Hello all. Recently, my flock has had a flare-up of some issues that I have had in the past with them, and I thought I'd start a thread of my efforts to restore them to health in the hope some others may benefit from my mistakes. Please no lectures, I know what I did wrong and will never do it again!
First, some back story. (Note: This was before I found BYC)
In the winter of 2014, I was going for a walk when I saw two roosters, huddled miserably in the snow. I knew they wouldn't make it more than a few days without shelter. So, like the novice chicken keeper I was, I scooped them up, took them home, and put them in a cage to settle in. (Mistake #1 right there. Always always always quarantine new birds. Even from reliable sources, and a roadside is not one of them!)
Mistake #2: I didn't even look them over for obvious things that were wrong. They were sneezing and had nasal discharge, as well as pale faces. I thought they just "had a cold" and would soon be better. I told you I was clueless......
Eventually, their symptoms cleared up, their faces returned to normal, and all was well for a few months....... Until I got chicks. When I started integrating them, they got runny noses and coughed. After a few weeks, they cleared up as well. (Now, I have found it was probably M. Gallisepticum. I don't have chicken vets around here, so I just matched the symptoms as best as I could. I got Denagard and treated the remaining symptomatic birds, which cleared up.)
A week or so later, I saw a worm in one of their poops, probably a roundworm. I got rooster booster multi wormer. That cleared it up. (EDIT: I have since found that it's an antibiotic. Very effective product, but won't use again.)
Then I found lice on my birds. I got Permectrin powder and treated. That cleared up very fast, and stayed low for a bit, before wintertime brought it back.
...
All fine and dandy, right? Nope! The big problem is, my coop is very, very hard to clean. I have joked in the past that the only way to clean it well is with a flamethrower. I also have wooden nesting boxes, which I suspect is why I can't get rid of the lice. They are built into the coop so I can't remove them without taking out the floor. There are nooks and crannies everywhere, and the coop leaks so bad at one time there was a puddle big enough for the ducks to drink from in the floor, which was covered in pine shavings. A tarp over the roof helped very much with that.
So now, we are back to the present. The lice have returned, but not as badly as before. The chickens have a worm overload again, (thanks to the extremely wet weather recently) and the juvies have MG symptoms. I am aiming to get my flock back to health.
I know MG cannot be eradicated, but through careful management and breeding I am trying to keep birds not as badly affected and keep a lid on it.
For the lice, I am going to turn the power washer up to "paint stripper" (Okay... Maybe not quite that far
) and blast away as much old poop and ick as I can from the coop, and dust the roosts and the birds with Permectrin. I do not know if I can get rid of it without replacing my coop, but I can try.
For worms, I am considering a deworming schedule. I was hoping I would not, but if it gets them back to health I will do it. Any suggestions on wormer? I have heard Ivermectin takes care of both lice and worms, and would be interested in hearing experiences with it.
Finally, a note: Despite their problems, my flock looks healthy. They have shiny feathers, they are active, and eat and drink well. Their eyes are bright and their combs are red. I've even had people comment on how happy and healthy my birds looked.
It is when you dig a little deeper---the 4 mm long hair like worms in their poop. The slight cough and clear discharge from nasal passages in the juvies. The 3 mm straw-colored lice on the neck feathers. This is why I didn't notice their problems for so long---they are invisible unless you carefully observe the chickens.
All this to say: quarantine your birds! I know there are a million other stories, but I'll add mine to the pile if it saves someone else from the same mistake.
First, some back story. (Note: This was before I found BYC)
In the winter of 2014, I was going for a walk when I saw two roosters, huddled miserably in the snow. I knew they wouldn't make it more than a few days without shelter. So, like the novice chicken keeper I was, I scooped them up, took them home, and put them in a cage to settle in. (Mistake #1 right there. Always always always quarantine new birds. Even from reliable sources, and a roadside is not one of them!)
Mistake #2: I didn't even look them over for obvious things that were wrong. They were sneezing and had nasal discharge, as well as pale faces. I thought they just "had a cold" and would soon be better. I told you I was clueless......
Eventually, their symptoms cleared up, their faces returned to normal, and all was well for a few months....... Until I got chicks. When I started integrating them, they got runny noses and coughed. After a few weeks, they cleared up as well. (Now, I have found it was probably M. Gallisepticum. I don't have chicken vets around here, so I just matched the symptoms as best as I could. I got Denagard and treated the remaining symptomatic birds, which cleared up.)
A week or so later, I saw a worm in one of their poops, probably a roundworm. I got rooster booster multi wormer. That cleared it up. (EDIT: I have since found that it's an antibiotic. Very effective product, but won't use again.)
Then I found lice on my birds. I got Permectrin powder and treated. That cleared up very fast, and stayed low for a bit, before wintertime brought it back.
...
All fine and dandy, right? Nope! The big problem is, my coop is very, very hard to clean. I have joked in the past that the only way to clean it well is with a flamethrower. I also have wooden nesting boxes, which I suspect is why I can't get rid of the lice. They are built into the coop so I can't remove them without taking out the floor. There are nooks and crannies everywhere, and the coop leaks so bad at one time there was a puddle big enough for the ducks to drink from in the floor, which was covered in pine shavings. A tarp over the roof helped very much with that.
So now, we are back to the present. The lice have returned, but not as badly as before. The chickens have a worm overload again, (thanks to the extremely wet weather recently) and the juvies have MG symptoms. I am aiming to get my flock back to health.
I know MG cannot be eradicated, but through careful management and breeding I am trying to keep birds not as badly affected and keep a lid on it.
For the lice, I am going to turn the power washer up to "paint stripper" (Okay... Maybe not quite that far
For worms, I am considering a deworming schedule. I was hoping I would not, but if it gets them back to health I will do it. Any suggestions on wormer? I have heard Ivermectin takes care of both lice and worms, and would be interested in hearing experiences with it.
Finally, a note: Despite their problems, my flock looks healthy. They have shiny feathers, they are active, and eat and drink well. Their eyes are bright and their combs are red. I've even had people comment on how happy and healthy my birds looked.
It is when you dig a little deeper---the 4 mm long hair like worms in their poop. The slight cough and clear discharge from nasal passages in the juvies. The 3 mm straw-colored lice on the neck feathers. This is why I didn't notice their problems for so long---they are invisible unless you carefully observe the chickens.
All this to say: quarantine your birds! I know there are a million other stories, but I'll add mine to the pile if it saves someone else from the same mistake.
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