new hens are gonna need a LOT of TLC... UPDATE: LICE!

[technodoll]

do not laugh at my holocaust birds! LOL!

She told me to have faith in her so that's what her name is...

She reminds me of ET in a way.

Sigh.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Lice and Mites are not an uncommon thing. Do not be embarrassed or freaked out. I check my flock EVERY MORNING for lice and mites. I look for legs that are abnormal (scaly leg mites), I feel a number of birds every night at roost and make sure their legs are smooth.

I check vents for mites (they really do not like this one). I pick up at least ONE bird every morning and give it a real close looksie.

One thing I have not done is look for lice on heads. Tomorrow this is going to be part of my routine.

Who would have thunk that they would be there and no where else ?

Keep up the good work. Keep your humor and remember, chickens are animals and animals get parasitic critters.

I still believe your birds are in a heavy molt, tis the season.

I do have a question though. Did you birds shake their heads when you brought them home ?

 

[technodoll]

Hmmm I didn't really notice if the girls shook their heads when I brought them home, not much more than usual I suppose...

They are shaking and scratching now though!

Pretty much all the girls in the flock will have an occasional dry sneeze and some head shakes after drinking, eating, dust bathing - I assume this is normal?

I need to do research on mites now that the lice issue is under control -

Can a chicken have BOTH??

PS: they are not molting, they are 12 to 14 weeks old...

 

[patandchickens]

Sure, it's not *inevitable* that they're carriers, but the point is they often CAN be. And from what I've talked to people, you canNOT depend on being able to look at a recovered animal and know correctly whether it's carrier/infectious or not, except by long acquaintance with it over a goodly period of time.

Quote:
I agree with this advice personally but there do not seem to be a lot of people on this forum who will cull birds for being just less than 100% healthy on an ongoing basis. So I am not sure how useful the advice is. Because, if you keep all but the sickest birds, that is a whole lot different from keeping only the fully-healthy, and it DOES tend to lead to permanent ongoing chronic problems with disease.

Technodoll, what lice dust are you using? If it is poultry lice dust I would bet it is Dri-Kill or another brand of rotenone powder (which seems to be all that's readily available in Canada?). Sevin is not readily available here (dunno about QC, it used to be available for garden use in ON but is now on the list of banned things, not sure if that is provincial or national though).

You can add a little to their dusting area but I would be cautious of adding too much as it's not great to have them breathing. I'd suggest thoroughly dusting all your flock (I think you are doing all of them already, yes?), all over them everywhere trying to get the powder down to the skin. It is really not such a big deal having mites and/or lice... lots of flocks get them, I think you should sort of assume that started birds you buy may well have them, they're pretty fixable, the important thing is that you noticed promptly and are treating them.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[technodoll]

what lice dust are you using? If it is poultry lice dust I would bet it is Dri-Kill or another brand of rotenone powder (which seems to be all that's readily available in Canada?).

Pat, that's exactly what I'm using... it's all I could find... works really well though!

You can add a little to their dusting area but I would be cautious of adding too much as it's not great to have them breathing. I'd suggest thoroughly dusting all your flock (I think you are doing all of them already, yes?), all over them everywhere trying to get the powder down to the skin. It is really not such a big deal having mites and/or lice... lots of flocks get them, I think you should sort of assume that started birds you buy may well have them, they're pretty fixable, the important thing is that you noticed promptly and are treating them.

Yes, my flock was crawling with lice about 5 weeks ago, they all got dusted and I haven't seen any problems since.

I completely freaked out when I saw those crawling critters and lost sleep for 2 nights over it... *shudder*

I dusted the four new girls yesterday as well as my two silkie chicks as they don't dust bathe, and will of course check the adults today to make sure they're still clean...

Lesson learned: look EVERYWHERE for lice, not just around the vent and under the wings!! the little EE girl with the eye infection has a head full of short dense feathers which are thick with nits, that's where the lice hung out, venturing on her face and eyes to feed - that's how I noticed, I was cleaning her eyes and one tiny tan-colored bug slithered out of her head and down to her beak and up again! I might have screamed and dropped the bird from my lap...

The warmth and sleep are doing the two little banged-up EE's a LOT of good.

Going to check on the two blue cochins now, they're still in the coop...

 

[jerry2009]

Dont forget about the Thread...post some After pictures Please!!!!!!!

 

[technodoll]

Well, I've posted various updates in different threads...

Of the two blue cochin girls both turned out absolutely beautiful. My favorite one, Kiwi, injured her leg a few months ago and after xrays, the vet said she had suffered irreparable nerve damage

Her leg slowly paralyzed until she could not walk anymore, we had to put her down... I cried a river and still miss her

The two cochins seem to be mixed with silkie, they are not pure.

Of the two EE's, both turned out to be boys... with tons of TLC, Sunshine turned into a big, beautiful, gentle roo - a real treasure, oh how I loved that boy. I re-homed him two weeks ago as I have too many boys, he went to live the life of a spoiled king with a wonderful family where he is the only roo in a harem of young sweet laying hens. I miss him very much though... but he has a better life there. It,s hard to love them enough to let them go, you know?

Little Phoenix wasn't so lucky health-wise, he is our "special needs" roo who has a forever home with us here. He does not crow, is extremely fearful of getting pecked by other birds (even babies have him screaming and running for cover), has liver damage and is very fragile. He's sooo gentle and sweet, slow in the brain but wouldn't hurt a fly. He's housed with our silkies as the other birds scare him. Poor soul. He suffered soooo much as a baby, the vet said he had never seen so many worms in a fecal sample in his whole career... he was being eaten alive from the inside for weeks, plucked bare, cold and kicked around on a hard cement floor

He is the reason I had to shut that monster down.

 

[chics in the sun]

and a

and a

for you for shuting the place down, and for giving those boys a chance. Sunshine is GORGEOUS - I love EE's. I had tears in my eyes by the end of this post.

 

[jerry2009]

Sunshine is sooo gorgeos...its really hard to come a cross a roo that pretty...your a miracle worker and I believe we should give out BYC awards to people like you....

 

[awheel11]

They look absolutely amazing! Good for you!! I just took home a couple of sad looking cochin frizzles the other day. I'm a sucker for a sad face. Missing lots of feathers, cruelly debeaked, pale from being indoors and in crowded areas. They have finally joined the other chickens and are loving free ranging (or whatever they can get with their deformed beaks

) It's worth all the hard work to see happy, changed birds!