More now?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Trevorusn]

And the craziness continues! So I noticed one of my BJG pullets has a healing gash like wound on her side which may have been caused by a rough mating.

I noticed one tiny sand colored bug moving on the healing wound but saw no others, so not really certain it was a mite, and the coop is sand. One of my Bronws also seems to be in the lusty view of the same boy, who is big, heavy, about 10 months old and getting his spurs.

For the BJG, should I just let the wound continue to heal naturally? She is alert, and I saw no sign of infection. I never thought I would see so many medical issues in my first year of chickening!!!!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You could treat with a wound spray. I would remove that rooster. I never see wounds like that from any of my various roosters over the years. Your rooster is too rough, or heavy.

 

[Trevorusn]

Annnd, just to cover in case of mites, what and how should I treat it? Like I said, I haven't seen egg clusters but all my Browns seem to be going through a mini moult as they will be a year old next month, but I would rather play it safe and treat if that is possble.

 

[Trevorusn]

You could treat with a wound spray. I would remove that rooster. I never see wounds like that from any of my various roosters over the years. Your rooster is too rough, or heavy.

So saline flush and Blu-kote?? He has never done this before, and even that wound seems several days old. He is a good protector but would springtime be whacking him out and making him more hormonal?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I use blue kote personally. I don't generally mess with wounds too much. They heal up good on their own in my experiences.

All roosters are extremely hormonal. If he's young he will be worse than a mature roo. I would remove him temporarily if possible.

You could also trim his spurs and toenails to minimize damages.

 

[Trevorusn]

I use blue kote personally. I don't generally mess with wounds too much. They heal up good on their own in my experiences.

All roosters are extremely hormonal. If he's young he will be worse than a mature roo. I would remove him temporarily if possible.

You could also trim his spurs and toenails to minimize damages.

I know the hormonal kick, I have 4 fellas but Ruger is by far the biggest and heaviest, at least a solid 10-11lbs. Actually, all 6 ladies in his coop seem to be losing feathers in the same place. Perhaps he may need a bachelor pad after all...as for the wound I may dowse it in Blu-kote tomorrow, only thing that bothered me was seeing that one tiny sand colored bug on her wound. Am I worrying too much about mites??

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You definitely don't want him ripping that wound open again. He may need more than 6 hens. Most seem to need at least 10-15 to spread out the mating.

Mites is a management thing. You will never be rid of them as wild birds will bring them in. If you want you can dust your birds and all wooden cracks in your coop with a pyrethrim, or permetherin based poultry dust. Dust weekly for 3-4 weeks to break the life cycle. It also comes in a spray.

Sometimes external parasites can get out of control during winter as birds can't dust bath as much as they need to. I personally don't see anything in your picture, but I don't have the best eyes.

 

[Trevorusn]

You definitely don't want him ripping that wound open again. He may need more than 6 hens. Most seem to need at least 10-15 to spread out the mating.

Mites is a management thing. You will never be rid of them as wild birds will bring them in. If you want you can dust your birds and all wooden cracks in your coop with a pyrethrim, or permetherin based poultry dust. Dust weekly for 3-4 weeks to break the life cycle. It also comes in a spray.

Sometimes external parasites can get out of control during winter as birds can't dust bath as much as they need to. I personally don't see anything in your picture, but I don't have the best eyes.

I didn't see anything either, just the one so I may be overreacting. My SF roo who is 3.5 years old seems to do well with 4 ladies, maybe Ruger is just "hyper alpha". Thanks for the info, it is helpful and gives me a wee peace of mind. I may still as a precaution dust for mites, but do mites do well in sand?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I didn't see anything either, just the one so I may be overreacting. My SF roo who is 3.5 years old seems to do well with 4 ladies, maybe Ruger is just "hyper alpha". Thanks for the info, it is helpful and gives me a wee peace of mind. I may still as a precaution dust for mites, but do mites do well in sand?

Mites live either on the chicken, or in wood cracks in your coop and they get on the birds at night to feed.

 

[Trevorusn]

Mites live either on the chicken, or in wood cracks in your coop and they get on the birds at night to feed.

Yea, I haven't seen any signs like red bumps, irritations, lethargy or any leg scale issues. In fact, all the feather loss started almost 2 months ago, but they have been in the coop since early fall/late summer, so it might just be me reading too much into seeing one bug, as the feather loss is solely on the 6 ladies and not Ruger or the other cockerel I had in there temporarily.