Chiggers all over my bee yard, like everywhere!

[van from Arkansas]

This year, 2021, chiggers* or red bugs are a very real issue.  Eleven years at this same location and there has never been a chigger problem until this year.  I counted 27 bites on one foot.  If I add both feet and the back of the knees, well, that is about 100 bites.  Fortunately I have only a small reaction, that is a tiny red dot on my skin for each chigger attachment.  So, I must wear knee high boots to enter my bee yard.  Why this year?  I dont have an answer except to say what a cold wet Spring unlike any other i have seen.  Chiggers prefer the ankles and back of the knee as if tenderloins of my skin.

*Chiggers or red bugs are tiny 8 legged parasites feeding on mammals, me, to small to see with my eyes.  They have small tiny mouth parts.  So tiny the mouth parts cannot pierce flesh, so the critters spit an acid that dissolves the skin and the chigger sucks up the dissolved skin or soup as biologist say.  There are 4 life cycles of a chigger: egg, 1st stage, 2nd stage, and adult.  Only the 1st stage feeds on mammals, molts into the second stage which feeds on insects then to adult that breeds and lays eggs.

I hope that most that read this subject had/had no idea what a chigger is, until now.

[.30WCF]

I too am afflicted by chiggers, while my friends can walk through the same fields and not be touched.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sawyer-Permethrin-Clothing-and-Fabric-Insect-Repellent-Trigger-Spray/19887389?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0

This is a game changer. Hang your pants outside and spray them. Let it dry before touching. Same with your boots. You won?t get a single bite for weeks and it lasts through several washes as well.


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[.30WCF]

Contrary to popular belief, they don?t burrow in. They bite and feed, then drop off. The reaction is just the aftermath. Don?t bother with the nail polish. The chigger is already gone. A dr can get you a steroid cream. For me, the cream knocks the discomfort down from 7 days to 3 days. If I stop the cream on day 3, they flare back up, so I go about 5 days. You might already have a cream for Psoriasis or Eczema or whatever old people need it for.


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[rast]

They have always driven me crazy and they continue up to the elastic on my under ware.

[Oldbeavo]

Sound like Australian Sand flies, drive me insane, itch like hell as i react badly.
Only control is to use insect repellents with a high DEET content. I use it very liberally but don't miss any area.

[BeeMaster2]

Van,
When I was inspecting the new property that I bought 2 years ago, I and the owner were torn up. I talked to our ag agent about this and they aid the best way to rid the property of them and ticks and flees is with a controlled burn.
I never did burn this property but we have not had any problems since. I use bug repellent especially around my shoes and on my pants. That seems to help.
I don?t know if you can do a controlled burn but if you can it would eliminate the problem.
Jim Altmiller

[rast]

My Granny would tie kerosene wet rags around her ankles when she would go bank fishing.

[Ben Framed]

My Granny would tie kerosene wet rags around her ankles when she would go bank fishing.

It seems Granny did not wait for the modern methods of chigger deterrents to be developed, she had a need and took action with what was available in her time of need, and apparently stuck with it through the years! Good for Granny!...  I remember the old timers speaking of using (coal oil) for injuries etc....  I do not know if coal oil is still available...

[Michael Bush]

We put sulfur in our socks when I was a kid.  Both for ticks and chiggers.

[van from Arkansas]

Van,
When I was inspecting the new property that I bought 2 years ago, I and the owner were torn up. I talked to our ag agent about this and they aid the best way to rid the property of them and ticks and flees is with a controlled burn.
I never did burn this property but we have not had any problems since. I use bug repellent especially around my shoes and on my pants. That seems to help.
I don?t know if you can do a controlled burn but if you can it would eliminate the problem.
Jim Altmiller

Yes Sir, Jim, I can control burn the front of the property.  But, of course, the hives are on the back side, the heavily wooded side of the property.  Ding dang chiggers, sand flies (Beavo area).

I have used the permathrin (sp?) as suggested on socks/shoes and this helps tremendously.  I am one of those that ticks, chiggers gravitate to.  I can walk along side friends and I will give ya one guess who gets who gets to be dinner for insects.  Like I ring the bug dinner bell, come and get it, when I walk in the woods or grass land.  Oh well, frost will come soon enough.

[The15thMember]

I can walk along side friends and I will give ya one guess who gets who gets to be dinner for insects.  Like I ring the bug dinner bell, come and get it, when I walk in the woods or grass land.  Oh well, frost will come soon enough.

Ugh, I am the same way with mosquitoes.  I get bites consistently from April through October.  I'll be sitting out on the porch with my mom and she won't get one bite and I'll come away with like 10.   

[Ben Framed]

Generally my time of concern with chiggers is during blackberry picking. I immediately take a bath with a cap full of Clorox added when I get finished. This seems to do the trick.

[seanconnery]

Thought Chiggers were a South US phenomenon.
Found out what those itchy red blotches were around my ankles, waist and back.
Thanks for this as I always thought it was a kind of Pacific Northwest spider.

[BeeMaster2]

Sean,
Please update your profile to show your location.
Jim Altmiller

[Duane]

This year, 2021, chiggers* or red bugs are a very real issue.  Eleven years at this same location and there has never been a chigger problem until this year. 

Interesting.  Most years by this time, my ankles have very little left that are NOT spots.  This year, I have a few spots, very little itching.  I thought this was a good year for not getting chiggers.  Guess it varies by location and year.

Now watch me get covered in so many I forget past years!

[Duane]

We put sulfur in our socks when I was a kid.  Both for ticks and chiggers.

I know my grandpa had told me that, so I did.  Lots of sulfur in my socks.  Then I looked and saw chiggers crawling around in it.  And still got as many bites as before.