Hi! Just got a Free coop and some polish chickens.... Free....with mites

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cindi218

cindi218

Hatching
Jun 22, 2015
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Hello!! I'm all excited! A friend of mine just gave me a mobile chicken coop and 6 chickens and a Rooster. I've had cats and kittens...puppies and dogs... these are my first chickens EVER. I have 4 Polish, 2 regular chickens (I'm a newbie, I have no idea what I have yet) and the rooster. Plus one Pollish named Phyllis Diller that friends had that was getting bullied by their Rhode Island Reds. One of the polish chickens has a bald red head with feathers around the edge. (I call him Galliger) I'm guessing its mites, but I've only had them for 4 days now so they are still very scared from the move and the pickup ride. How can I treat this and what should I use on them to prevent this from spreading to the others? It looks like it would hurt. They haven't laid anything yet, but are starting to come when I feed and talk to them so I'm guessing they are seriously stressed out. I cleaned inches of poo out of their coop and put straw in their laying boxes. I feed them scratch and all the garden scraps/table scraps along with chicken pellets. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated??
 
Welcome to BYC!

Congrats on getting your first flock. If you haven't already, check out some of the excellent articles in the Learning Center. Here are a couple that deal with mites you'll want to read:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mites-lice-treatment-and-prevention

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mites-chicken-pests-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-mites

It will take time for the chickens to get over the stress of moving and mites so just keep gently working at it. Feed them a good poultry feed with no more than 10% of their diet being treats/scratch.

Good luck to you!
 
Beware of friends bearing roosters AND mites(the gift that keeps on giving.) Welcome to Backyard chickens. Sounds like 'this' friend may be getting a fruit cake for Xmas.
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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Congrats on the new flock but not all those yucky mites!!
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Definitely follow the links that NorthFLChick has left for you. You can use Ivermectin Pour On to treat the mites on the birds, but many mites get off the birds during the day only to feed at night. So you will need to treat all surfaces and cracks in the wood with a good permethrin spray or poultry spray. Clean out all bedding from nest boxes and spray or dust in there really well. Treat the roost bar especially and under neath the bar well too. Mites like to hide under the bar in cracks and come out at night to feed on the birds.

Every 5 days clean out all bedding and repeat the cleaning and spraying procedure.

The dosages for the Ivermectin Pour On are as follows:
1 drop - OEGB sized small bantam female
2 drops - OEGB sized small bantam male
3 drops - average bantams
4 drops - large bantams, small commercial fowl
5 drops - most commercial fowl, small giant hens
6 drops - giant breeds of chicken

They will look scruffy until their next molt. New birds are going to be nervous for a while. So keep the stress down around them. Use a ticking clock at night in the coop and play some soft classical music during the day on the radio. These help calm their nerves. Move slowly around your birds and don't try to pick them up for a while. Too scary. And go sit with them quietly on the ground on their level. Bring some goodies too so they know you have good intentions. Chickens learn by experience. So if all of your encounters are positive, they will warm up to you quicker.

They probably won't lay for a couple to a few weeks or until they feel comfortable. Put some fake eggs in the nest boxes so they know where you want them to lay and they will feel comfortable laying.

As for the bullying, Polish are often bullyied by all other chickens because they look different. The Top Hat looks funny to other chickens. So you may never be able to keep her with the others. For now, don't let them bully her and if she has open wounds, you will need to keep some neosporin (without the pain killer) on her wounds. Later after they are healed you can dab on some blu-kote with a q-tip to cover her bald spot so the others don't see it as the others will go after any wounds. Just keep on eye on them as you may need to keep her separate from the others permanently.

Good luck and welcome to our flock!
 
Congrats on entering the world of chicken keeping, and welcome to BYC!
The community here is really helpful, and can give advice on just about anything. The mite advice above is great. Sevin dust dusted onto their bodies and into their bedding helps with pest control in the coop, although spot treatment like the type mentioned above is sometimes necessary.
I hope you enjoy your stay on the forums!
 
Found Phyllis with her head buried in the dirt like an ostrich. Got her out and she was sooo scared. So she now is in a large dog crate in the spare room with the new kittens and puppy and seems happier there. We are building a new coop for her this weekend. Thanks everyone for the tips. Looks like the tractor supply store is my new BFF! :) I GOT MY FIRST BLUE EGG!! :)
 
cindi218 said:
Found Phyllis with her head buried in the dirt like an ostrich. Got her out and she was sooo scared. So she now is in a large dog crate in the spare room with the new kittens and puppy and seems happier there. We are building a new coop for her this weekend. Thanks everyone for the tips. Looks like the tractor supply store is my new BFF! :) I GOT MY FIRST BLUE EGG!! :)
Click to expand...
Congrats on that first egg!!! :)

Enjoy this new adventure and your new birds!
 

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