’t half-ass it. Treat the chickens, clean the coop, repeat the treatment, keep up with prevention. Put in the work upfront and you’ll save yourself a lot of frustration later.

Your chickens depend on you to keep them healthy and comfortable. And honestly, once you get past the initial gross-out factor and learn what you’re doing, it becomes just another part of chicken keeping. Not fun, exactly, but totally doable.

Stay observant, act fast when you spot problems, and don’t be afraid to try different approaches until you find what works for your particular situation. Every coop is different, every flock is different. What works perfectly for someone else might not work for you, and that’s okay.

You’ve got this.