Maine

[quailtrail]

Some times I amaze myself at how strong I can be!!!

lol!!!!

 

[MustardTiger]

Welcome 100acre!

Ohh I wonder if the Windham Blueseal will have keets...I might just have to call and find out. because I need more birds of course!
I am hotly anticipating the arrival of my McMurray order in a little over a week. It will be interesting to sort all the chicks since I have ordered some for other folks on here too.

My chickens seem to be molting and/or have mites. I think it is both. I only saw what could possible by a mite on my one broody BUT I assume they will be elsewhere. I have never wormed or treated these guys for mites before so we are into step one of the process with Wazine and then will be ivermectin pour on. I have seen no trace of worms but I want to treat these girls before my chicks come.

Waiting for the garden to dry out enough to till is Killllllllling meeeeeee!

I have planned a 3 day trip to camp in June and I am concerned about my chicks. I am going to have to do some searching to find a friend who I can trust with taking care of them for a few days. None of my friends are um....country folk....so I doubt they have ever even seen a chicken up close!! I need to start a chicken sitting service.

 

[ashandvine]

Knights in Richmond. He always has GREAT prices, is friendly and has fresh stock which I really appreciate. I travel a little bit to get to him but I would recommend him over anyone in the area. And so do many locals which is how I found him

Mites are abound and if you are serious about your investment you won't bother with powders or dust. Ivermectin drops or Frontline. End of story. If you are worried about chemicals and all that you should go with the Ivermectin. It has a very short spectrum and short life in the bird so it doesn't effect much other than the targeted crawlies and not for long so be sure to repeat again in 7-10 days. Another route that is not as sure is to wash the bird every few days and apply tea tree or lavender [I go with Tea] to the birds crest, hackles, between the legs, under the wings and over the vent. You will want to do this every few days for as many weeks as you see bugs. Put down borax [totally natural and can be bought at the regular hardware or home depot stores] into the run after you have removed all straw and loose wood. Seal your roosts with shellac of some kind or a stain even. Put down some pine needles and some lavender or rip open a few bags of your chamomile tea and throw that all in the bedding. Lemon balm, mint, penny royal, sage, flea bane when its growing but it isn't yet, all are helpful as well.

I hope a few more of you have marked your calendar for the show on the 25. I am so freaking excited to show my Orloffs. They are not perfect but they aren't bad and its about darn time some folks saw them... and probably my Java as well. She is far from perfect but when else are you going to see one if you don't own them?

 

[IZZYBELLA]

For those of you whose chickens have mites, can you actually see the bugs? I wondered if my girls had mites last year and ended up treating with Frontline, but I never did see bugs. Just wondering how obvious they are.

 

[lazy gardener]

The mite I'm familiar with is the red mite. It looks like a little round spider, a bit crunchy when you squish it. I never saw them on my birds, but did find some on my eggs, and when I went out to check on the girls at night, I'd hear them stamping their feet on the roosts. I did complete coop and run clean out x 2, treated with ivermectin pour on x 2, used permethrin in the coop, run, and nest boxes x 2, then dusted them with permethrin just to be sure. Treatments spread apart by 7 - 10 days, entire treatment lasted about a month. I hauled all of the bedding to the dump, except for the grass clippings in the run. They were wrapped in poly, heavily dusted with permethrin, watered down, and had some urea mixed in to make them extra hot. I just couldn't bear to part with all of that good black gold.

 

[quailtrail]

@ashandvine @lazy gardener ok thanks. I will just "do it". How long should we not eat the eggs? And can they eat them at least? Where can I find the ivermectin? Frontline which kind?

 

[lazy gardener]

You can find Ivermectin at Tractor supply. It's a pour on... designed for cattle. I believe I used 5 drops per LF bird to the back of the neck. (Part the feathers so you get it on the skin, the goal is to get it where they won't be able to reach it when preening.) Double check your dosage. I believe the standard withdrawal time is 2 weeks, and you can feed the eggs back to the girls. Some people do not observe a w/d time, but that's up to you. You'll have to do some homework regarding the use of either product. Both uses are "off label." If you have red mites, it will be important to treat the perches so the mites can't cross over to get to the girls as they roost at night. A paste of permethrin in the cracks is a nice deterrent. What exactly have you seen that indicates that you have creepy crawlies?? If you don't have any, it would be a shame to go to the expense and work of treating the flock and coop/run.

 

[quailtrail]

You can find Ivermectin at Tractor supply.  It's a pour on... designed for cattle.  I believe I used 5 drops per LF bird to the back of the neck.  (Part the feathers so you get it on the skin, the goal is to get it where they won't be able to reach it when preening.)  Double check your dosage.  I believe the standard withdrawal time is 2 weeks, and you can feed the eggs back to the girls.  Some people do not observe a w/d time, but that's up to you.  You'll have to do some homework regarding the use of either product.  Both uses are "off label."  If you have red mites, it will be important to treat the perches so the mites can't cross over to get to the girls as they roost at night.  A paste of permethrin in the cracks is a nice deterrent.  What exactly have you seen that indicates that you have creepy crawlies??  If you don't have any, it would be a shame to go to the expense and work of treating the flock and coop/run.

I haven't seen anything other than a lot of preening.

 

[quailtrail]

I haven't been able to catch one to look. I plan on doing so tonight after they are roosting as both myself and DH are here.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

@ashandvine @lazy gardener ok thanks. I will just "do it". How long should we not eat the eggs? And can they eat them at least? Where can I find the ivermectin? Frontline which kind?

I used the 50-100 lb dog frontline, because that is what I had on hand. I just did one drop way up under each wing. In researching it, I'm not sure that the frontline is proven... it's certainly off-label. If it is an issue for me again, I will likely try the ivermectin pour-on. Just a heads-up that the people at the store might try to talk you out of buying ivermectin for chickens, so just be strong. With frontline I didn't eat the eggs for 3 days... figured I get more touching my dog than I do from the eggs, so I didn't withhold long.

Hope you don't find any tonight!