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

[MyHaven]

You're lucky you detected them before they increased their number.  Better to have none, but if you get them, early detection is best.  (Does anyone else start getting itchy when they read about bugs online?)

You just made me itch.

 

[User395221]

arn't they getting brave!

I'm not sure they understand what people call a "hen's night".

 

[Deej211]

day old chicks

6week old chicks

cheeky ratbag POL pullets

 

[Anniebee]

Well it's been an early one for me, yesterday whilst cleaning out the slw pen I found red fowl mites.

So after drenching the coops , up before light to spray the birds. Can't say anyone was very impressed with their early morning shower.

Wanted to share a little story about ' show ' people. I have found dog and horse people to be a little , let's say ' precious ' about their animals, but chicken people are a breed to themselves. Over the weekend we had our local small farms expo. As we were walking around with a local beer and some food cooked by none other than ' the gourmet farmer ' , I saved our lovely organic grown scraps for the chooks I could see up ahead in a cage. When my lovely Hungarian friend offered them to the ' experts ' for their birds as a treat, he was told unceremoniously to put them in the bin. Pffff
I got a coat of paint on the new coop yesterday and will finish up today, pics later.

You said it Fancy ..... dog / horse people can be very 'precious' ... there are a few other words I could use to describe some of them ( but certainly not all are like that ).

Add to that the cat lot .....

.... had my two Siamese at the Royal Melbourne Show one year ( first and last time !! ) .... they each got a third ribbon. Two of us ( another lady and myself ) reported a very very sick cat almost in a state of collapse, to the powers that be at the front of the pavilion. They went there, took one look and covered the cage. The owner returned and went completely off her head - screaming abuse at everyone nearby - shrieking " I am a doctor - I know when a human or animal is sick - and she is NOT sick." Like heck she wasn't. She was ordered to remove her cat immediately to a vet ( and I think a vet at the actual show, attended to that cat - or so I later heard ).

A doctor ? ..... wondered if she'd done a veterinarian course as well. !!

Oh dear, we can come across some witchiness in any show rings. Stopped showing my cats and dogs after that and another unpleasant experience in the dog show ring ( which I was not in any way involved in - but it was nasty - and laid out for all to witness ).

........

I have done some research on red mites - do not believe my chickens have them, but will check again at night, to make sure.

Do you know if dogs can catch red mite or lice from chickens ? Miss Ruby is scratching and biting herself silly, and the only thing that has eased her discomfort is corn flour sprinkled on her belly, under her armpits and between her back legs. There is absolutely NO sign of fleas whatsoever, and this all seemed to begin with the very excessive humidity we had a week or so back. But that has abated now - yet she is still scratching. I have slowly changed her over to a new diet ( she was on lamb and rice holistic - Black Hawk ) ... and lamb is a blood heating meat. Have tried several things, and if she is still doing it after Easter, it's off to the vet we go. Will stick to corn flour now - which cannot hurt her if she chews a bit on it. She also has no hot-spots at all.

Cheers ........

 

[User395221]

yet she is still scratching.

My vet prescribed (recommended, it doesn't need a prescription) anti-histamines for my little dog who would get itchy. Cetirizine - it's people medicine, but dogs can have it too. Obviously, you'll need your vet to look at your dog, but it is interesting that the same medication can help both of us. When either of them start that insane "itching for no reason", I give them the anti-histamine.

 

[LuckysMum]

I'm not a believer of the whole DE thing. But if you are using it be mindful of the possible harm to you and your birds if inhaled.
The mites are minuscule but they generally leave the bird before sun up and congregate in the crevices of the coop during the day, only to return to their host once they have settled in to roost for the night. I almost missed them, had the lid to one of the nest boxes in my hand and when I turned it over , there they were, hundreds of the little specs all clumped together. I had one crawl up my arm and whilst I could feel it , I had a job seeing it.
Another treatment tomorrow and the coops have all been doused with Yates 'success ' .
I didn't get a pic, but this link shows just what I found.

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

Thanks for posting that site. It was very interesting. Hope we never get them sound very nasty. Hope you get rid of them all.

Chook newby your girls look beautiful.

And I am itching now too.
I work in a school and as soon as someone mentions lice or nits everyones itching funny that.

 

[Anniebee]

Good morning folks

What the? 3 Pages! Might have to top up the coffee mug

MyHaven I look forward to the fox proofing design, thank you in advance for doing that.
LuckysMum I was already a Bear fan and with each post about him, I am becoming a bigger fan … beautiful boy!

potato chip congratulations on the new layer.

Aaaw Anniebee Oscar was beautiful .. I feel your loss

I have shared before, but for those newbies, this is my beautiful Charlie-Bear; I do miss her.

This is my favourite baby photo of her, I still have all her toys:



At the beach, she had just been clipped for summer:



Fancy eeeek at mites!

Were the scraps meat? May be they were some of those ‘Vegetarian fed’ chickens that have always intrigued me … are they fed vegetarians or fed by vegetarians

[Kidding .. no offence intended to vegetarians]

So, opened BYC and on the home page ‘Chicken coop pic of the week’ is very similar to what hubby has planned for our girls .. I hope it turns out as nice.

Our roof is going to be timber and the wire is definitely going to be smaller holes so ‘things’ can not get through.

The nest box is also not going to be ‘external’ .. while I have an external nest box at the moment, I really can not see the difference between lifting a lid to get eggs or opening a door on the side of the coop. As long as it is accessible from the outside of the run, I am happy.

Teila ..... what a beautiful dog Charlie Bear was, and still is - in your heart. Lovely photo's of her.

Have dozens of photographs of my dear departed pets around the house, and I find they help me a lot when I get a bit down and weepy. I look, remember and smile again.

..........

You mention here that you are putting a wooden roof on your coop. May I be bold and caution you about that .... wood expands and contracts according to weather. We had a wooden slanted roof on our original coop - and a summer storm ( after the wood had contracted ) .... let in heaps of wet - - that's how and why I ultimately lost my little Moppit Silkie. I had not noticed the change in the wood - it was difficult to detect, but various slats had ever so slightly moved away from one another in various spots.

It was too late of course, but from that time on we had two tarpaulins over the top of that roof - all seasons. Then we remodelled everything, and it now has a flat tin roof at a slight angle for rain run-off. The other coop also has a flat tin roof at a similar angle.

So be very careful with wooden rooves. Sorry - but I had to say it Teila.

Cheers .......

 

[Anniebee]

My vet prescribed (recommended, it doesn't need a prescription) anti-histamines for my little dog who would get itchy. Cetirizine - it's people medicine, but dogs can have it too. Obviously, you'll need your vet to look at your dog, but it is interesting that the same medication can help both of us. When either of them start that insane "itching for no reason", I give them the anti-histamine.

potato chip ....... Thanks for that tip .... and it makes good sense. ...

Anti-histamine didn't cross my mind ( but just about everything else has

)

Will definitely get her to the Vet - for a check for any skin nasties that are not visible to the human eye, if this business continues. [The vet takes a small skin scraping and looks at it under microscope to check for lice / mite mange. ] .... and of course it is coming up to Easter ( weird things seem to happen just prior to every Easter around here - darnit ).

Will write down Cetirizine and mention it to the Vet ....

Again - thank you.

..........

 

[MyHaven]

I'm not sure they understand what people call a "hen's night". 

You're hilarious!

 

[Deej211]

potato chip ....... Thanks for that tip .... and it makes good sense.   ...

Anti-histamine didn't cross my mind ( but just about everything else has  :/  )

Will definitely get her to the Vet - for a check for any skin nasties that are not visible to the human eye, if this business continues.   [The vet takes a small skin scraping and looks at it under microscope to check for lice / mite mange. ] .... and of course it is coming up to Easter ( weird things seem to happen just prior to every Easter around here - darnit ).  

Will write down Cetirizine and mention it to the Vet ....

Again - thank you.

.......... 

does she smell funny? My mastiff had mange a few yrs ago. And she smelled yuck. Sorr of sweet but gross.