Horses - Incorrect diagnosis of sweet itch: The red bird mite
Incorrect diagnosis of summer eczema: The red bird mite
Many people are familiar with the problem of sweet itch. No horse owner wants that. However, sometimes the diagnosis is incorrect. Something that looks like sweet itch isn't always sweet itch. Itching, scabs on the skin? If your horse shows these symptoms, you should have it checked for mites. The red poultry mite also wants to feed on horses.
The red bird mite is to blame
Horse stables are often home to various small bird species, such as sparrows and swallows. And if the horse is kept next to a farm with a chicken coop, the red mite isn't far away either. She makes herself comfortable especially on birds, but unfortunately she takes what she can get. Maybe even your horse or you. The red poultry mite multiplies particularly rapidly in summer, when it urgently needs new hosts and isn't picky.
The combination of symptoms and the summer season means that it is often confused with sweet itch.
How to recognize the bird mite
The bird mite likes blood. That's why it attaches itself to the horse. Your horse will develop small bite wounds that become infected. The mite leaves saliva in the wound. This causes itching, and the horse scratches itself.
The horse may even lose fur in those areas and develop nasty scab-like wounds. The red mite is particularly tricky because it's active at night, so it's invisible during the day. This is another reason why it's often confused with sweet itch.
This is how you can find out whether your horse is not suffering from eczema but is infected with the red bird mite
- You can have a mite test done by your veterinarian.
- Or you can cover the entire open stable or your paddock box with light-colored blankets, a white tarp*, or something similar. It's important that it's very bright. If you find small black dots the next day, you know your horse has mites. Their droppings will be on the blanket. These are the small black dots.