Nesting hen seems to have mites on her, help!

[cucharitavoce]

I have a dilemma and a big problem (mites) our bantam frizzle hen went broody and we set her to start nesting on May 31st, Saturday, May 20th she hatched a baby chick in the morning and I thought the hatching party will begin. I left her alone but made sure she had her chick starter food and water. I checked on her at midnight (Sunday) and noticed she had moved all her eggs to a different corner and didn't see the chick, I thought she was covering it. Sunday morning comes and she's not under her eggs (she got up to poop) but was making a weird noise, I then noticed her baby chick was dead, it looked smashed I removed the dead chick and put her back under her eggs, but notice all these little crawling things on her and in the water, I changed her water and we buried the baby chick. I did research and it looks like they're mites and they're parasites so I do not want them to feast on her especially since she's not moving and not getting sun. I've left her under her eggs hoping they'll hatch, but I keep checking on her and it doesn't like anything will hatch anymore, we did candle lit her eggs on day 10 and 5 out of 13 eggs seemed

to be developing an embryo. I don't know what happened, but I can suspect, when the baby chick hatched, she was not fully under her eggs for a whole day ( I have a photo to show) and also she did move all her eggs from one end to the other end of the box. At this point I would like ton know if I should allow her to remain under her eggs? I feel bad for her because it looks like she's really expecting those eggs to hatch, however, those mites are feasting on her and she's looking worse by the day. I did dusted her with Diatomaceous Earth yesterday just to soothe her a bit. The other thing I was thinking about was finding out if a local feed store in the Los Angeles area has baby chicks, if that's the case I was thinking maybe we can get some and put them under her at night and remove the eggs. I don't know if it's a good idea at all because then they will also get infested with mites. What should I do?

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry about the chick.

First we'll deal with the mite problem. If the eggs are due to hatch soon you can just wait it out. Poor Princess (one of my broodies) was covered in mites while she was broody, but when the chicks were able to walk we gave her a pen with dust in it. She dust bathed and the mite problem went away. As long as she isn't getting weak from them, she should be fine.

Secondly the dead chick. It could have accidentally been crushed by moving eggs or the mother, but just as likely it died from another cause, perhaps it was just weak, and then the mother tried to move away from it and couldn't. I have had chicks die under their mother, and they always look crushed. Again, I'm sorry about the chick.

As for the eggs, if she can cover them all then they should be okay. If she is having trouble covering them then perhaps the problem is that they are getting chilled and that is why they are taking so long to hatch. Chilled eggs will go dormant for a time before hatching. We had some late hatching eggs.
You could try taking some and incubating them elsewhere and then returning the chicks to her upon hatching. Sometimes a mother with a couple chicks abandons eggs that are taking a while to hatch, as she knows her chicks need to eat and exercise.

If the eggs don't hatch, you could look for some chicks to give her. Put them under her, often suggest to do this at night, and take away the eggs. Let her be, but make sure she doesn't attack them. If she talks to them and ruffles her feathers, things should be going well. Once they are bonded, move her and the chicks to a place where she can dust bathe and get rid of the mites.


Best of luck!

 

[cucharitavoce]

Thank you so much for your advise, I have borrowed an incubator and will go home tonight and get some of those eggs to see if maybe I can help her that way. I've also read about dusting her in wood ashes, I have both DE and Wood Ashes so I will try to help her as much as I can.

 

[Lily21]

I have found this site very helpful in treating and preventing mites in the coop. fresheggsdaily.com
She also has many other great tips on taking care of your flock.