I have grain mites AGAIN?!?!?!?!

Annalyse said:

Update: I’m going to go out and buy a small bag of feed those are in the plastic bags so no seams for them to get into like the feed bags. Until I can find a different feed store. But someone told me that this happens to there pig feed and they just let them still eat it. They said it happens during the summer seasons. Should I just let the chickens eat it? I know their harmless but would it being chicken mites later on? The chickens spill their feed in the coop so they’ll be all over . What do you think?

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Grain mites very different than the mites that suck the life out of the bird.


There's no reason why you should not or could not feed the green might infested feed to them.

You can sprinkle DE in to the feed If it is completely dry then the DE should kill the grain mites.

Kiki said:

Grain mites very different than the mites that suck the life out of the bird.


There's no reason why you should not or could not feed the green might infested feed to them.

You can sprinkle DE in to the feed If it is completely dry then the DE should kill the grain mites.

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DE is okay for the chickens to ingest? How much should I mix in or should I just eye it?

Annalyse said:

DE is okay for the chickens to ingest? How much should I mix in or should I just eye it?

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There are a lot of feeds on the market that contain DE in them already for this exact reason.

I don't know how much feed you have left but if you put some in a gallon size Ziploc bag I would sprinkle a few sprinkles of the DE in there and see what happens if you left it overnight.

I am not suggesting that anyone feed DE to their birds for any reason.

I am simply saying that DE will kill grain mites in feed... if it is dry.

Putting the feed in a tight Ziploc bag and placing it in the freezer overnight will also kill the grain mites.

Kiki said:

Putting the feed in a tight Ziploc bag and placing it in the freezer overnight will also kill the grain mites.

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I have a bucket full of feed left. I’ll try both DE and freezer. The freezer one would also help the summer heat.

Annalyse said:

I just checked for feed stores and the only one that pops up is tractor supply. I can’t find any that’s either in this state or not hours away.

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Consider ordering from chewy.com. They have a good selection of feeds. I order 50lb bags that are delivered to my door. Never a quality problem so far.

deidreg said:

Consider ordering from chewy.com. They have a good selection of feeds. I order 50lb bags that are delivered to my door. Never a quality problem so far.

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I might consider it as I’m here at TS right now and even the tiny bags of feed of mites all over them.

I would ask for manager and show him them.
Folks so to just feed to birds as they eat bugs all day.
Old wives tale is using spearmint gum sticks to ward off weevils also they hate the smell of bay leaves.

Any time we've ever had weevels or ants get in the feed (or come with the feed)(we haven't had a mite issue ever) we always would put the bags in the deep freeze overnight like @Kiki said. Only thing with doing this is the moisture it puts in the feed (it's prob already got some in there anyway, but freezing it seems to make it more moist). So we would keep the bag in there and feed straight from the freezer until it was at about 20 lbs and there was no longer a mold risk. I would definitely show the manager or store associate, that's not acceptable they sell it like that. Chewy.com is a great company (and decently priced) to order from.