Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

If someone came to my farm and told me not to eat my chickens I'd be ****** off.

I'm not certain why certain groups feel the need to be pushy and intrusive. Back when I was a full vegetarian all I had the need to say was "no thank you", when some one offered me a meat product.

And for the record, I have no interest in telling anyone what to eat and what not.

 

[scandiafowl]

If you want a good giggle.. Look up the chicken rescue group in Minneapolis who feed hormones to their rescue chickens so they won't lay eggs.

 

[cottonlouie]

So I'm reading about lice and mites and getting obssessed. I am freaked out by bugs. I have 2 barred rock hens, old, still occassionally laying eggs. They have very poopy butts. They came to us last spring as older hens that a friend didn't want and had poopy butts then but it cleared up for the most part over the summer. Now it's back. Bad. Their combs are red and they have lovely feathers. Their poop looks completely normal. The rest of the flock doesn't have poop butts. Do they just have a problem?

Never mind. It's definitely lice.

 

[lilmynx13]

If you want a good giggle.. Look up the chicken rescue group in Minneapolis who feed hormones to their rescue chickens so they won't lay eggs.

If chickens arnt for eggs or food... what are they for?? There are very few I would have considered a pet.

 

[cottonlouie]

So, lice. I will be treating the birds tomorrow and cleaning out the coop. With a dirt floor I can't clean like all the articles are suggesting- scrubbing the walls and such. Will it be enough to get all the bedding out and dust the floor, nest boxes, and roosts?

 

[scandiafowl]

So, lice. I will be treating the birds tomorrow and cleaning out the coop. With a dirt floor I can't clean like all the articles are suggesting- scrubbing the walls and such. Will it be enough to get all the bedding out and dust the floor, nest boxes, and roosts?

Can you post photos? I'm curious what they look like in real life.

Am sorry you have to deal with this.

 

[cottonlouie]

Can you post photos? I'm curious what they look like in real life.

Am sorry you have to deal with this.

They honestly look like the pictures. That's how I know. There are egg sacks on the tail feather bases by the vent. I will attempt pics tomorrow. Honestly, it's pretty bad and I'm embarrassed as heck I let it get like this.

 

[scandiafowl]

They honestly look like the pictures. That's how I know. There are egg sacks on the tail feather bases by the vent. I will attempt pics tomorrow. Honestly, it's pretty bad and I'm embarrassed as heck I let it get like this.

It's not like the things jump at you and announce themselves. They aren't always easy to identify.

 

[Minniechickmama]

@cottonlouie are the eggs white or brown? If they are white, it is lice and you can catch a glimpse of them if you look in the feathers around the vent area, they are a whitish little bug.
Mites, feather type, are brown and their eggs are like brown dirt stuck to the feathers. That is what I have been dealing with. I had hoped by now I would have been able to wash everyone and give them a dunk in the flea dip. With the stuff going on with my son, and then the catching up with everything else and daughter's dance comp this weekend, that hasn't happened yet. That is all on my agenda for Monday. I just plan the most fun stuff to do, don't I?

 

[lalaland]

cotton louie and minniechickmama,

I went back to a sulphur dust box for the chickens after having lice twice in 6 months. Dirt, wood ash from my wood stove, and a cup of sulphur.
very effective! make sure it is pure sulphur, sometimes also called flowers of sulphur. works on any external parasite (mites and lice, I suppose fleas but haven't ever seen those on chickens).

another way is to put pure sulphur in their food for about 8 days. Its an old time remedy. Not to exceed 10% of the feed. Also a nice way to deal with it in the winter when cold has an impact on how you treat your chickens.

I also use sulphur on minor wounds, just a sprinkle, especially deep puncture wounds, so it is useful to have in the cupboard or barn.

avail on internet, garden centers. just make sure it is 100% sulphur, it is sold for lots of fungal and insect stuff and often junked up with stuff you don't want to put on chickens