OK, seems like I have a lull in the workload .. time to catch up on many, many posts! Sorry for the long post!
Liz I am pleased to hear your trip went well and I love the picture of Reggie on the beach. Frankie’s rehoming sounds positive. How sad to read of Patti’s loss
but good to know that Desi is doing well.
IC Congratulations on Cenere being Chicken Picture of the Week! Love the bubs!
MM congrats on the first place!
TG congrats on the bubs, sorry to read of your loss though! That little guy is adorable!
Silkie sexing? Pretty much wait until they lay an egg or crow and that could be 8 months! Even the experts have dramas with the Silkies.
Oh My Goodness, a week or so from H*%$ .. where do I begin?!
Thursday, I’m a bit itchy, got a few lumps on me, I’m thinking I could just be a bit sweaty from the humid weather we have been having or because I could not get my normal washing softener, reacting to the new softener, developing a rash. So I didn’t think much of it until Friday when Joel was also complaining of an itch. #1 Son was not having a problem.
I will just mention here that I am vigilant with my lice and mite treatment and as you know, have had chickens for a number of years now with no lice/mite issues (except one very minor issue with Cilla on eggs). I keep the coops very clean and check the girls regularly. Pestene (mite and lice dust) is a monthly given and I also use pest resistant straw in the nest boxes + Pestene. I also am not seeing anything on the eggs I am collecting from the nest box so while in the back of my mind, I am not convinced that this is chicken related.
Saturday, I wandered out to the coop to open the door and let the girls out, look down at my hands after touching the coop door and I have a couple of what I assume to be mites on my hands! Hhhhm, not good! So I look inside the coop and the walls, floor and roost are alive!
You have to be kidding me, where the h*%$ did these things come from? They were not there the day before!
Hours and hours and hours of research indicate that these are not red mite as red mite are nocturnal, live in the cracks of the coop and only bite the birds at night. Bird mite, however, live on the bird and generally only look for a new host when the previous host vacates the nest.
So here is where I am confused, I have Pestene in the nests, no signs of mites on the gals but the coop is covered in them!! Of course, I am freaking out and generally feeling like a bad chicken mum.
Anyways, the gals got a Pestene dusting, the coop got stripped down completely after a dosage of water+cooking oil+detergent mix to suffocate them and then was washed down with soapy water; nest boxes emptied, cleaned and straw replaced. Then the walls and cracks were given a healthy dose of diluted Neem Oil (upsets the breeding cycle) and Pestene was dusted pretty much everywhere also.
I’m still freaking out and feeling quite ill at this stage. I went through about 4 changes of clothes while cleaning the coop and washed everything I could get my hands on.
Sunday, I wander outside to mow the lawns and because of the vinyl swimming pool not coping well with the whipper snipper
, I sit on the lawn to manually trim the grass around the pool and look down at my legs, these things are on me, from the lawn!!
Nothing in the coop now that I can see, no repeat of the walls being covered in them, nothing on the roost, sticking my hand in the nest box comes up clean, other than Pestene dust but I am still picking up 3-4/day off the lawn.
Bed sheets are getting washed daily, everything that comes in from the garden gets thoroughly inspected (I have found a couple on the bottom of the washing basket from where it has sat on the lawn). When the girls go out for their afternoon free range, the coop walls get another dosage of diluted Neem Oil. Magnifying glasses are a permanent addition to my person.
I am feeling a lot better now as I am not finding anywhere near the numbers that I was but this has been nothing short of a nightmare to the point that I considered getting rid of the gals (for a second!) and burning the coops!!
Of note, we have had no new bites from the initial issue Thursday.
Have I p*ssed them off cleaning out the coop and they are now moving across the garden? Are they not even from the coop and maybe moved to the coop from some deserted nest in one of the many trees around the place? The bites we got could be from the garden and then they found the coop? Are they even bird mite? Did they come in on that pesky Bush Turkey?. Am I just finding 4-5 a day now because I am super paranoid? Have there always been a few around the place? I don’t know but from then on I have been coming in from the garden and throwing my clothes in the washing machine and having a shower.
Anyways, I am still daily doing a Neem oil spray and dusting the roost. Saturday I am off outside to strip down the coop once again and repeat the washing, Neem Oil and dusting of both coops and chickens and another straw change and washing of the nest boxes!
I still cannot shake this bad chicken mum feeling
On a happy note, Cilla is totally broody-broken and is even squatting! Everyone is getting along well now, no fights and the order appears to be reestablished with poor ole LuLu down the bottom!
Again, sorry for dropping off the grid and hope I did not worry anyone .. I was really feeling overwhelmed, pressured, guilt etc. While the war continues, I appear to be winning and will not give up!
also some beards and muffs. They all look silkie like which should make it easier to find homes for the extras. @Teila when and how do you tell silkie sex??
