Hi all,
I had a few mites appear in my coop last week. They weren't red but I assumed that's because I always put the additive in their water. I smoke bombed, sprayed and put D-earth literally everywhere, food, coop, perches, run, on them, everywhere in the garden that they have a dust bath - the works! And all seemed well again. They don't peck at themselves and are happy to be in the coop. I've only had chickens for two years and this is my only second outbreak. However, when I cleaned them out yesterday I noticed that there were clusters of them in the corners of the nesting box and there were quite a few on my arms etc. I was really surprised as I hadn't noticed them on a daily basis whilst collecting eggs and chickens were all still happy. The only thing I had noticed though is that egg production was slightly down. So I repeated the above process and really went to town. All chickens went back in voluntarily at the end of the day and I planned on repeating the process in three days time (as now I've used everything up and have had to order more of it all!) So today I go to let them out and one of my chickens has laid what I now know to be a lash. It was under the perch and I knew straight away it wasn't a poop. I took it out and to my horror it had mites on it - some red, some not. So have they crawled on or have they come from inside the chicken??? I have googled what lashes are and depending on what you read some say not to worry and others say they can mean the chicken is really sick. Does anyone else have experience of lashes? This is the first time I've seen one and until this morning I didn't even know they existed. I had to get rid of it quickly as one of them came out and tried to eat it. So I guess my overall question is, could this be related to the mites, the mite treatment (which is all organic) or just a coincidence? Sorry for all the questions but this is a new one for me!
I had a few mites appear in my coop last week. They weren't red but I assumed that's because I always put the additive in their water. I smoke bombed, sprayed and put D-earth literally everywhere, food, coop, perches, run, on them, everywhere in the garden that they have a dust bath - the works! And all seemed well again. They don't peck at themselves and are happy to be in the coop. I've only had chickens for two years and this is my only second outbreak. However, when I cleaned them out yesterday I noticed that there were clusters of them in the corners of the nesting box and there were quite a few on my arms etc. I was really surprised as I hadn't noticed them on a daily basis whilst collecting eggs and chickens were all still happy. The only thing I had noticed though is that egg production was slightly down. So I repeated the above process and really went to town. All chickens went back in voluntarily at the end of the day and I planned on repeating the process in three days time (as now I've used everything up and have had to order more of it all!) So today I go to let them out and one of my chickens has laid what I now know to be a lash. It was under the perch and I knew straight away it wasn't a poop. I took it out and to my horror it had mites on it - some red, some not. So have they crawled on or have they come from inside the chicken??? I have googled what lashes are and depending on what you read some say not to worry and others say they can mean the chicken is really sick. Does anyone else have experience of lashes? This is the first time I've seen one and until this morning I didn't even know they existed. I had to get rid of it quickly as one of them came out and tried to eat it. So I guess my overall question is, could this be related to the mites, the mite treatment (which is all organic) or just a coincidence? Sorry for all the questions but this is a new one for me!
