Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[AussieChics]

Still only count 6. She wont move lol

 

[K Spot]

Still only count 6. She wont move lol

adorable

 

[AussieChics]

Wait I've found 9! That leaves 1 egg to find

 

[K Spot]

oh wow

 

[ChristieB]

Awww chickys!!
I think I'm getting over the discovery today that my girls may be boys because it means I can get some more fluff balls

It's stupid hot right now, any other way to cool chooks down? It's our off day so can't use the hose or sprinkler

 

[Teila]

OK, seems like I have a lull in the workload .. time to catch up on many, many posts! Apologies in advance for the long post!

Love the new avatar vehve; your broodies are adorable!.

Congratulations on the bubs Sam and AussieChics .. so totally adorable! Looking forward to good news from you vehve.

Love everyone’s pictures.

Congrats on the win at the state titles and the new rooster Fancy and of course, satay your new rooster also

. Sorry to read of your nest deserter and your loss satay.

Congrats on the booming business Ash

Lols at that chicken math K Spot, she looks like a cutie.

Hi there ChristieB and welcome; nice looking flock. Welcome also dkgiles.

appps great to read that integration is a success. I also have one happy little flock again; no pecking and order restored.

cwrite game cam didn’t end up happening; while saying over the phone they had the one in stock that hubby wanted, when he got to the store, nope! Luckily, Mr Heron has not returned.

Oh My Goodness, a week or so from H*%$ .. where do I begin?!

Last Thursday, I’m a bit itchy, got a few lumps on me, I’m thinking I could just be a bit sweaty from the humid weather we have been having or because I could not get my normal washing softener, reacting to the new softener, developing a rash. So I didn’t think much of it until Friday when Hubby was also complaining of an itch. #1 Son was not having a problem.

I will just mention here that I am vigilant with my lice and mite treatment and have had chickens for a number of years now with no lice/mite issues (except one very minor issue with a broody on eggs). I keep the coops very clean and check the girls regularly. Pestene is a monthly given and I also use pest resistant straw in the nest boxes + Pestene. I also am not seeing anything on the eggs I am collecting from the nest box so while in the back of my mind, I am not convinced that this is chicken related.

Saturday, I wandered out to the coop to open the door and let the girls out, look down at my hands after touching the coop door and I have a couple of what I assume to be mites on my hands! Hhhhm, not good! So I look inside the coop and the walls, floor and roost are alive!

You have to be kidding me, where the h*%$ did these things come from? They were not there the day before!

Hours and hours and hours of research indicate that these are not red mite as red mite are nocturnal, live in the cracks of the coop and only bite the birds at night. Bird mite, however, live on the bird and generally only look for a new host when the previous host vacates the nest.

So here is where I am confused, I have Pestene in the nests, no signs of mites on the gals but the coop is covered in them!! Of course, I am freaking out and generally feeling like a bad chicken mum.

Anyways, the gals got a Pestene dusting, the coop got stripped down completely after a dosage of water+cooking oil+detergent mix to suffocate them and then was washed down with soapy water; nest boxes emptied, cleaned and straw replaced. Then the walls and cracks were given a healthy dose of diluted Neem Oil (upsets the breeding cycle) and Pestene was dusted pretty much everywhere also.

I’m still freaking out and feeling quite ill at this stage. I went through about 4 changes of clothes while cleaning the coop and washed everything I could get my hands on.

Sunday, I wander outside to mow the lawns and because of the vinyl swimming pool not coping well with the whipper snipper

, I sit on the lawn to manually trim the grass around the pool and look down at my legs, these things are on me, from the lawn!!

Nothing in the coop now that I can see, no repeat of the walls being covered in them, nothing on the roost, sticking my hand in the nest box comes up clean, other than Pestene dust but I am still picking up 3-4/day off the lawn.

Bed sheets are getting washed daily, everything that comes in from the garden gets thoroughly inspected (I have found a couple on the bottom of the washing basket from where it has sat on the lawn). When the girls go out for their afternoon free range, the coop walls get another dosage of diluted Neem Oil. Magnifying glasses are a permanent addition to my person!

I am feeling a lot better now as I am not finding anywhere near the numbers that I was but this has been nothing short of a nightmare to the point that I considered getting rid of the gals (for a second!) and burning the coops!!

Of note, we have had no new bites from the initial issue Thursday.
Have I p*ssed them off cleaning out the coop and they are now moving across the garden? Are they not even from the coop and maybe moved to the coop from some deserted nest in one of the many trees around the place? The bites we got could be from the garden and then they found the coop? Are they even bird mite? Did they come in on that pesky Bush Turkey?. Am I just finding 4-5 a day now because I am super paranoid? Have there always been a few around the place? I don’t know but from then on I have been coming in from the garden and throwing my clothes in the washing machine and having a shower.

Anyways, I am still daily doing a Neem oil spray and dusting the roost. Saturday I am off outside to strip down the coop once again and repeat the washing, Neem Oil and dusting of both coops and chickens and another straw change and washing of the nest boxes!

I still cannot shake this bad chicken mum feeling

 

[K Spot]

Oh Teila, how horrible for you! Sorry you've had to go through all that, those pesky mites/lice!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Teila it sounds like you are battling northern fowl mite, they live their entire life on the host. I don't use pestene anymore as it contains rotenone and has been linked to Parkinson's disease. In the garden section at the hardware you can buy a product called ' success ' , it contains ' spinosad ' . Make it up according to the label and spray the coop out to the point of drenching. I use woolworths home brand surface spray on the birds. It contains permethrin and tetramethrin and costs $2 a can. A very well known breeder put me onto the surface spray and it works. Don't blame yourself this outbreak, the sparrows , rats and mice bring them in and before you know it there are thousands of them.

http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2540&Itemid=2816

 

[satay]

OK, seems like I have a lull in the workload .. time to catch up on many, many posts!  Apologies in advance for the long post!

Love the new avatar vehve; your broodies are adorable!.

Congratulations on the bubs Sam and AussieChics .. so totally adorable!  Looking forward to good news from you vehve.

Love everyone’s pictures.
 
Congrats on the win at the state titles and the new rooster Fancy and of course, satay your new rooster also .  Sorry to read of your nest deserter and your loss satay.

Congrats on the booming business Ash

Lols at that chicken math K Spot, she looks like a cutie.

Hi there ChristieB and welcome; nice looking flock.  Welcome also dkgiles.

appps great to read that integration is a success.  I also have one happy little flock again; no pecking and order restored.

cwrite game cam didn’t end up happening; while saying over the phone they had the one in stock that hubby wanted, when he got to the store, nope!  Luckily, Mr Heron has not returned.

Oh My Goodness, a week or so from H*%$ .. where do I begin?!

Last Thursday, I’m a bit itchy, got a few lumps on me, I’m thinking I could just be a bit sweaty from the humid weather we have been having or because I could not get my normal washing softener, reacting to the new softener, developing a rash.  So I didn’t think much of it until Friday when Hubby was also complaining of an itch.  #1 Son was not having a problem.

I will just mention here that I am vigilant with my lice and mite treatment and have had chickens for a number of years now with no lice/mite issues (except one very minor issue with a broody on eggs).  I keep the coops very clean and check the girls regularly.  Pestene is a monthly given and I also use pest resistant straw in the nest boxes + Pestene.  I also am not seeing anything on the eggs I am collecting from the nest box so while in the back of my mind, I am not convinced that this is chicken related.

Saturday, I wandered out to the coop to open the door and let the girls out, look down at my hands after touching the coop door and I have a couple of what I assume to be mites on my hands!  Hhhhm, not good!  So I look inside the coop and the walls, floor and roost are alive!

You have to be kidding me, where the h*%$ did these things come from?  They were not there the day before!
Not good Teila, prob from the recent rains.

Hours and hours and hours of research indicate that these are not red mite as red mite are nocturnal, live in the cracks of the coop and only bite the birds at night.  Bird mite, however, live on the bird and generally only look for a new host when the previous host vacates the nest. 

So here is where I am confused, I have Pestene in the nests, no signs of mites on the gals but the coop is covered in them!!  Of course, I am freaking out and generally feeling like a bad chicken mum.

Anyways, the gals got a Pestene dusting, the coop got stripped down completely after a dosage of water+cooking oil+detergent mix to suffocate them and then was washed down with soapy water; nest boxes emptied, cleaned and straw replaced.  Then the walls and cracks were given a healthy dose of diluted Neem Oil (upsets the breeding cycle) and Pestene was dusted pretty much everywhere also.

I’m still freaking out and feeling quite ill at this stage.    I went through about 4 changes of clothes while cleaning the coop and washed everything I could get my hands on.

Sunday, I wander outside to mow the lawns and because of the vinyl swimming pool not coping well with the whipper snipper , I sit on the lawn to manually trim the grass around the pool and look down at my legs, these things are on me, from the lawn!!

Nothing in the coop now that I can see, no repeat of the walls being covered in them, nothing on the roost, sticking my hand in the nest box comes up clean, other than Pestene dust but I am still picking up 3-4/day off the lawn.

Bed sheets are getting washed daily, everything that comes in from the garden gets thoroughly inspected (I have found a couple on the bottom of the washing basket from where it has sat on the lawn).  When the girls go out for their afternoon free range, the coop walls get another dosage of diluted Neem Oil.  Magnifying glasses are a permanent addition to my person!

I am feeling a lot better now as I am not finding anywhere near the numbers that I was but this has been nothing short of a nightmare to the point that I considered getting rid of the gals (for a second!) and burning the coops!!

Of note, we have had no new bites from the initial issue Thursday. 
Have I p*ssed them off cleaning out the coop and they are now moving across the garden?  Are they not even from the coop and maybe moved to the coop from some deserted nest in one of the many trees around the place?  The bites we got could be from the garden and then they found the coop? Are they even bird mite? Did they come in on that pesky Bush Turkey?.  Am I just finding 4-5 a day now because I am super paranoid?  Have there always been a few around the place? I don’t know but from then on I have been coming in from the garden and throwing my clothes in the washing machine and having a shower. 

Anyways, I am still daily doing a Neem oil spray and dusting the roost.  Saturday I am off outside to strip down the coop once again and repeat the washing, Neem Oil and dusting of both coops and chickens and another straw change and washing of the nest boxes! 

I still cannot shake this bad chicken mum feeling 

Your not a bad mum Teila. Probably and outbreak from the recent rains.

 

[satay]

Awww chickys!!
I think I'm getting over the discovery today that my girls may be boys because it means I can get some more fluff balls

It's stupid hot right now, any other way to cool chooks down? It's our off day so can't use the hose or sprinkler

I would use it anyways but then again I don't have to worry about off days, It's still 40c here at 4pm... Perhaps a fan if you are really worried.