First Time Chicken Mom Planning

[AudreyP]

We recently got 10 chicks! They are now 3 weeks old. I know mites can get pretty bad in zone 7. How do I prepare for this and prevent mites and lice from the get go? Do I need to put drops on them and 7 dust the ground? I have no clue. What age do I need to start medicating and deworming? We have small children, so I don’t want too crazy poisonous chemicals around, but I want what works best. Thanks, any advice is appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do not pretreat for anything. I only treat when I see a reason to treat. I've never treated for mites or lice because I've never seen any on my chickens. That includes when I was in zone 7 in Arkansas. I check regularly, there is a risk. I've never wormed my chickens because I've never seen any worms. I raise mine for meat. When I butcher, eight or nine different times a year, I check the guts for tapeworms or roundworms, I've never seen any.

My kids left home many years ago. I still don't want chemicals around. I don't want poisons harming beneficials. I don't want to help create superbugs where treatment doesn't work when you actually need to treat.

I try to strengthen their immune system. I don't try to raise them in a totally sterile environment. They are going to have to live in their environment someday, I want them ready for that. The brooder needs to stay dry, they need clean water, and don't let the poop build up. I'm not saying to rise them in a filthy environment, they need to be kept clean. I collect some dirt from the run where the adults are and feed them a little of that dirt in the brooder. This gets grit in their system, gets them started on developing flock immunities while they are in a healthy dry brooder where they are easy to observe, and it gets probiotics the adults have into their systems. If you don't have adults you wont get the benefits of probiotics but they can still get some of the other benefits.

 

[AudreyP]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I wasn’t sure if I had to deworm them or prevent their area from infestations from the beginning. I will wait until it becomes necessary and keep their ground dry and clean.