The Silver Laced Wyandotte Thread

[sarahandbray]

I am only 8-weeks I to owning chickens, but am already plotting what I want for the spring (like many of my friends into plants plan their flower beds!).
Where can I order Show-Quality Wyandotte day-old chicks for pick-up near upstate, NY OR shipment? Quantity doesn't matter, since I'm LOVING the baby chick/brooder stage and there seems to be quite a market here near Albany for well-started pullets of certain breeds.
Dying to know where all these beauties come from!!
Sarah

 

[cortner1195]

Any ideas or thoughts on this hen? I was thinking lice or mites? Rest of the flock seems fine and none of the other girls are pecking or getting after her? Not sure if it's just molting or if it's something that needs treated?

I too, am interested in the response to this post. I have several hens that have patches like this. I feed feather fixer, and give supplements like cottage cheese. Of my 10 1-2year olds I am getting a max of four eggs. Most look really rough. It has been going on for months. I thought the damage was from the rooster. One has a large bare spot on her chest for 6 months or more. We thought she was picking at herself while in the nest. One of my EE's is nearly bald on head, neck, and back with lots of breakage.
Any advice on how to diagnose a cause, and or treatment would be much appreciated. It has gone on too long for molting. I posted a thread many months ago in the help section without an answer.

 

[LittleRedCoop53]

The only time i've seen this is when there is a rooster(lot's of mating) and space is too small for so many birds...they start eating the feathers...once there is a bald spot and the pin feathers come in they get plucked. If that is the problem and not mites or lice..there is this dark purple stuff(buy at co-op) that you put on the bare spot, that darkens the skin and the other birds won't pick at the new feathers. Good luck...i hope that it's that simple
Quote:

 

[sarahandbray]

I went to Tractor Supply and got a bottle of this purple anti-pick lotion in the poultry section--it's purple, very viscous, and has a wide applicator. Two applications of it and the birds were healing fine! They were little at the time and must have been getting picked on when I wasn't looking...can't remember the name of the bottle though!

 

[chicksurreal]

I too, am interested in the response to this post. I have several hens that have patches like this. I feed feather fixer, and give supplements like cottage cheese. Of my 10 1-2year olds I am getting a max of four eggs. Most look really rough. It has been going on for months. I thought the damage was from the rooster. One has a large bare spot on her chest for 6 months or more. We thought she was picking at herself while in the nest. One of my EE's is nearly bald on head, neck, and back with lots of breakage.
Any advice on how to diagnose a cause, and or treatment would be much appreciated. It has gone on too long for molting. I posted a thread many months ago in the help section without an answer.

I posted a response earlier in the thread showing what poultry lice can do to a chicken. Feather breakage, red, rough skin and bare patches are common in advanced cases.

Here's the picture again in case people missed it. After treatment and some time, this roo is perfectly healthy.

Edited to add - We used Garden and Poultry Dust in small pinches under each wing and around the vent, treated one day for three consecutive weeks. That's it. he's thriving and his feathers are growing back healthy and strong.

 

[chicksurreal]

The way we diagnosed that our roo had poultry lice was that we bathed him after taking him from a person who was going to turn him loose in the forest

, we noticed all of these nasty little bugs in the water. After identifying them with the help of BYC, we treated him and he is much happier, healthier and ready to move in with the girls we bought for him. Lol!

 

[cortner1195]

I posted a response earlier in the thread showing what poultry lice can do to a chicken. Feather breakage, red, rough skin and bare patches are common in advanced cases. Here's the picture again in case people missed it. After treatment and some time, this roo is perfectly healthy. Edited to add - We used Garden and Poultry Dust in small pinches under each wing and around the vent, treated one day for three consecutive weeks. That's it. he's thriving and his feathers are growing back healthy and strong.

Your picture is what caused me to post this morning. It looks exactly like my hens. They get feather fixer feed, plus supplements. The feather fixer is supposed to prevent mites. QUESTION: is the dust used once per day for three weeks, or one day per week three weeks in a row? Should all the chickens be treated at the same time, even the ones that have a good coat of even healthy feathers? Thanks for your help!

 

[cortner1195]

I went to Tractor Supply and got a bottle of this purple anti-pick lotion in the poultry section--it's purple, very viscous, and has a wide applicator.  Two applications of it and the birds were healing fine!  They were little at the time and must have been getting picked on when I wasn't looking...can't remember the name of the bottle though!

I think the product you speak of may be Blue Kote. I have it as a spray. I have been using this on the bare patches for a while. It keeps them clean, but I am not getting feather growth. And new hens are showing bare patches

 

[chicksurreal]

Your picture is what caused me to post this morning. It looks exactly like my hens.
They get feather fixer feed, plus supplements. The feather fixer is supposed to prevent mites.
QUESTION: is the dust used once per day for three weeks, or one day per week three weeks in a row? Should all the chickens be treated at the same time, even the ones that have a good coat of even healthy feathers?
Thanks for your help!

We used it one time per week for a total of 3 times all together. That stuff is potent. I only put a little pinch under each wing and lightly dusted his vent area. I wore throw-away gloves and a dust mask, you want to be careful not to let your chickens breathe it in either. I would treat all chickens that were together and also clean out the coop and run of any feathers and shavings or whatever you use on the floor or ground.

Sprinkle the dust there too (once a week for three weeks).. The lice eggs stick to feathers and you want to make sure they are all gone. I'll take a picture of the roo that we treated, he's molting right now, but he still looks a thousand times better than he did in that picture I posted. I'm thankful we quarantined him when we got him, so none of our other chickens were exposed to the lice.

 

[sarahandbray]

Does sprinkling Diatomaceuous Earth on the coop bedding periodically keep lice infestations away? We've been doing this since day 1 and so far so good...what else is a preventative for nasty bugs like mites and lice?!? Bad enough I have to combat hawks....don't want to deal with creepy crawlies, too!!