- May 14, 2018
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Hello everyone,
Now that the babies have safely hatched, I am having a hard time deciding where to keep them and their two mamas.
My choices are:
a) in their own space within the coop outdoors with the others
b) in a warm (but not hot), well-lit part of the garage
I would prefer to keep them in the garage where it's easier to keep their water clean and of course to pop in and look at them as well.
My main concern is that the two mamas do have some external parasites. They are not overrun with them, but I know that they have some lice and I'm not sure about mites. The birds get DE in their dustbathing area and none of hens has a 'lice problem", but as far as I can see, it's impossible to completely and sustainably rid them of parasites, short of regularly dipping/dusting them with harsh insecticides. Nevertheless, I am leery of introducing these into our housing area.
My mind keeps running in circles. It seems like if there were really such a danger of bringing them into the house, people would not keep chickens because short of donning a hazmat suit and boots everytime you go out to the coop, I can't see how they wouldn't get tracked into the house and if they were really any good at colonizing, we'd all have them in our homes, but then there is the odd person who swears up and down that they've been infested, the thought of which is so truly horrible that it does give me great pause.
What do you all think?
Now that the babies have safely hatched, I am having a hard time deciding where to keep them and their two mamas.
My choices are:
a) in their own space within the coop outdoors with the others
b) in a warm (but not hot), well-lit part of the garage
I would prefer to keep them in the garage where it's easier to keep their water clean and of course to pop in and look at them as well.
My main concern is that the two mamas do have some external parasites. They are not overrun with them, but I know that they have some lice and I'm not sure about mites. The birds get DE in their dustbathing area and none of hens has a 'lice problem", but as far as I can see, it's impossible to completely and sustainably rid them of parasites, short of regularly dipping/dusting them with harsh insecticides. Nevertheless, I am leery of introducing these into our housing area.
My mind keeps running in circles. It seems like if there were really such a danger of bringing them into the house, people would not keep chickens because short of donning a hazmat suit and boots everytime you go out to the coop, I can't see how they wouldn't get tracked into the house and if they were really any good at colonizing, we'd all have them in our homes, but then there is the odd person who swears up and down that they've been infested, the thought of which is so truly horrible that it does give me great pause.
What do you all think?
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