Mites and Chicks

[barredbeans7]

My silkie hen has mites and has gone broody. she will be hatching the eggs soon and I was wondering, does it affect the chicks if she has mites? when they hatch should I separate them?

 

[suebee]

Yes! I would take her off the nest and dust her with 5% sevin dust. The eggs will be fine because most broodies get off the nest every day to eat, drink, dust bathe, etc. Also replace the nest with fresh bedding. Mites can kill.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Agree, you need to take care of the mites before the chicks hatch.

 

[barredbeans7]

could I use DE

 

[suebee]

Yes, food grade DE although not as effective as Sevin.

 

[barredbeans7]

thankyou.... I have a kiddie pool full of DE and my chickens bathe in it and also I fill the nesting boxes with DE to help get rid of mites there...but to be extra safe I will manually apply worry-free sevin dust to my broody hen....do you think that that will work because the chicks are hatching in 3 days?

 

[Kelsie2290]

If you have three days before the eggs hatch I would be inclined to change out the bedding/nest and use sevin on the hen and area now, and change out all the sevin dusted bedding again a day or so before the chicks hatch.

 

[barredbeans7]

Thank you ..I had little seven dust left so I used DE and the last bit of seven dust...I know it won't rid of the mites but I hope it makes it easier for the chicks

 

[barredbeans7]

Could I take the eggs a day before hatch date and put them under a heat lamp so they can hatch and I don't have to worry about the mite thing?

 

[whittychick]

Whe

Yes! I would take her off the nest and dust her with 5% sevin dust. The eggs will be fine because most broodies get off the nest every day to eat, drink, dust bathe, etc. Also replace the nest with fresh bedding. Mites can kill.

where do I get 5% sevin dust?