I hated a bunch of silkie eggs under my buff orp hen, and removed her from the babies 3 days later as she wasn't a very good mom (for various reasons).
Today I noticed one of the silkie chicks was ill, had one eye swollen shut and difficulty breathing.
I brought her inside, cleaned a bit of poop off her back with a wet cloth, syringed some Tylan down her throat and assumed she had gotten an infection from a pecked eye or something.
Until I noticed a LOUSE crawling on the blanket I had wrapped her in!!
I checked her thoroughly and sure enough, she had lice!! She's 5 days old!!
Rushed out to check the rest of the babies and sure enough, they were crawling with lice!
I treated everyone with Ivermectin drops and I hope it works... they are too small and fragile to dust with chemicals!
These babies are going to new homes in a few days, I need them healthy and clean... Oh, I feel like SUCH a failure! I went and checked the mom who's back in the coop and sure enough, lice on her belly. Now I have to treat the entire flock, clean out and disinfect the coop because if one is infected, they all are!
I can't take this anymore. The flock has been repeatedly treated for lice and the very things just keep coming back! I've dusted with Dri-Kill 3 times since autumn, I clean out the coop every 10 days, the birds get treated with Ivermectin drop on a regular basis even it's only supposed to be every 6 months - what am I doing wrong? Of course I checked mama before setting eggs under her and did NOT see any lice, but they must have been there anyways.
Yes the flock free-ranges, could they be picking up this crap from outside?
I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of parasites
Today I noticed one of the silkie chicks was ill, had one eye swollen shut and difficulty breathing.
I brought her inside, cleaned a bit of poop off her back with a wet cloth, syringed some Tylan down her throat and assumed she had gotten an infection from a pecked eye or something.
Until I noticed a LOUSE crawling on the blanket I had wrapped her in!!
I checked her thoroughly and sure enough, she had lice!! She's 5 days old!!
Rushed out to check the rest of the babies and sure enough, they were crawling with lice!
I treated everyone with Ivermectin drops and I hope it works... they are too small and fragile to dust with chemicals!
These babies are going to new homes in a few days, I need them healthy and clean... Oh, I feel like SUCH a failure! I went and checked the mom who's back in the coop and sure enough, lice on her belly. Now I have to treat the entire flock, clean out and disinfect the coop because if one is infected, they all are!
I can't take this anymore. The flock has been repeatedly treated for lice and the very things just keep coming back! I've dusted with Dri-Kill 3 times since autumn, I clean out the coop every 10 days, the birds get treated with Ivermectin drop on a regular basis even it's only supposed to be every 6 months - what am I doing wrong? Of course I checked mama before setting eggs under her and did NOT see any lice, but they must have been there anyways.
Yes the flock free-ranges, could they be picking up this crap from outside?
I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of parasites
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