Lost my first chicken :-(

[fasschicks]

I am not sure what happened, but I lost my first girl tonight. Her name was Blueberry and she was a 1+ year old blue splash Ameraucana. When I got home from work, she looked very droopy and pale comb. I let the girls out into their outside pen and she barely made it out. I put some fresh water in a bowl for her and she was drinking pretty good and started to perk up. She wouldn't go into the co-op at bedtime, so I carried her in there. I checked on her an hour later and she had died.

Does this sort of thing just happen? Does it sounds like something I should be worried about for my other 10 girls? They all seem fine except they seemed a bit concerned when I found her tonight.

Any thoughts from the folks experienced with this?

Wendy

 

[buffalochicks]

Did you check for mites? That is how my chicken died. very sad.

 

[fasschicks]

I feel like an idiot, but I am not even sure what mites look like. How should I treat them? Can we still eat the eggs?

 

[buffalochicks]

Mites are little black insect looking flea type bugs. My chickens had them, they suck the life out of the hens!! We had a bucket of DE from our pool, so we dusted the infected chickens and gave them cat food to fatten them up! We saved the flock, but lost one You have to check them all by grabbing them by the feet and tipping them upside down to look under the feathers. If they have mites you will see them!! We also took the infected chicks out of the coop until they were mite free!!
Kaiden

 

[fasschicks]

I was just out and checked one of my healthy girls. You were right. She has mites and lice. Every couple weeks, I throw our DE into their dust bathing area, but it had rained a lot, so not sure if that was helping anything. I got 3 new girls 2 months ago and wonder if they brought it in.

Will the DE work in both mites and lice? I want to treat them right away so I don't loose any more. The girl that died was 1 of my new girls and was picked on a lot. The extra stress probably didn't help.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Folly's place]

You need to treat with permethrin, carbaryl, and maybe individually with ivermectin. How many birds do you have? Plan to treat all of them individually. Clean out the bedding, and apply either permethrin or carbaryl there, then new bedding. I am not willing to powder my birds after a BAD episode I had with breathing the dust myself. If you powder the birds, wear a really good dust mask. DE ain't enough IMO. Permethrin is the only product approved for use in chickens, and it works well. I lost birds one year to mites, and still feel guilty about it, so now I'm much more aggressive about managing the problem. Mary

 

[fasschicks]

Thanks, Mary and Kaiden. I got some Sevin today and dusted all 10 girls. They are not huge fans of that. Took all the bedding out and threw in the garbage. I sprayed the entire coop with liquid Sevin including the roost. Then put new pine bedding in and spread DE in the next boxes and litter. I took 2 bottles of the Sevin powder and spread that through the sand run and also where they dust bathe. I hope over the next couple days, everything will be gone and they will be feeling better.

It really saddens me that I let my girl down. I won't make that mistake again. They started to decline in egg production just after I got the 3 new girls in mid July. I don't know if that is shortened daylight hours or the lice and mites.

Do you think I covered all my bases or do I need to do more? I plan to dust in 7-10 days and dump litter again. Thanks again for all your guidance.

Wendy

 

[cafarmgirl]

I agree with Folly's place. For a mite infestation you need to pull out the big guns and treat it effectively and get rid of them. DE is just not going to do it. Also be sure to retreat both the coop and the birds in 7 to 10 days since that is the hatch cycle, treatment does not kill the mite eggs. So if you don't retreat at least once, maybe more, you are quickly right back where you started.

Fasschicks: Sorry to basically repeat what you already posted lol! My computer froze up and then my post went through...anyway, have your birds ever been dewormed? If not I would do that as well.

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

Thanks, Mary and Kaiden. I got some Sevin today and dusted all 10 girls. They are not huge fans of that. Took all the bedding out and threw in the garbage. I sprayed the entire coop with liquid Sevin including the roost. Then put new pine bedding in and spread DE in the next boxes and litter. I took 2 bottles of the Sevin powder and spread that through the sand run and also where they dust bathe. I hope over the next couple days, everything will be gone and they will be feeling better.

It really saddens me that I let my girl down. I won't make that mistake again. They started to decline in egg production just after I got the 3 new girls in mid July. I don't know if that is shortened daylight hours or the lice and mites.

Do you think I covered all my bases or do I need to do more? I plan to dust in 7-10 days and dump litter again. Thanks again for all your guidance.

Wendy

Sorry for your loss but I'm glad you found out the cause so you can take care of them problem. I'm all for using Sevin dust, I'd say you're off to a good start!

 

[Folly's place]

That's another reason to use ivermectin; it is a good intestinal wormer also. It doesn't get tapeworms, but they aren't much of a problem. Good work with the Sevin! Mary