Bird Mites in a Hanging Basket: Safe Treatment for Wrens and You

Minute crawlers on your arms are bird mites from the wren nest. Spray the fern and nest with a bird-safe pyrethrin/piperonyl butoxide houseplant insecticide. Water with a long-handled wand to avoid contact. After birds fledge, submerge the basket in diluted deltamethrin, permethrin, or cyfluthrin to kill lingering mites.