California - Northern

[juststruttin]

Today we found my daughters Bantam Leghorn cock dead. Last night, he looked like the picture above and we moved him inside. We believe it was from red mites. He has always been sensitive to mites, if that's possible. He would get them even when yhe others didn't and they were very hard to erradicate on him. We treated him for mites 6 days ago: dusted him with Sevin, treated with Revolution, changed his bedding and sprayed his coup with Sevin. He was holding his own this week and was eating and drinking. We were giving him Nutradrench. Yesterday, I retreated him as the second round for newly hatched mites. His poop was normal, but yesterday I purchased Ivermectin to give him as a last ditch effort.

Today, even though none of my other birds have mites, I will dust them all again.

We are pretty sad about the whole thing and all the effort we put out to save Hercules. If anyone has any words of wisdom, we would love to hear them. Could we have done a better job? Are some chickens more susceptible?

I am very sorry to hear about your rooster. Your daughter must be devastated.

I no longer use Ivermectin as I think it killed a couple of my birds. I would send him to UC Davis to see if he has liver damage.

 

[juststruttin]

I am so sorry you lost your beautiful boy! How sad! They do make a product called Dienomite strips that you hang in front of the nesting boxes and door (small entry hole) of your coop that is permeated with pyrethrin. When it brushes against the chickens back it deposits the pyrethrin on their feathers and in turn kills the mites that are on them. I think you need to get the mites under control with spraying the coop and then the Dienomite strips help keep them off your chickens.

Good luck!

pyrethrin has an 8 day egg withdrawl so it should not be used every day.

 

[Audio51]

This just makes me appreciate each if you more. That our kids can come here and good people are looking out for them.

We would all want that for our kids!

 

[chrissyr]

Ok from now on weigh the eggs. And have we calibrated all your thermometers? In anything other then an exemplary incubator however you have to expect on adverage 30% on shipped eggs.
Im sorry mt first hatches were terribad and it is always heartbreaking.

what is the weight loss for chickens. i know muscovies are .028% loss per week, but haven't been weighing my chicken eggs

 

[juststruttin]

I will definitely get some Dienomite strips, when I find them. This whole thing is not just sad....it's disgusting. I want to burn my clothes.

I just checked all three of my coops and all 25 chickens. No mites. Luckily Hercules was in His own coop.

You can get liquid concentrated pyrethrin and use a spray bottle. I find the liquid Pyrethrin is better for treating coops than the powder as the liquid drips down into the cracks. I spray it in every nook and cranny. It is great for walls and under roost where powder does not stick. Also, leaving power around your coops for your birds to breath is not good for them.

You can also spray the chickens with it. I prefer it over the powder as you do not have to pick up each chicken, you can spray down the line when they are sitting on the roosts. I can literally treat 50 chicken in less than 5 minutes. Great stuff. Wear gloves as it drips all over your hands.

 

[WendyJeepchick]

Great advice Deann. Thank you!

 

[ronott1]

pyrethrin has an 8 day egg withdrawl so it should not be used every day.

Use permethrin. Many source say no withdrawal for eggs. 5 days for eating swine meat so I would probably not eat the chicken for 5 days but the eggs should be ok.

 

[ronott1]

This may help with lice, mites and worms:

 

[chrissyr]

I was just reading on the BBS marans thread that some use VERY low humidity. A couple add nothing until lockdown. I read 20-25% for someone else as well. Not sure if the high humidity in other states plays into that. Anyone around here do that?

 

[ronott1]

I was just reading on the BBS marans thread that some use VERY low humidity. A couple add nothing until lockdown. I read 20-25% for someone else as well. Not sure if the high humidity in other states plays into that. Anyone around here do that?

Yes it does. I some states no water will still be 40% humidity.

Going lower than 30% is not recommended.