I currently "rescued" 6 free chickens to add to my flock that have these nasty buggars! They were free of course and the poster on Craigslist made it very clear that the chickens have sticktight fleas, but due to being near thier due date of havin twins cannot treat the chickens. I wanted to make sure that I do not contaminate my flock, I am confident that I can treat these young girls, 1/2 of which are just about 1 year old and the other 1/2 are just newly laying hatched in spring! I made sure they are on the opposite side of the yard, and keep them in a seperate enclosure and treated with the Adams to their nasty little critters and even smothered them with the vaseline too to make sure they die, die, DIE! I will be sure to do all of this while the are in the cage in the car before they get to the house/property!
I want to know though, how long would it possibly take to get rid of them if I am attempting to get rid of them in a clean fresh environment, like starting over from scratch!
I really want to help these young girls out and want to ensure the safety of my girls at the same time!
I had a plan of attack, last Thursday, I went to the home where the chickens have the infestation, and treated them onsite. I knew that if I keep the bugs contained in that environment while applying the first treatment, it would assist in the prevention of spreading it into my flock. I placed a shower curtain into the SUV sprinkled with DE. I had the collapsable wire kennel with straw sprinkled with both DE and Sevin dust (garden and poultry safe) on top of the shower curtain. When we arrived to the home, we placed the cage on the DE/Sevin dust pre-sprinkled ground and got to work treating 1 chicken at a time with the Adams flea and tick spray for dogs and cats, vaseline and dusted each chickens neck and breast feathers with Sevin dust and placed into the cage. Those little bugs HATED us, they were jumping(? not sure if they are the same as other fleas?) but they were going up our arms/chest/shirt, so I was also spraying us down and powdering us as well, we looked like powdered doughnuts ;D We then did a misting with the Adams flea and tick spray all over the wire cage for any chance of bugs crawling on it, once all chickens were treated and in the cage. We then carried all the chickens into the SUV, and washed up our selves outside with warm soapy water. When we got home with them, we sprinkled the ground with the DE and Sevin, placed the cage down on the ground for the night, as we did this all at dusk when they were going to roost anyhow, to help with the ease of stress! then the next day, checked on them, enlarged thier enclosure, changed the straw, cleaned the wire cage and re-dusted everything with a light misting of the area. Gave the girls a break from treating, and let them just relax in thier new environment. They did great! On Saturday Morning, we did the treatment again, one by one, Adams to the head, slathered with vaseline, and dusted feathers- although, none of the bugs were moving at this time I didn't want to risk that some may still be alive. On Sunday, I started cleaning off bugs that were still stuck on, clinging for dear life- er or death rether, as most bugs had fallen off the chickens, there were a couple of girls who had had the worst infestation that still had bugs imbedded into their skin. They came off quite easily and were lifeless, I couldn't get all, but have been working on them little by little.
~~I have one concern for one of the girls, as when we were first treating her I noted the extreme paleness of her comb and wattles, even her face was very pale looking, although she was very alert and active it still concerned me. She didn't have the bugs as much as a couple of the others, but I still think she is anemic because of them. She is a Welsummer and is about 1 year old. She has some gnarley spurs too. I have a supplement in thier water, it has probiotics and electrolytes, it is an egg boost supplement. Can I give them Molasses or rasins or something to boos thier iron to help resolve the blood loss?
I want to know though, how long would it possibly take to get rid of them if I am attempting to get rid of them in a clean fresh environment, like starting over from scratch!
I really want to help these young girls out and want to ensure the safety of my girls at the same time!
I had a plan of attack, last Thursday, I went to the home where the chickens have the infestation, and treated them onsite. I knew that if I keep the bugs contained in that environment while applying the first treatment, it would assist in the prevention of spreading it into my flock. I placed a shower curtain into the SUV sprinkled with DE. I had the collapsable wire kennel with straw sprinkled with both DE and Sevin dust (garden and poultry safe) on top of the shower curtain. When we arrived to the home, we placed the cage on the DE/Sevin dust pre-sprinkled ground and got to work treating 1 chicken at a time with the Adams flea and tick spray for dogs and cats, vaseline and dusted each chickens neck and breast feathers with Sevin dust and placed into the cage. Those little bugs HATED us, they were jumping(? not sure if they are the same as other fleas?) but they were going up our arms/chest/shirt, so I was also spraying us down and powdering us as well, we looked like powdered doughnuts ;D We then did a misting with the Adams flea and tick spray all over the wire cage for any chance of bugs crawling on it, once all chickens were treated and in the cage. We then carried all the chickens into the SUV, and washed up our selves outside with warm soapy water. When we got home with them, we sprinkled the ground with the DE and Sevin, placed the cage down on the ground for the night, as we did this all at dusk when they were going to roost anyhow, to help with the ease of stress! then the next day, checked on them, enlarged thier enclosure, changed the straw, cleaned the wire cage and re-dusted everything with a light misting of the area. Gave the girls a break from treating, and let them just relax in thier new environment. They did great! On Saturday Morning, we did the treatment again, one by one, Adams to the head, slathered with vaseline, and dusted feathers- although, none of the bugs were moving at this time I didn't want to risk that some may still be alive. On Sunday, I started cleaning off bugs that were still stuck on, clinging for dear life- er or death rether, as most bugs had fallen off the chickens, there were a couple of girls who had had the worst infestation that still had bugs imbedded into their skin. They came off quite easily and were lifeless, I couldn't get all, but have been working on them little by little.
~~I have one concern for one of the girls, as when we were first treating her I noted the extreme paleness of her comb and wattles, even her face was very pale looking, although she was very alert and active it still concerned me. She didn't have the bugs as much as a couple of the others, but I still think she is anemic because of them. She is a Welsummer and is about 1 year old. She has some gnarley spurs too. I have a supplement in thier water, it has probiotics and electrolytes, it is an egg boost supplement. Can I give them Molasses or rasins or something to boos thier iron to help resolve the blood loss?
