broken feathers, mites *if you are experiencing this, PLEASE READ*

[ladyearth]

How can one rub a chicken skin? unless they are plucked clean......
sounds good this Nustock? how you get hem stiill enough to bad cant hypontize and treat them so they are healthier....
will someone make a video and show us Newbies?????

 

[canyoncito]

Hold the chicken under your arm like a football, with the head facing behind you. With your free hand push the feathers towards the chicken's head. Have a helper rub the cream on the desired spot. Make sure you shake Nustock even though it's in a tube because it separates.

 

[canyoncito]

So it has been a year since we talked about the depluming mite. I did try the sulfur-lime dip on 6 of my 30 hens but it was too much work. There was no way I could do all 30 hens once, much less 3-4 times. After a year we decided to cull the 15 hens that were severely affected. We saved one hen out who is a favorite. She's been dipped twice recently and the 5 hens and 1 rooster she lives with have also been dipped once just for good measure because it was warm enough for them all to air dry outside. We put the favorite hen in a cat carrier in a warm place to air dry after her second dip. She was pretty dry after two hours, then I let her out with the others. I've sprayed the entire coop with Basic G from Shaklee since permethrin spray seems to do nothing. I've taken out all the nesting bedding and sprayed the boxes, put in new wood shavings and covered them with DE. I've also covered the dirt floor with DE. I have hope--up to a point--that this will work, only because I have removed the affected birds. I've done all this work (with permethrin) more times than I care to count over the last two years.
A big question I have is where do the mites come from? I have two other coops that are not affected; all those hens are just fine.

 

[jmscheshire]

Canyoncito: often, it is mites from wild birds that can infect the chickens. In a perfect world, it is best to protect the flock from being around wild birds, but this is difficult to do if they free range and/or if their run has openings wide enough to let birds in (or near the fencing). I still struggle with the mite problem for my flock, I realize I probably can't totally eradicate them, but I can treat the chickens to keep it more manageable. In addition to the sulphur (or sulfur) dips in the summer, I'm finding that Vaseline and olive oil really help. I slather it on their legs and toes really well, put it on any exposed skin and even the feathers somewhat (plus Vaseline and olive oil isn't as stinky as sulphur and not nearly as toxic as some of the treatments people recommend). The application needs to be 2-3 times per week. Smothers the mites.

 

[canyoncito]

Thanks for the input. Good luck with your birds.

 

[Lewis Farms]

YES!! Thank you!!! NO ONE talks about this. I am going to start sulfur treatment asap to see if this is what it is!!!

 

[Mtn Laurel]

AKA "Depluming mite". They're so small and burrow under the skin so you never see the stinkers. You just get bald chickens.

Went through the same thing with one of my gals and finally figured it out. I used Ivermectin with two applications based 10 days apart. I also made sure she had access to a dusting bin that had a good bit of wood ash in it. She had that before but I wasn't adding the ash as often. Thankfully, it seems to have worked as she's begun to get fuzz on her butt however it has taken a while. It's my understanding that some of the feathers may not come back until after her next molt.

Got some feather fixer feed and none of my girls will touch the stuff. May have to sneak it into their fermented feed to get rid of the stuff. Just happy that the Ivermectin seems to have worked for now.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Canyoncito: often, it is mites from wild birds that can infect the chickens. In a perfect world, it is best to protect the flock from being around wild birds, but this is difficult to do if they free range and/or if their run has openings wide enough to let birds in (or near the fencing). I still struggle with the mite problem for my flock, I realize I probably can't totally eradicate them, but I can treat the chickens to keep it more manageable. In addition to the sulphur (or sulfur) dips in the summer, I'm finding that Vaseline and olive oil really help. I slather it on their legs and toes really well, put it on any exposed skin and even the feathers somewhat (plus Vaseline and olive oil isn't as stinky as sulphur and not nearly as toxic as some of the treatments people recommend). The application needs to be 2-3 times per week. Smothers the mites.

The wild birds love to "visit" my gals in their pen, sneaking in through the 2 x 4 inch welded wire. I'm going to be adding deer netting over top of the welded wire to keep them out. Just too many bugs and diseases carried by wild birds for my liking.

 

[canyoncito]

My chickens stayed clean of those dang mites for about 6 months and now they are back again. I think the sulfur dip really helped so when it gets warmer, I'm going to do the flock again. I found that I can dip 17 birds without getting exhausted if I have five-gallon buckets set up and ready to go. One for soapy water, one for rinse water, and one for sulfur dip. I will try to remember to video tape it next time I do it, probably around June when it's good and hot here.
Someone asked about regrowing feathers. The birds will only regrow them if they are completely gone. If they're just broken, you have to wait for a molt.

 

[Sunflowergirl]

My chickens stayed clean of those dang mites for about 6 months and now they are back again. I think the sulfur dip really helped so when it gets warmer, I'm going to do the flock again. I found that I can dip 17 birds without getting exhausted if I have five-gallon buckets set up and ready to go. One for soapy water, one for rinse water, and one for sulfur dip. I will try to remember to video tape it next time I do it, probably around June when it's good and hot here.
Someone asked about regrowing feathers. The birds will only regrow them if they are completely gone. If they're just broken, you have to wait for a molt.

I dislike this particular mighty MITE!!!

I had chickens that had this problem. I did EVERYTHING under the sun! I actually used sulfur powder that you mixed up. However it did not go into solution very well. I wound up moving. Culled the birds. Moved my coop with me. Let it sit for a year. Finally got babies and now they are showing signs of this mite!!! I am going to try this lime sulfur dip! I know the powdered sulfur stunk to high heaven!
On your dunking set up, do you do in order that you listed: soapy water, rinse water, sulfur dip water?