Chicks keep dying under mom’s care

[littlechickenmama17]

I've found that it is safe to use around all poultry and more, but to be on the safe side, Don't spray it too liberally around the coop. If it seems to work without making anyone ill, spray liberally or as much as you think you need.

 

[littlechickenmama17]

Also, if you want to be super safe from the mites as well, clean the coop inside and out with a good, natural cleaner, then add clean bedding and/or clean the mama hen with mite/lice spray if the problem is coming from the mama.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That sounds like you found the answer. A poultry science professor said that roost mites kill more broody hens than anything else. They can kill chicks too.

Roost mites hide by the day and come out at night. The best way to check for them is to use a flashlight to look at the vent area of the hen. You should see them scurrying away, trying to run from the light. Try to be quick so they don't have time to hide.

Read up on how to treat roost mites. Get an approved spray (at the feed store) and read the instructions. A mite spray for poultry should be very safe to use with chicks, a lot safer than leaving the mites to attack them. You'll need to clean out the bedding and because they can hide in it. Treat again in about 10 days, the spray kills the mites but not the mite eggs. Treating in 10 days should get the mites that hatch out before they lay more eggs.

 

[sarajanem]

Y’ALL an amazing thing happened tonight! I found the “bad mom” up in the coop tonight (normally the mamas nest on the ground in the coop and then I help them all up into the nesting/roosting area) and assumed she had left her last baby to die alone outside…but when I went to put the other mama and her babies up, the lone chick was underneath her with all the other babies so they seem to have figured it out all on their own. I’m so happy and charmed by my sweet mama hen.

 

[sarajanem]

Update: the adoptive mother only lets the chick sleep under her. In the morning, she pushes the chick away and the chick’s original mama takes care of her all day, then back under adoptive mama to sleep. I have never seen anything like this but the chick is alive and well, so we’re all just rolling with it.

 

[Iluveggers]

“Shared custody”