Bird Mites don’t just feed on birds…. they also feed on humans!
bird mites come from Birds Nesting in buildings
At this time of year thousands perhaps even millions of buildings whether that be a house, flat, apartment, garage or office block are being used by birds to nest and rear their chicks.
Birds and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which means that once they have created their nest it is illegal to disturb or destruct the nest. This means that you must allow the birds to rear their young and allow them to fly the nest or fledge, to give it the correct term. It is only then that you are able to prevent access by proofing that area. Common places that birds nest in buildings are in soffits and fascias, in the eaves, chimneys, roof spaces or perhaps broken air vents which is the method this starling has used to take up residence in this property.
Some customers go as far to say they liked their feathered friends nesting in their houses and enjoyed seeing the chicks fly the nest, that was until the tiny pinprick sized bird mites infested their houses feeding on their new hosts which is usually humans and their pets.
Almost all bird mite customers that iQ Pest Control provide treatments for are totally unaware of the secondary issue of having birds nesting in their properties.
Almost all bird nests will contain bird mites, sometimes they are in low numbers whereas other nests can have tens of thousands of these blood sucking insects. As soon as the birds fledge the nest, the ready supply of blood that the birds and their chicks were providing the mites with disappears. Bird mites will then start to travel into the building in search of a new host which will be any warm blooded animal including humans.
What are bird mites?
There are several different types of bird mite, all of them are a minute parasitic arachnid that are in the spider family. Bird mites are approximately 1mm in size so can be seen with the naked eye, whereas their eggs and nymphs can only be seen under a powerful magnifying glass or microscope.
Bird mites feed on the blood and skin of the birds that are nesting in your property, if the conditions are right there could be thousands of bird mites in every bird nest.
The majority of bird species nest in the spring and will have one brood or sometimes more. Whilst the birds and their chicks are in the nest the bird mites have all the food they could ever need by feeding on blood and skin of the occupants. As soon as the birds have left the nest the bird mites have two choices, the first is to lay in wait which would leave them to starve to death or their second option is to go in search of a new host in or close to the building the bird nest was in, option two is what most bird mites choose for obvious reasons.
When bird mites bite their saliva is injected into the host which will cause painful and itchy bites. These bites can be anywhere on the body. A property that iQ Pest Control dealt with in 2019 was the worst infestation we have ever come across, the owner of the property woke up one morning to have literally hundreds of bites all over her body. When we arrived at the property you could see thousands of these tiny invaders walking up and down the wall of the bedroom and on the ceiling. The customer described the feeling of something “raining down” on them, this was the bird mites dropping off the ceiling trying to attach themselves to a new host. The treatment involved spraying a professional use insecticide on all floor coverings as well as fumigating the whole house, including the loft. The nest was located in the soffit directly above the window, the nesting material was removed to reveal tens of thousands of bird mites still in the nest, it would only have been a matter of time before they had all travelled into the house to feed on their new hosts. Just reading this story will start you itching, you really do not want this to be a reality.
As soon as you are aware of birds nesting in your property call iQ Pest Control on 01280 811198. It may unfortunately be the case that you have to wait a few weeks for the birds to vacate the nest, as soon as the birds are gone we will remove the nest and spray the area with a professional use insecticide. The insecticide will kill any remaining bird mites which will stop any potential bird mite infestation. Once the insecticide treatment is complete we can provide proofing services to prevent birds from being able to gain access to nest in the same area.