Hey y'all. I own about 9 chickens. 2 Bantams, 1 Amercuana, and 6 Silkies. I live in a winter tundra right now where I live in New York with below freezing weather for the past few months.
My Silkies were loosing feathers on their heads lightly which I had thought was from boredom so I would give them things to do along with a dusting area so they wouldn't be so bored. Then one of my Silkies (I babied this one it was the smallest of the group when I first got them) started loosing a lot of feathers around the neck but still had... what would you say, whiskers of feathers (lol) left over so she kind of looked like a turken chicken on the sides but not completely bald. Then I got concerned so I would check them at night ALL over but I could NOTHING. I looked and LOOKED (chickens were getting super $#%# off at me, ahah) but I just COULDN'T see anything! So I stopped for awhile. Maybe it was pecking? They acted normal, laying 6 eggs a day, and very active when I was around them. No overly itching as I was watching or anything of the sort. just normal pecking each other because one of them is bossier than the rest.
Then one night I decided to go out there before a shower because I just FELT like it. I checked the ones who lost feathers the most, couldn't see much. I decided to check a chicken I didn't really check yet because they still had their feathers A LOT on their head along with just being normal. AND I FINALLY SAW A BUG!!! (okay I freaked out a little when I saw this I won't lie because I didn't want to see a bug and didn't want to be right, heh) It was crawling on her back but it was kind of fast so thankfully I had my husband with me so I could stare long enough with the flashlight. I've checked the vent and head but nothing. All the rest I couldn't spot any bugs like that. This, I believe, is not mites because I can actually see one when I'm looking and it's yellow-ish light-ish with a somewhat long body. But I couldn't find any eggs on the feather shaft??? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough? They have so many feathers it's hard for me to dig into their feathers. near their vent wasn't much. I have been freaking out (maybe pregnancy hormones? And plus these are my babies I've raised myself.) and feel like it's ALL my fault that this happened.
I feel even worse because it's winter so I can't bathe them, can't really go inside my house right now and the snow is really high so I can't clean out the coop like I want to. I bathed them and the coop in DE (I know this is more of a prevent than a solution but it's the only thing I have at the moment.) since I had recently changed their coop before I knew any of this happened before our big snowstorm came. No stores around right now that i can get to but I am thinking of getting Sevin 5% to do the job along with either Poultry Dust or Poultry Protector (even though I might have to wait until it's warmer to do that one because I don't like them being wet when it's cold out). When it's way warmer I'm going to run down ho down all that coop and clean it top to bottom to make sure this doesn't come back (Even though I've read it doesn't 100% go away which ugh that stresses me out more than it should).
Am I catching this before it gets worse or what? Am I a bad chicken owner? I feel so upset and like I failed somehow even though I know it's probably not. I wish it was warmer right now so I could just do everything as much as I can... :/
When I finally get that stuff, how should I go about it? Dust with Sevin & DE? I don't plan to eat their eggs either way. I just don't feel comfortable right now with it. I know I do it all over again in 7-10 days. I probably will try to do it a few times because I want to be safe.
Would appreciate some positive feedback and help along with at least saying I'm not completely awful for this lol... (can you tell I feel bad? I think it's worse with being pregnant)
My Silkies were loosing feathers on their heads lightly which I had thought was from boredom so I would give them things to do along with a dusting area so they wouldn't be so bored. Then one of my Silkies (I babied this one it was the smallest of the group when I first got them) started loosing a lot of feathers around the neck but still had... what would you say, whiskers of feathers (lol) left over so she kind of looked like a turken chicken on the sides but not completely bald. Then I got concerned so I would check them at night ALL over but I could NOTHING. I looked and LOOKED (chickens were getting super $#%# off at me, ahah) but I just COULDN'T see anything! So I stopped for awhile. Maybe it was pecking? They acted normal, laying 6 eggs a day, and very active when I was around them. No overly itching as I was watching or anything of the sort. just normal pecking each other because one of them is bossier than the rest.
Then one night I decided to go out there before a shower because I just FELT like it. I checked the ones who lost feathers the most, couldn't see much. I decided to check a chicken I didn't really check yet because they still had their feathers A LOT on their head along with just being normal. AND I FINALLY SAW A BUG!!! (okay I freaked out a little when I saw this I won't lie because I didn't want to see a bug and didn't want to be right, heh) It was crawling on her back but it was kind of fast so thankfully I had my husband with me so I could stare long enough with the flashlight. I've checked the vent and head but nothing. All the rest I couldn't spot any bugs like that. This, I believe, is not mites because I can actually see one when I'm looking and it's yellow-ish light-ish with a somewhat long body. But I couldn't find any eggs on the feather shaft??? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough? They have so many feathers it's hard for me to dig into their feathers. near their vent wasn't much. I have been freaking out (maybe pregnancy hormones? And plus these are my babies I've raised myself.) and feel like it's ALL my fault that this happened.
I feel even worse because it's winter so I can't bathe them, can't really go inside my house right now and the snow is really high so I can't clean out the coop like I want to. I bathed them and the coop in DE (I know this is more of a prevent than a solution but it's the only thing I have at the moment.) since I had recently changed their coop before I knew any of this happened before our big snowstorm came. No stores around right now that i can get to but I am thinking of getting Sevin 5% to do the job along with either Poultry Dust or Poultry Protector (even though I might have to wait until it's warmer to do that one because I don't like them being wet when it's cold out). When it's way warmer I'm going to run down ho down all that coop and clean it top to bottom to make sure this doesn't come back (Even though I've read it doesn't 100% go away which ugh that stresses me out more than it should).
Am I catching this before it gets worse or what? Am I a bad chicken owner? I feel so upset and like I failed somehow even though I know it's probably not. I wish it was warmer right now so I could just do everything as much as I can... :/
When I finally get that stuff, how should I go about it? Dust with Sevin & DE? I don't plan to eat their eggs either way. I just don't feel comfortable right now with it. I know I do it all over again in 7-10 days. I probably will try to do it a few times because I want to be safe.
Would appreciate some positive feedback and help along with at least saying I'm not completely awful for this lol... (can you tell I feel bad? I think it's worse with being pregnant)
