New to the chicken world and already need advice!

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grahamland6753

grahamland6753

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Cheyenne, Wyoming
Hi, my name is Sheena and I just got a polish chicken that I was told is a 4month old female. Her name is Meeps.
She is indoors ( yes it is a lot of daily cleaning and please don't judge ) and she gets some outside time. I have 3 two week old silkies and if one is a female she will join Meeps. We can not have roosters in the city. Regardless two silkies will go to a forever home as I only have room for two right now and heard they get lonely by themselves. So if I understand correctly, around 13 to 14 weeks by silkie can join Meeps in their new coop. She has a regular light on all day and I cover the coop at bedtime. I have a mirror in her coop right now to keep herself company and she loves to sing and talk to herself. She sounds like a pretty happy spoiled pet chicken!
Now, this is where I need you guys. Please bare with me.
When inspecting her the first week ( I have had her 3 weeks) I found a little white/yellowish bug on her. So I figured it was live, and I gave her a dust bath mixed with sevin. I inspect her constantly and nothing since, that was a week and half to two weeks ago.
But she itches her neck sometimes, should I do another dust bath, maybe didn't do enough sevin? Give her a regular bath? Any advice would be appreciated. I have also been diaper training her so maybe I am just stressing the hell out of her. The top of her head is mostly barb too with feathers at the end.
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Being a chicken mom is not off to a good start, how can I help her.
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First off welcome to BYC! She's too young to be molting. So I would worry that it's mites BUT I have no clue how an indoor chicken would get mites. That just doesn't make since to me. Is sevin a pesticide? I've never heard of it. You should use a product specifically for poultry. You will also need to thoroughly clean her living area of the mites. Are her feathers growing back well? If their growing in and she isn't losing anymore it could have been a one time thing. Their are a few threads on BYC specifically for indoor chickens I would subscribe to and ask questions. Also why can't the silkie stay inside with your polish? I don't think she is singing because she's happy it sounds more like she's lonely. I could be wrong but I kept just one hen like you a long time ago. And she would cackle CONSTANTLY. But when I had her with other chickens she was more quiet. So it seems like they make noises out of loneliness to me. But she does sound spoiled and well cared for though.
 
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Thank you for taking time to respond.
I assumed she had lice or mites from the other chickens she was with before I got her at the poultry showing. Didn't seem like she was in the best living conditions and she was with a bunch of other mixed chickens in a dog crate.
The silkies are inside next to her. They are two weeks old and on different stages of food so I didn't want the babies to eat her food. don't want to put them with her when they are that small, but they can see each other (like neighbors) so she doesn't seem sad and lonely it sounded like happy sounds. And the other animals are in the house and she comes out and hangs with the "flock." When she is sitting on my lap she mostly just falls asleep almost immediately.
I have used a garden and poultry dust the first time that had permethrin in it. Then a week later heard about the sevin on here and mixed that with regular dust bath. She was put in her coop after treatment so I don't treat the new coop.
Im at a loss. :/:
 
I don't think Sevin should be used on birds. I was just told to use it to destroy a nest of yellow jackets.

Most likely she just had some incidental bug on her but not a parasitic one. She made scratch herself there for other reasons. For instance some birds get rubbed raw by some part of the feeder or waterer. They do the same motions every day and it causes soreness. Or she may be leaning against wire or something rough. Do you have another bird that could be plucking her feathers?

I'm not sure what type of coop you have for her but, she doesn't need a light on all day.. She could be a house chicken without need for any coop. It would be good to have an enclosed covered run for her, so she can get fresh air without being attacked by predators. Many folks keep house pet chickens. My friend has had them over 25 years, various breeds but generally silkies. There is a popular thread on BYC called "people with house chickens." There is also "show us your house ducks."

As a house chicken they often bond to their humans and consider them to be flock mates. My friends chicks watch TV with her in the evenings. When she leaves for errands, they sleep by the door. When she comes home they greet her like a dog would.

She doesn't use diapers, she just always has napkins and spray to clean up messes as soon as they appear. Her house does NOT smell. Diapers really are a nuisance to bird and caretaker. You can have a crate or small pen for them if you don't want them exploring the entire house.
 
grahamland6753 said:
Thank you for taking time to respond.
I assumed she had lice or mites from the other chickens she was with before I got her at the poultry showing. Didn't seem like she was in the best living conditions and she was with a bunch of other mixed chickens in a dog crate.
The silkies are inside next to her. They are two weeks old and on different stages of food so I didn't want the babies to eat her food. don't want to put them with her when they are that small, but they can see each other (like neighbors) so she doesn't seem sad and lonely it sounded like happy sounds. And the other animals are in the house and she comes out and hangs with the "flock." When she is sitting on my lap she mostly just falls asleep almost immediately.
I have used a garden and poultry dust the first time that had permethrin in it. Then a week later heard about the sevin on here and mixed that with regular dust bath. She was put in her coop after treatment so I don't treat the new coop.
Im at a loss. :/:
Click to expand...

Ok, I understand why you have them seperate now. I misunderstood the living situation. I think drumstick diva is probably right about her irritating the feathers and rubing them off somehow. Are they growing back or is she still losing them? It looks like their growing back in the photo.
 
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Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you.

Definitely looks like feather loss due to itching or scratching. I've seen this occur in birds due to rubbing against something like a cage or a feeder/waterer, however I also interestingly have seen it occur due to a yeast infection! It spread slowly through a friend's flock and upon testing by a vet it was proved to be some sort of bloodborne yeast. Some antibiotics were given to clear it up, I forgot exactly what type.
 

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