Sorry, accidentally pushed post button...
I would recommend a fecal float to test for worm species count and load. Depending on the size of your barn you may be over crowded, which allows parasite and disease to flourish out of control. Did you see any sneezing, watery eyes... any symptoms you can think of?
What do you feed including treats and supplements? What is their source of grit? No access to the outside from the barn? What breed (s) are we talking about?
No judgement here on any of your answers... just looking for clues.
So they don't actually become roosters/hens until 1 year old. Prior to that they are pullets and cockerels. Just for informational purposes.
You say you added 6 new boys... what is your source? Are they NPIP certified? (It helps, but isn't perfect). Sounds like your source could be a possible source of the issue as well. But please note lice and mites/worms are part of the natural environment and as such any bird with outdoor access can get them... at anybody's house! The key is being vigilant. But that does not mean randomly treating all the time, because that creates resistance in the offending parasite.
Are you keeping the extra boys for eating, breeding, just for fun? Any signs in your hens?
What I do is treat my birds, then within the next day make sure all bedding is replaced. I might wait until things weren't frozen and then spray the walls with the permethrin spray, using the dusting as a stop gap measure. When you get to that point, people use a garden sprayer with the concentrate diluted properly. Those sprayers will work best for large applications. Mine is only a trigger spray bottle that I bought for under $10 and have treated 2 goats, 3 dogs, and 60+ birds for more than a year. I only spray my nest boxes and roost. And don't have much issues. Again, it can vary by season and some environments (weather wise) are just more hospitable than others. People can think their (stupid) DE bath is preventing the issues when in fact they may NOT have an issue, period. I think DE is over rated and over used and have seen proof that while it works on SOME bugs it will NOT work on infestations. I do think dirt bathing HELPS, but isn't perfect. Some people who live in frozen areas will put some soil into a tub for their birds. Like a cement mixing tub or even a large baking pan, or even an old tire (not my fave but works). You can improvise with whatever you have.
Very often the necropsy is free or cheap as a means of protecting our food supply chain. I feel as though the ONLY way you will know the likely truth is to send one in.
It can be a real challenge to care for that many birds, especially when it comes to treating for something. Guess how I know!
Hang in there and get help if you can. We ALWAYS do treatment after dark when the birds have gone to roost. We don't chase a single bird this way, though I have seen others it doesn't work for... it USUALLY does. We use a flashlight and work one bird at a time while others stay out on roost because it's dark and they can't see well. Even though I'm down to just over 20 birds now, we split up pens and do a pen a night or something like that to make it more feasible for us. With that many birds, if you don't have one already... I cannot express how valuable the head lamp style flash lights have been. Ours paid for themselves the first time we had a predator attack.
I know there is way too much info to keep everything straight sometimes. But hopefully it's helpful and if you miss something it's OK to ask again!
I would recommend a fecal float to test for worm species count and load. Depending on the size of your barn you may be over crowded, which allows parasite and disease to flourish out of control. Did you see any sneezing, watery eyes... any symptoms you can think of?
What do you feed including treats and supplements? What is their source of grit? No access to the outside from the barn? What breed (s) are we talking about?
No judgement here on any of your answers... just looking for clues.
So they don't actually become roosters/hens until 1 year old. Prior to that they are pullets and cockerels. Just for informational purposes.
You say you added 6 new boys... what is your source? Are they NPIP certified? (It helps, but isn't perfect). Sounds like your source could be a possible source of the issue as well. But please note lice and mites/worms are part of the natural environment and as such any bird with outdoor access can get them... at anybody's house! The key is being vigilant. But that does not mean randomly treating all the time, because that creates resistance in the offending parasite.
Are you keeping the extra boys for eating, breeding, just for fun? Any signs in your hens?
What I do is treat my birds, then within the next day make sure all bedding is replaced. I might wait until things weren't frozen and then spray the walls with the permethrin spray, using the dusting as a stop gap measure. When you get to that point, people use a garden sprayer with the concentrate diluted properly. Those sprayers will work best for large applications. Mine is only a trigger spray bottle that I bought for under $10 and have treated 2 goats, 3 dogs, and 60+ birds for more than a year. I only spray my nest boxes and roost. And don't have much issues. Again, it can vary by season and some environments (weather wise) are just more hospitable than others. People can think their (stupid) DE bath is preventing the issues when in fact they may NOT have an issue, period. I think DE is over rated and over used and have seen proof that while it works on SOME bugs it will NOT work on infestations. I do think dirt bathing HELPS, but isn't perfect. Some people who live in frozen areas will put some soil into a tub for their birds. Like a cement mixing tub or even a large baking pan, or even an old tire (not my fave but works). You can improvise with whatever you have.
Very often the necropsy is free or cheap as a means of protecting our food supply chain. I feel as though the ONLY way you will know the likely truth is to send one in.
It can be a real challenge to care for that many birds, especially when it comes to treating for something. Guess how I know!
Hang in there and get help if you can. We ALWAYS do treatment after dark when the birds have gone to roost. We don't chase a single bird this way, though I have seen others it doesn't work for... it USUALLY does. We use a flashlight and work one bird at a time while others stay out on roost because it's dark and they can't see well. Even though I'm down to just over 20 birds now, we split up pens and do a pen a night or something like that to make it more feasible for us. With that many birds, if you don't have one already... I cannot express how valuable the head lamp style flash lights have been. Ours paid for themselves the first time we had a predator attack. I know there is way too much info to keep everything straight sometimes. But hopefully it's helpful and if you miss something it's OK to ask again!
