MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

It can take some time for them to adjust. Some hugs for Peggy.

She keeps making eye contact. And all four have ramped up their flightiness. Far more skittish than usual.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm doing okay, I guess. I have gone through some stuff, but its still sitting here waiting to be donated. Haven't gotten it put in the care yet . I go for lots of drives just to get away for awhile, but I can leave the house, but the memories are always with me, of course. His birthday is in a few weeks and my son's family and I will be visiting the cemetery

 

[BDutch]

I use shredded paper, fine shred and cut, and I use it because of the features that many wouldn't, and because I get it for nothing.

I bought a paper shredder to make my own shredded newspaper. Great under the poop boards to cover the poop, but not ideal in the nestboxes. A few paper slices stick to the freshly laid eggs.

The shredder got stuck on the newspaper after a few weeks. It seemed its only for office paper. Old office paper printed with toxic ink is a no go for me. The new copy/print machine uses poison free ink. But we hardly have any new office paper with new ink bc we work paper free when possible.

So I returned to use wood shavings and hay again for the nest-boxes.

Have you ever had mites or lice in the nests? What would you use to reduce/resist mites or lice?

I only had red mites 2 y ago when I had mama’s with chicks in the nest boxes and didnt refresh the bedding regularly. There were more issues at that time and I got sloppy to check the control rolls (ribbed paper rolls) for mites.
It was a lot of work to ban the red mites completely. So I’m probably overly cautious now.

 

[MaryJanet]

I bought a paper shredder to make my own shredded newspaper. Great under the poop boards to cover the poop, but not ideal in the nestboxes. A few paper slices stick to the freshly laid eggs.

The shredder got stuck on the newspaper after a few weeks. It seemed its only for office paper. Old office paper printed with toxic ink is a no go for me. The new copy/print machine uses poison free ink. But we hardly have any new office paper with new ink bc we work paper free when possible.

So I returned to use wood shavings and hay again for the nest-boxes.


I only had red mites 2 y ago when I had mama’s with chicks in the nest boxes and didnt refresh the bedding regularly. There were more issues at that time and I got sloppy to check the control rolls (ribbed paper rolls) for mites.
It was a lot of work to ban the red mites completely. So I’m probably overly cautious now.

I recall your mite control rolls. Very inventive.

I'm curious about the Solway coop nests Shad provided for the allotment flock. Do mites live on plastic? On newspaper?

 

[MaryJanet]

Melissa continues to use the bottlebrush as an after dinner resting place.

 

[MaryJanet]

As the weather was delightful, I spent the whole weekend working on chicken tasks. I cleaned out the big run, including the roosting box, little coop (which is used as a nest), and the nest box on the ground, which is also in use from time to time. The roosting box was cleaned out with the power washer.

Everything was taken out and cleaned. I raked up all the loose straw and feathers and removed them. I used the magnet and picked up a dustpan-sized pile of metal bits and pieces.

Then I detached the ramp from the little coop and reattached it so that it's more easily removed for cleaning. It doesn't sound like much, but it took a good long while

I shovelled the wood shavings out of the big coop and cleaned it out with the power washer.

I used screened sand from the backyard as bedding in the roosting box. I'm not sure it's hygienic enough. I may use clean sand from the hardware store in future.

 

[LozzyR]

When I need shavings, I have been buying the 'Superior' brand, which has also had the dust extracted from it. It comes in bigger batches which is nice because there's a big space to fill.

But I'm not convinced shavings are the best choice for the nest box here for a couple of reasons. The nest box has vents in the floor - it came that way - and the shavings would fall through the vents. Also, I doubt it would allow the hens to make a deep bowl, which is what they love to do if they're given half a chance.

Actually, I forgot I use both shavings and straw, with newspaper underneath.

 

[Shadrach]

Have you ever had mites or lice in the nests? What would you use to reduce/resist mites or lice?

Oh yes. The notion that plastic coops don't get mites isn't born out in my experience. I've had red mite twice in the Solway coop. I don't use chemicals or dust, be that DE or Sulphur. I use a blow torch for all my anti parasite coop cleaning. A blow torch works fine on recycled plastic.

There are two things that one just doesn't want in a chicken coop, dust and excessive moisture. Both are bad for a chickens health and dust is bad for the chicken and keepers health.

 

[BDutch]

I do know how red mites live. Don’t know much about other mites. Never had them. Nor lice.

The red mites only feed at night on the chickens. After feeding they look for a place to hide away from daylight and rest until the next night.

If you can block the path to the chickens they can’t feed themselves. I smeared wet DE in all the cracks and they sell oil cups in the Netherlands you can attach under the roost.

Many people say dust is a problem for their health but I never did something special to avoid it other than providing a lot of ventilation (and sunlight) and being careful with the DE powder.

Mixing DE in their sandbath does no harm.

If you make the DE wet and stir it like a paint substance, it can be smeared in all cracks and dries up on the wooden surface like a chalk paint. If you like a white coop on the inside you can mix chalk with DE.
.
DE does not kill the mite, but it does kill the nymphs.

 

[BDutch]

Deleted doubled post.