Hello everyone,
I am sure this has been asked plenty of times, but has anyone heard of something I can add to a chicken's drinking water for mites? Otherwise, what can I do to help them out? They are not keen on being handled and frankly, I do not want to chase after them. Even when they are roosting at night - they are still aware of everything and run around the coop.
I know treating the premise is important and once this upcoming storm passes I plan on treating it with permethrin and adding some powder to their substrate (I have sand in the coop)
I thought I had the mite situation under control, but recently due to warmer weather, it seems like things have skyrocketed.
I know mites are more of something to control and almost impossible to eradicate - especially since I allow free-ranging.
But all last year I struggled with egg production - and I have 4 hens, last year before a fox attack it was around 13 laying hens. Currently, I know only one is laying (my only EE so I know for sure its her) and all are under 2 years old. I am tempted to just cull and restart.
Could their reason for poor production be mites? They don't seem anemic as their combs and waddles are still red - especially during the warmer weather. They still roost at night on the bars and the one hen that is laying does lay in the boxes. I clean out the poop weekly from the coop as well.
I am sure this has been asked plenty of times, but has anyone heard of something I can add to a chicken's drinking water for mites? Otherwise, what can I do to help them out? They are not keen on being handled and frankly, I do not want to chase after them. Even when they are roosting at night - they are still aware of everything and run around the coop.
I know treating the premise is important and once this upcoming storm passes I plan on treating it with permethrin and adding some powder to their substrate (I have sand in the coop)
I thought I had the mite situation under control, but recently due to warmer weather, it seems like things have skyrocketed.
I know mites are more of something to control and almost impossible to eradicate - especially since I allow free-ranging.
But all last year I struggled with egg production - and I have 4 hens, last year before a fox attack it was around 13 laying hens. Currently, I know only one is laying (my only EE so I know for sure its her) and all are under 2 years old. I am tempted to just cull and restart.
Could their reason for poor production be mites? They don't seem anemic as their combs and waddles are still red - especially during the warmer weather. They still roost at night on the bars and the one hen that is laying does lay in the boxes. I clean out the poop weekly from the coop as well.