Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Yeah panty line bites sound like chiggers to me as well. I don't think I have ever heard about chickens getting chiggers. Sevin is also effective against chiggers so it might not hurt to spread a little around. I use DE as a preventative but the birds can still get mites and such. I had a hen that was egg bound and found some on her even though I treat regularly. I need a day to treat them all again one by one. That is a job that takes hours unless I use ivermectin in the water.
I went out and watered and it took me forever. I still need to put some feed out.
And Welcome ZigZag45. We love having new people. Maybe the clothing on your 2 year old doesn't have retrictive places like the panty lines on the 5 year old. When I was a kid......a long long time ago. I remember panty lines, waist lines, and under my socks on my ankles were where I always got chiggers.
I came in here after watering to get a drink and found some poo on my computer table. I didn't see any bird. Then all of a sudden I had a peachick sitting on my head. I guess it decided to fly out of it's bin and research it's surroundings.
Time to get the cage set up for the larger ones outside!! I've been planning it anyway but it had been so hot I was afraid to move them. It is much nicer out there today.

 

[tweetybaby2005]

Holy cow! That was a yowza hot day yesterday. Literally too stifling to be ouside. I feel so sorry for the birds. I turned on the fans in the coop to keep air moving. I didn't do it until I got home from work so it was late. But I left them on till this morning. Those poor birds were panting hard! The 5-gallon water bucket was almost empty but fortunately the other 5-gallon bucket still has half of it left. I also put out a 1 gallon waterer and a medium sized pan of water for the ducks. The ducks actually learned to drink out of the water cups that installed to the 5-gallon bucket! It was just hillarious to see them spilling all the water out. They have a big kiddie pool to swim in and dunk their heads too! But they love to drink out of the cups. Silly birds!

zigzag - Welcome to BYC and the Kansas thread. Jump in with questions and make yourself at home. We talk just about anything and everything. Tell us more about your birds. We also love pictures.

I agree with Sharol. If you suspect your chickens have mites, lice, bugs, etc., Sevin is your best bet. I do use DE but only sprinkle them in the box and their dust bathing areas. When I see suspicious bugs on them, I bring out the big gun Sevin. Dust it twice (7 to 10 days apart) and your birds should be good to go. I did not withhold the eggs unlike when worming the birds.

We are giving DD another go at staying late at camp tonight. She had a fit when we did that 2 weeks ago. She is a stickler to routine. If her routine is changed, she can't handle it. But we need to continue to let her learn because the world doesn't adapt to her disabilities so we need to make sure she has the skills to cope with it. It is painful to send her off to camp daily because she is forced to social with her peers. But we all know how important social skills are so it is for the better that she learns to do so at camp.

It looks like the outside temp is actually pretty decent today! We didn't get any rain but I saw on the radar that lots of surrounding areas got them. Stay cool everyone. Birds included.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I went to let the ducks and geese out of their pen this morning and there was a huge snake curled up IN the pen! From what I read, the snake(s) won't harm the ducks and geese - is this correct? This snake was in the nest... I'm not caring about the eggs at all, but want to make sure my ducks and geese safe - are they safe to share their pen with snakes?

 

[zigzag45]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try and get some pictures. I happen to think my Brahmas are some good looking girls.

Re: Sevin - do I apply it to the birds or the yard? If to the birds I would guess the dust/shaker. If the yard, then probably the liquid. If I do the yard (or portions of it), do I need to keep the birds out of that portion of the yard? Do I dust/spray the inside of the coop.

I haven't seen any bugs/crawling things on the birds. I read a few places online that said chiggars do like chickens, but chiggar bites really slow down a chicken, they begin acting lethargic, not eating well, things like that. All of mine seem good, but it certainly seems like chiggar is the leading probably culprit.

Also, since I'm so new to this, I'm quite surprised how infrequently the girls return to their coop for food and water throughout the day. Even some of the hot days we've had, they maybe return to their house twice or so. Is that normal? Do I just trust that they know when they need food/water? Should I place a secondary water container out for them?

 

[chicken danz]

Zigzag you can use the powder every where and it's okay for the chickens, dogs, cats etc to get into. The only thing is it isn't good for fish and aquatic life. You can put it directly on the chickens and sprinkle it in the yard.
Chickens prefer to scratch around for food. They will go eat when they need to. When it is really hot a low container of water is great. They will stand in it to cool down. I often just put the lid to a plastic garbage can on the ground and fill it up with water if I don't have anything else available.
Snakes will eat eggs and baby chicks and ducklings. I would be getting rid of any I found in a nest.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I went to let the ducks and geese out of their pen this morning and there was a huge snake curled up IN the pen! From what I read, the snake(s) won't harm the ducks and geese - is this correct? This snake was in the nest... I'm not caring about the eggs at all, but want to make sure my ducks and geese safe - are they safe to share their pen with snakes?

We have a LOT of snakes in our general vicinity where I live in NW KS. I only have adult birds, and so far I haven't had any problems with snakes harming the birds. However, I do get nervous when I find them in the pen/nest area because I don't want them eating eggs and, therefore, being conditioned to continue coming back. The only snakes I really worry about with my birds are the poisonous ones (we have an abnormally high population of rattlesnakes in this area). With the rattlers, I'm worried about my birds being curious and getting themselves bitten. Otherwise, I think full-grown birds are too big for your average snake. I would even consider the birds to be too big for the 6' long bull snake I saw in the yard recently.

However, as Danz said... Snakes are a danger to eggs and young birds.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Snakes will eat eggs and baby chicks and ducklings. I would be getting rid of any I found in a nest.

But as far as my full grown ducks and geese - they're safe from what I've read - is that right?

 

[sunflowerparrot]

We have a LOT of snakes in our general vicinity where I live in NW KS. I only have adult birds, and so far I haven't had any problems with snakes harming the birds. However, I do get nervous when I find them in the pen/nest area because I don't want them eating eggs and, therefore, being conditioned to continue coming back. The only snakes I really worry about with my birds are the poisonous ones (we have an abnormally high population of rattlesnakes in this area). With the rattlers, I'm worried about my birds being curious and getting themselves bitten. Otherwise, I think full-grown birds are too big for your average snake. I would even consider the birds to be too big for the 6' long bull snake I saw in the yard recently.

However, as Danz said... Snakes are a danger to eggs and young birds.

I'm not worried about eggs/ducklings (I have eggs.. but no ducklings) I am selling my ducks/geese in a few months and not planning on having more until late next spring... I always raise them in the house and then move them a secure pen in the barn building. I just wanted to make sure the ducks and geese themselves are not in danger... I always heard geese will kill snakes - but this isn't what my geese did at all.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I have a lady here in town with chickens and I cant find this answer for her. Her hens have started shaking their heads and scratching at their heads. She said she already powdered them with sevin dust in case it was mites. Didn't hear if she actually checked for mites. But what would cause the head shaking and scratching? If the sevin dust got in their ears would it cause this or is it something else?

 

[lizzyGSR]

I'm not worried about eggs/ducklings (I have eggs.. but no ducklings) I am selling my ducks/geese in a few months and not planning on having more until late next spring... I always raise them in the house and then move them a secure pen in the barn building. I just wanted to make sure the ducks and geese themselves are not in danger... I always heard geese will kill snakes - but this isn't what my geese did at all.

Once or twice, we have found a snake in the pen with my birds (I have 4 ducks and 3 geese). I have personally never had a problem with it and wouldn't really worry about it unless you have a problem with poisonous snakes. Just recently, my birds discovered a large bull snake in the area and, out of curiosity, had it surrounded. I panicked because the bull snake looked like a rattlesnake from my vantage point. When my husband came around the corner of the house, the birds ran off. The snake and the birds all lived happily ever after.