- Nov 25, 2012
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HI,
I have and older flock in one coop with rooster, then in the spring we got a new flock of pullets with rooster in a newer adjoining coop.
The new young chickens started loosing and or pecking feathers. I have been keeping them dusted with DE. Didn't notice anything negative with the old girls/coop. Then about 2 months ago the New rooster died. I would rotate who got to get out for the day and free range. When he died, we just went ahead and let them all out together. We had a hen get broody and started setting on eggs. She hatched out 5 chicks, one died.
My questions and observations are:
Since letting the young ones free range more, they have begun to get new feathers. Now the older chickens are molting and loosing feathers. When the baby chicks hatched, we just integrated the other hens with the older ones and let the mom and chicks have the other coop. I have yet to see a mite or any infestation. Today we cleaned both coops. sprayed with vegetable oil and spinosid mix, new bedding pine shavings, then DE after it dried with pine shavings on top. I observed the mom and chicks scratching abit still, picked them all up and looked them over didn't appear to be buggy, DE on all of them, seems to be less scratching. I have suspected that the new flock had mites due to the feather loss, but I have not observed them? The chicks are 3 days old and mom is showing them to peck and scratch, they appear to be healthy. Will the De hurt the chicks on the floor? Have I done enough to get rid of a suspected mite thing? Oh one more detail we live in Texas where there have been over 100 degree temps for some time. Do I really need to burn the old bedding or just throw away and not use in the garden??
Thanks for any advice. Want to keep these birds healthy.
Linda
I have and older flock in one coop with rooster, then in the spring we got a new flock of pullets with rooster in a newer adjoining coop.
The new young chickens started loosing and or pecking feathers. I have been keeping them dusted with DE. Didn't notice anything negative with the old girls/coop. Then about 2 months ago the New rooster died. I would rotate who got to get out for the day and free range. When he died, we just went ahead and let them all out together. We had a hen get broody and started setting on eggs. She hatched out 5 chicks, one died.
My questions and observations are:
Since letting the young ones free range more, they have begun to get new feathers. Now the older chickens are molting and loosing feathers. When the baby chicks hatched, we just integrated the other hens with the older ones and let the mom and chicks have the other coop. I have yet to see a mite or any infestation. Today we cleaned both coops. sprayed with vegetable oil and spinosid mix, new bedding pine shavings, then DE after it dried with pine shavings on top. I observed the mom and chicks scratching abit still, picked them all up and looked them over didn't appear to be buggy, DE on all of them, seems to be less scratching. I have suspected that the new flock had mites due to the feather loss, but I have not observed them? The chicks are 3 days old and mom is showing them to peck and scratch, they appear to be healthy. Will the De hurt the chicks on the floor? Have I done enough to get rid of a suspected mite thing? Oh one more detail we live in Texas where there have been over 100 degree temps for some time. Do I really need to burn the old bedding or just throw away and not use in the garden??
Thanks for any advice. Want to keep these birds healthy.
Linda
