NY chicken lover!!!!

[miquwid]

Yes, since you want your silkies cleaner i would look what other silkie people use for dust bath. My girls are more for utility and i get an egg size for special cooking needs. So i let them dust bath in dirt, my partridge silkie ok, but my white silkie isnt so white lol. They compost very well for me. I put down leaves dirt/sand n DE and everyone had a ball dust bathing, silly chooks!

 

[miquwid]

Yes was for neem oil at home depot/lowes.

 

[Lynzi777]

Yes, since you want your silkies cleaner i would look what other silkie people use for dust bath. My girls are more for utility and i get an egg size for special cooking needs. So i let them dust bath in dirt, my partridge silkie ok, but my white silkie isnt so white lol. They compost very well for me. I put down leaves dirt/sand n DE and everyone had a ball dust bathing, silly chooks!

Maybe I'll see how this spray and neem oil works first. For now I'll just keep on them with the DE and dust bath them myself every week. If that doesn't help then I'll go to the wood ash.

 

[hainesta]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on my hen. To answer Rancher's questions:
1. She is a white crested black polish
2. We got her from Nature Berry Farm near Canandaigua, NY
3. She is 24 weeks old
4. We switched to a layer feed a short while back. Before that, a starter chick feed. They also have oyster shell available now that we have some layers. They get treats once in a while but nothing recently.
5. No traumas that I know of
6. No changes to the coop

She has been inside all day and hasn't improved. Seems to be weaker. Of course since she isn't eating. Now she won't really drink either. I'm not sure she'll make it through the night. It obviously isn't worth a vet visit even if I could find one, but I'm just worried she may have something contagious that the rest of the flock has been exposed to. I'm also dealing with my 6 and 7 year-old who have never experienced a pet dying. And my husband is out of town. So it hasn't been a fun couple days around here!

 

[armorfirelady]

Yup you can get it at either place. If you can try getting organic. Also I replaced their roost wi one not sprayed with neem oil. The warnings on the one I got are horrible and it's very strong smelling. I sprayed in the morning and at roosting I took them off neem sprayed roost & put on another the odor was so strong. Of course that could also be because I literally sprayed them till they were dripping with neem oil. Lots of ventilation is good for the odor. I thought the hoop coop would have enough ventilation but the hem oil is very strong lol

 

[Gramma Chick]

Ke, that's the cartoon! Call me sick, but it still makes me laugh.

your not sick it is pretty funny

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
So did you butcher it yourself ? How did it go ? Did you get as grossed out as you thought you would ?
I have the men kill it & then I process the bird myself

 

[houseofknauss]

I sprayed neem oil over everything wood then dusted the girls several times in wood ash over 5 days.. Then ten days later did it again. Mites are gone. I also pulled out all the litter in the coop and threw it away.

Over the summer I didn't epicenter wood ash to dust bathe In. I forgot. But now a litter box full of wood ash and peat moss is available all the time. Once a week or so I refill it with new ash and peat moss. The old stuff I dump in their litter

I agree, neem oil soaked in on everything--

 

[rancher hicks]

Maybe I'll see how this spray and neem oil works first. For now I'll just keep on them with the DE and dust bath them myself every week. If that doesn't help then I'll go to the wood ash.

Seems to me you may be killing the mites but not the eggs. I suggest some research into what these mites are so you know your enemy. If you have not gotten and used Exprinex then perhaps you might get some and add that to your arsenal of treatments.

Keep in mind that the main ingredient in Exprinex is the same ingredient in Front line like products and other flea remedies for dogs and cats.

Mites are blood suckers and need to be dealt with in more than one way.

Seems to me the remedies you're using work only on the adult mites and not the larvae.

I wish you success,

Rancher

 

[miquwid]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on my hen. To answer Rancher's questions:
1. She is a white crested black polish
2. We got her from Nature Berry Farm near Canandaigua, NY
3. She is 24 weeks old
4. We switched to a layer feed a short while back. Before that, a starter chick feed. They also have oyster shell available now that we have some layers. They get treats once in a while but nothing recently.
5. No traumas that I know of
6. No changes to the coop

She has been inside all day and hasn't improved. Seems to be weaker. Of course since she isn't eating. Now she won't really drink either. I'm not sure she'll make it through the night. It obviously isn't worth a vet visit even if I could find one, but I'm just worried she may have something contagious that the rest of the flock has been exposed to. I'm also dealing with my 6 and 7 year-old who have never experienced a pet dying. And my husband is out of town. So it hasn't been a fun couple days around here!

Well i wish you all the best, i had one that just didnt develop properly and pasted away. Maybe talk to Jim and Sandy they are pretty good like that. Its hard watching a child deal with death the first time. I find that i answer all questions honestly, give then some comfort but go on your normal routine. Good luck, again im so sorry for your ordeal.