feasibleweasel
In the Brooder
First post! lmao
Anyway, this started weeks ago that I noticed that my smallest girl, Peepsy, wasn't looking too hot. The skin on her face is all cracked and somewhat puffy. She's going through her molt (at least I hope so) but she's also been picking at herself and I see a lot of white dots on her feathers. Unfortunately I don't have pictures because she doesn't let me get close to her. All my chickens hate being picked up or touched. How I got Peepsy for my profile picture is a wonder!
I know for a fact we have/had a mite problem. I've seen them crawling on my hand and today I cleaned out the entire coop, top to bottom, scrubbed, used vinegar for disinfectant, and then put anti-mite powder everywhere. I'll be checking daily for the mite problem and doing extra cleaning etc as needed.
But now my question is: Could we also have lice? And if yes, how do I take care of them? I saw something relatively big (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch) crawling on a different chicken, Lola and then I realized that 7 out of my 9 chickens are routinely scratching themselves, picking and biting. Lola and Peepsy also have little "holes" in their breasts where they picked out all the feathers.
My plan from here is to routinely check for bugs after today's big cleanup. I also set up a dust bath area with special sand to make sure the girls can get dusty despite all the rain we have. And I'm changing their diet to add more vitamins and nutrients in addition to the basic corn and seed we give them (oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, linseed, broccoli, spinach, cooked beans, etc.) and I've added for the moment a small amount of colloidal silver to their water and considered adding crushed garlic and/or apple cider vinegar. As a newbie I also want to ask if this is a good idea. I tend to overdo things when I get concerned and I don't want to be giving my chickens something that won't help at all.
Sorry for all the typing! TL;DR my chickens pick at themselves, I treated today for mites. Could they also have lice? If yes, recommendations please?
Anyway, this started weeks ago that I noticed that my smallest girl, Peepsy, wasn't looking too hot. The skin on her face is all cracked and somewhat puffy. She's going through her molt (at least I hope so) but she's also been picking at herself and I see a lot of white dots on her feathers. Unfortunately I don't have pictures because she doesn't let me get close to her. All my chickens hate being picked up or touched. How I got Peepsy for my profile picture is a wonder!
I know for a fact we have/had a mite problem. I've seen them crawling on my hand and today I cleaned out the entire coop, top to bottom, scrubbed, used vinegar for disinfectant, and then put anti-mite powder everywhere. I'll be checking daily for the mite problem and doing extra cleaning etc as needed.
But now my question is: Could we also have lice? And if yes, how do I take care of them? I saw something relatively big (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch) crawling on a different chicken, Lola and then I realized that 7 out of my 9 chickens are routinely scratching themselves, picking and biting. Lola and Peepsy also have little "holes" in their breasts where they picked out all the feathers.
My plan from here is to routinely check for bugs after today's big cleanup. I also set up a dust bath area with special sand to make sure the girls can get dusty despite all the rain we have. And I'm changing their diet to add more vitamins and nutrients in addition to the basic corn and seed we give them (oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, linseed, broccoli, spinach, cooked beans, etc.) and I've added for the moment a small amount of colloidal silver to their water and considered adding crushed garlic and/or apple cider vinegar. As a newbie I also want to ask if this is a good idea. I tend to overdo things when I get concerned and I don't want to be giving my chickens something that won't help at all.
Sorry for all the typing! TL;DR my chickens pick at themselves, I treated today for mites. Could they also have lice? If yes, recommendations please?