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

[sydney quailman]

i think hubby should come down to the show and enjoy the great cars that will be on display. lol

 

[mogvgb]

I just finished dealing with these. I also couldn't find a definite description of them, all the searching I did was mixed and it kept coming back to the Red mite. But I am pretty sure they are Northern Fowl Mites. They live on the body and the ones I had came in all colours. White, brown, red, clear. Just weird. So I just treated them like red mites.
Now that I think back on it. I did only have them on my broody hens. None on any of the other chickens. But I just used a mix of Lime, sulfur and DE to duct them all individually in. I changed all the bedding and flooring and burnt it all, then disinfected my coop and nest shed and pressure washed it all out. Then just let the poop on the wooden floor for a week and just used some temp straw for nest boxes as they recommended to repeat this in 10 days. So I did that all again but didn't have to burn as much stuff.

Then you should be able to put all the material back mixed with the dust ( that's what I do, just in case ).
But I was to scared.lol. So my hens had no material flooring for about 2 weeks and I kept adding DE to the nesting material, so like every time they went to nest they were like dust bathing.lol.

In those 2 weeks I also "smoked" my coop out.lol. I went over the top.lol. I made a small fire in the coop and smoke my whole coop out. You couldn't go in there it was so smokey, you couldn't even see.lol.

I then decided to put the material back and mixed it well and good with DE and Lime.

It has now been about 1 week with a material floor and I'm still just not sure.lol.

Good luck with yours. I would recommend breaking you broody, unless you want to hatch, in that case get rid of the mites off of her and move her to place were she can't pick the, up ( out of the run all together ). Like inside.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I agree they look exactly like Northern Fowl Mites, which is actually a bit scary as I read a lot of stories about them leading to chooky death.

I dusted my girl down this morning with a pyrethrin based powder from the pet shop and dusted the coop down too as an interim measure - getting the drips hopefully on Friday at which point I can do a proper full on treatment of everyone. I noticed fewer mites on her since I first dusted her down with DE, especially under her chin, which I suppose is good. Also gave my broody girl a nice fortifying feed up of Greek yoghurt and garlic which the other girls got in on as well.

I'm not really trying to break her broody because I think it is a natural cycle. I do foist her out a couple of times a day to make sure she gets some sun, food, exercise etc. and she will stay out and about for anything up to an hour... I'll keep her out all day over the weekend too.

I was thinking when I scrub down the coop I could use tea tree oil in the nooks and crannies - I know it is a controversial thing to use on the birds themselves but would it be ok to use on the coop as an added bug deterrent?

 

[mogvgb]

I have only had lice/mites once and I used pestine seemed to get rid of them. I now use garlic in their water along with acv. I get a whole bulb of garlic put it in a saucepan of water and boil for about 30mins. Let cool and throw the bulb. The garlicy water I put in a bottle and just add a cap to their water when I change it. Not sure if that is the reason I have not had them since but it has been a good 4 years since I had had any pests on the girls. Also saw somewhere about putting the outside husks from the garlic in your nest boxes. Haven't tried that one yet though.

I am hopefully getting pestene by this weekend, which I will use to decontaminate the coop. I feed my girls garlicky yoghurt whenever they seem to need a boost and I think it is definitely time to start that again, but I hadn't though of putting garlic in the coop itself - it actually is a good idea, classic deterrent for bloodsuckers....

 

[satay]

i think hubby should come down to the show and enjoy the great cars that will be on display. lol

Don't think it would take much to convince him Sam. Do you know how many times I have been conned into going to car shows over the years? Thankfully J goes with him most of the time now. I am more a if it gets you from a to b it's a good car girl lol.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I agree they look exactly like Northern Fowl Mites, which is actually a bit scary as I read a lot of stories about them leading to chooky death.

I dusted my girl down this morning with a pyrethrin based powder from the pet shop and dusted the coop down too as an interim measure - getting the drips hopefully on Friday at which point I can do a proper full on treatment of everyone. I noticed fewer mites on her since I first dusted her down with DE, especially under her chin, which I suppose is good. Also gave my broody girl a nice fortifying feed up of Greek yoghurt and garlic which the other girls got in on as well.

I'm not really trying to break her broody because I think it is a natural cycle. I do foist her out a couple of times a day to make sure she gets some sun, food, exercise etc. and she will stay out and about for anything up to an hour... I'll keep her out all day over the weekend too.

I was thinking when I scrub down the coop I could use tea tree oil in the nooks and crannies - I know it is a controversial thing to use on the birds themselves but would it be ok to use on the coop as an added bug deterrent?

Your welcome!
Yeah the quicker you get onto them the better. So you are doing the right thing.
Also your broody might not naturally stop. I have had a broody that went for over 3 months. They can go for an awful long time and this will help keep the mites stay on her and she isn't actively dusting her self and running about.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

When using ACV, can I use the stuff from the super market. It say's it is 100% natural apple vinegar and works out to be so much cheaper than the stuff you get at the feed store for horses.

 

[appps]

We are trying a new thing with our broodies. The kids looked at me like Id gone insane when I said you are supposed to lock them up in a little box for 3 days. Ahh not going to happen mum LOL

So Ive built a little run off our old Guinea pig area that is right next to the chookpen. So they can run round and do everything they normally can with only wire seperating them from the others. Well everything except get to the nesting box. Late afternoon I close the nexting box and open the little gate between the two areas so they can go to bed with everyone else.

So far its worked well and most anyone has taken in there is 3 days. Considering they all have silkie in them thats pretty good lol
Only trouble seems to be that at the moment if I move one out, another moves in - sigh. You would think they would be over it for the year since its starting to get so cold wouldnt you?

 

[satay]

When using ACV, can I use the stuff from the super market. It say's it is 100% natural apple vinegar and works out to be so much cheaper than the stuff you get at the feed store for horses.

You can use the stuff from the health food isle in the supermarket Luke. It has to be unfiltered not the stuff you buy next to your regular vinegar. Remember not to put it in any metal containers though. I find it is definatley cheaper to buy it at the produce but with a small flock it may work out cheaper to buy smaller amounts from the supermarket I guess. I pay $15 for 5 litres at the produce store.

 

[satay]

We are trying a new thing with our broodies.  The kids looked at me like Id gone insane when I said you are supposed to lock them up in a little box for 3 days.  Ahh not going to happen mum LOL

So Ive built a little run off our old Guinea pig area that is right next to the chookpen.  So they can run round and do everything they normally can with only wire seperating them from the others.  Well everything except get to the nesting box.   Late afternoon I close the nexting box and open the little gate between the two areas so they can go to bed with everyone else.


So far its worked well and most anyone has taken in there is 3 days.  Considering they all have silkie in them thats pretty good lol
Only trouble seems to be that at the moment if I move one out, another moves in - sigh.  You would think they would be over it for the year since its starting to get so cold wouldnt you?

I have a lot of bantie pekins (cochin) and they are for ever broody. Sounds like your doing a good job. I have never had much luck breaking a broody but I just let them sit til they get over it lol. You should see broody turkeys. The will sit for weeks with no eggs no matter how many times i move them.

 

[Ashburnham]