Maintenance preventative measures you do

I am wondering what do you do to prevent diseases and health problems or maintain a healthy flock?

I slacked the last 3 months and now my poor flock is starting to suffer consequences. I am redoing a lot.

I just put in all washed and strained River sand in the coop and run. I normally would layer sevin dust at the bottom but didn't have any. I'll sprinkle it in once my order comes in
I am using pine shavings in the coop since it is cold I use sand in summer. I normally lightly sprinkle sevin dust at the bottom. I use DE in nesting boxes.
I got mana pro spray for chickeno in the past and sprayed their feet and under their wings once a week I haven't in a while but need to order more they have feathered legs so I worry about scaly leg mite.
Water is in a container that is washable and I wash it out once a week soap and water and just fill it dusing the week.

New changes I want to make, start bathing the Chicken in a nice bath but wasn't sure what soap to use or how often do I do that? Another change is fermented feed, leared about that today and probiotics

Any other great ideas that you have, please share.

Right now since I haven't been a good chicken mama I have one chicken with bumblefoot and coccidosis infection, and it looks like this evening I noticed their legs are red and flaky SLM?? OMG I feel awful I love my ladies and need to get them up to par

Quote:

csaylorchickens said:

I am wondering what do you do to prevent diseases and health problems or maintain a healthy flock?

I slacked the last 3 months and now my poor flock is starting to suffer consequences. I am redoing a lot.

I just put in all washed and strained River sand in the coop and run. I normally would layer sevin dust at the bottom but didn't have any. I'll sprinkle it in once my order comes in
I am using pine shavings in the coop since it is cold I use sand in summer. I normally lightly sprinkle sevin dust at the bottom. I use DE in nesting boxes.
I got mana pro spray for chickeno in the past and sprayed their feet and under their wings once a week I haven't in a while but need to order more they have feathered legs so I worry about scaly leg mite.
Water is in a container that is washable and I wash it out once a week soap and water and just fill it dusing the week.

New changes I want to make, start bathing the Chicken in a nice bath but wasn't sure what soap to use or how often do I do that? Another change is fermented feed, leared about that today and probiotics

Any other great ideas that you have, please share.

Click to expand...

csaylorchickens said:

Right now since I haven't been a good chicken mama I have one chicken with bumblefoot and coccidosis infection, and it looks like this evening I noticed their legs are red and flaky SLM?? OMG I feel awful I love my ladies and need to get them up to par

Click to expand...

Keeping the coop and run clean. Providing fresh food, clean water and a dry clean area to dust bath is a good start to flock management. May I ask why you want to start bathing your girls? Do they smell or is it something that you want to do? I'm not really sure how often you should actually bathe a chicken, since they naturally dust bathe, this helps to clean their feathers and control lice/mites. A light sprinkle of sevin can go a long way in prevention of most pests. It sounds like you are doing a good job. Would love to see your coop and birds.

If you have cocci, that would need to be addressed first, treatment with corid. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/12/coccidiosis-what-backyard-chicken.html

There are many different opinions on how to treat bumblefoot but here a couple of links:

http://hencam.com/faq/bumblefoot
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/07/bumblefoot-causes-treatment-warning.html

If you could post a picture of the feet that you think may have scaly leg mite or pictures of anything else you have concerns about, I'ms sure other members as well as my self will be happy to see what we can help you with.

I dunno I talked to some people and they give their chickens bath with Dawn soap? That's what I though about the dust. I have sand in the entire run and coop they can dust in but the rain has made it wet. Maybe I need to get a big bucket and pull it out when dry and hide it when wet?

I am treat with corrid now

I get pics tomorrow of the legs.

What happened is the rain has come. My little sad I had washed out and mud was left. So I ordered 2 yards and packed it at least 4 inches thick so it won't wash away and I have sand left over

The weather is what's causing most of these issues I wish I jumped on it sooner

csaylorchickens said:

I dunno I talked to some people and they give their chickens bath with Dawn soap? That's what I though about the dust. I have sand in the entire run and coop they can dust in but the rain has made it wet. Maybe I need to get a big bucket and pull it out when dry and hide it when wet?

Click to expand...

Do you have room in your coop to add a tub of sand/dirt mix so it stays dry and they can dust bathe in that? http://hencam.com/henblog/2014/03/winter-dust-bath/

If they could dust bathe I think it would be better for them than washing in soap. They have an oil gland near their tail (similar to wild birds) and spread it around when preening. I would think too much water bathing with soap would be drying to the skin and wash away all those natural oil. JMO

In the coop I have 4 roosting bars I only really need two I could remove the two on one he and put in dusting boxes. I also have a covered part of the run that is mostly dry unless the rain goes crazy sideways and can put it there. I will he to get that up and going

Yes I can see how dust bathing w I ukd be better. I don't bathe my cats lol they love to.roll in the dirt all the time.

Coccidosis

SLM?