D'uccle Thread

[ChickensAreSweet]

I haven't been on in ages,
Mites have ruined my year! Breeding and showing plans all by the wayside while everyone gets treated!
All because of one ****** squirrel who invaded my large coop where I had 3 of my best roosters wintering!

Then during the move and everyone being crowded until we got the coops moved, my porcelains got LICE!!!!!
How cursed am I? My one Porcelain rooster I kept who Didn't have mites, got LICE with the hens during the move process and while I have been busy with my job (40+ hrs/week plus husband and 2 kids). Lost one of my sweetest favorite roosters with adorable fluffy beard feet and personality to a Coon who managed to open his cage....Plus a mille Hen from an Owl who got in at night. I saw the owl the next night waiting.....

So now I have fortified all my coops and cages

So now my Porcelains are back in good shape minus the ones who got mites I am STILL trying to clear up and in their own separate coops. My one 'clean' porcelain rooster kept letting the hens pick his beard and legs bare and bloody so I put him in his own cage until he is done molting because I was really afraid he would let them pick him to death. Love him too much for that.

I did make the mistake of letting some broodies hatch some eggs and so I sold one of the hens with her brood, and the 4 I kept, one had a blind eye at birth and got pecked so has been in his own cage since that time- poor baby. Out of the 4 chicks I kept-- 3 are boys LOL.


So 2013 is definitely not my year, it has been the chicken vermin zombie apocalypse. I am FINALLY starting to make some progress with the mites, but it has been an intensive process that with moving and everything has been too much.

By the way, GypsyChic says she is no longer breeding D'uccles, so thought I would pass the word..........

I have also MOVED to a new house, and haven't even sold the old one yet, took forever to find one in St Louis area where I could keep my flock.

I hope to be back online next year!

Keep the breed going folks!

Teddi

I'll tell you, when my chickens get mites, if I don't throw out all the nestbox shavings AND all the shavings anywhere in the coop AND keep treating every 7 days until gone with permethrin dust (and shake the dust in the coop or spray it) they come right back.

Check to make sure you are doing all these things or you will have left a reservoir of mites.

Also, since I have switched to sand in the floor of the coop I have fewer mites. I don't have to throw my sand out each treatment...I just shake poultry dust into the sand.

I hope you can be free of them soon!

 

[Bantamlover124]

Soooo pretty!!! Your Porclein d'UCCLES are beautiful!!!

 

[Metella]

So are there any other good treatment for lice and mites ?

I don't have them, but this has been such a strange spring and summer for most us all over the country - that I actually want to lay in a stock of treatment for everything ! I have a flock of about 20 birds. (mixed but contains 6 D'uccles - bantam millies)

 

[Bantamlover124]

Lice/mites:
Umm, what I use is Adam's Flea and Tick Spray for Cats & Dogs and Seven Dust the shavings.

Scaly Leg Mites:
-Baby Oil
-Vaseline
-cooking spray

Best way to kill lice and mites:
Give your birds baths, make sure all except head are submerged for at least 2-3 minutes.
Scrub feathers with soap and spray with Adam's Flea and Tick spray afterwards, and dust the coop.

 

[CGinJCMO]

I just treated my chickens for lice and they are gone <knock on wood>. I butchered a LF rooster that wanted to use me as a pinata and I wasn't going to deal with that, but in the process of butchering him, found lice on him. Inspected the remaining LF hens and the three d'uccles but only found one LF hen and the d'uccle roo with them. I of course treated them all. I didn't have any money so I dumped half a box of baking soda in approx. 4 gallons of water and several good squirts of dish soap. After payday a week later, I went to pet store and bought flea & tick dip with permethrin (sp?) and used the tubs again to give them another bath with the dip in it. I also bought Sevin dust to add to the DE dust bath and Seven liquid to treat inside the coop. I'll probably do one more coop treatment for my peace of mind but I never did see any in the coop. I'm wanting to do deep litter method, but clearing out all the shavings makes it harder.

Meanwhile, I lost my d'uccle roo. His crow sounded like he had larengitis until one day he couldn't crow at all. I added antibiotics to the water but the next day he was dead. I don't know if the lice, the treatment, or something else got him. When he died, I did inspect him for lice and didn't find any so sounds like the treatment worked. The only thing that might have killed him (research led me to this) is a possible respirtory problem. I pried open his beak and there might have been some "snot" in there but not sure if it was normal moisture or excess. I think I'll try hatching eggs again before the hens lose his sperm. Teddi, too bad you aren't still in JeffCity or I'd take one of your extra cockerels off your hands.

CG

 

[FairLeaBantams]

Nice to know I'm not the only one with health situations! I have discovered that the wild birds in my area are infested with mites, so there is pretty much no way my chickens won't be exposed. My flock is in a chain link pen, so little sparrows are constantly flitting in and out. Plus mine free range during the day, so it's a lost cause. When I find wild baby birds or handle nests I see mites everywhere. UGH!! so, after doing the whole intensive cleaning thing several times only to have them come back I have a new method. Every night I dust 4 chickens with diatomaceous earth and I just rotate through the flock, (36 total). So far it seems to be working! I also have dust that they can get into whenever they want, but it seems that some chickens are better than others at taking advantage of that. Before I started this new system, I had mites really bad on a couple of cochins. For those guys I used some Sevin Dust and Ivermectin as well to get the problem under control. It seems like My D'uccles don't get the mites as bad as some other breeds I have, which is nice. And, roosters always have more than the hens do. As for lice, I had those a few years ago too, but they were relatively easy to get rid of with just dusting with Sevin and cleaning the coop.
I also deal with the respiratory issues! The minute I hear someone coughing, we go through a few days of Tylan treatments. Seems like it happens once a year, but once they get over it, they never get sick again and it's just the new babies or new aquisitions that get the "cold".
To top things off, I think I have lost a few birds to Mareks over the years, none in the last 6 months or so though. So, now I vaccinate all my chicks.
Sometimes I just want to throw my hands in the air and give up, but I just have so much fun with the chickens I can't live without them! I figure I am learning so much with each new experience, that's worth something. In fact, I have a new challenge with a mille roo that appears to have a clogged tear duct that I will need to drain. Anybody ever dealt with that before?

 

[Bantamlover124]

Do you mean "ear", because if that is what you said, then yes I have, my female Cochin bantam had a clogged ear, it was yellow and looked like dried egg, so I used a tweezers and pulled the crap out of her ears, every week, if you can, check on his ear and eventually they should get better.
Also, Theramiacin, or some sort of powder antibiotic can bring your bird back to health if it gets pale like mine did, then you should be fine.

 

[CGinJCMO]

I have a new challenge with a mille roo that appears to have a clogged tear duct that I will need to drain. Anybody ever dealt with that before?

See if you can find something on "eye worm"

I've seen a video of a chicken with eye worm being squeezed out like a pimple. (Yuck!)

Good Luck.
CG

 

[K Epp]

I have one Milli Fleur D'uccle pullet and just bought 4 more. 1 milli, 2 blue and a white. After looking at all your beautiful birds I wish I had gotten more.

 

[teddiliza]

Thank you for all the tips friends! I have lots of Sevin dust and have been dusting my Mille Rooster all week almost everyday along with his chicken hutch, I have the Flea and tick shampoo. Today he is getting a bath, and then will get ivermectin pour on after he dries out from his bath, then his hutch will get hosed out and he will hang out in a different cage for the next few days. Mites are a nightmare! The main thing I have lacked is time to treat but my husband and I decided NOT to go do work at the old house today before putting it on market in 2 weeks, so my chickens will get the extra attention they need today. I have been lucky regarding the other problems, no respiratory issues or Mareks to speak of. I am sorry you lost your rooster, I have another that is not reacting well to the Sevin dust, has been sneezing like crazy poor guy since I dusted their coop, but the hens have been ok. He is my oldest rooster though.