Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Johnn]

yesterday me and my friend were checking melow and the orp over for lice and melow had some eggs on her. what should i do?, i don't want the chicks to get them

 

[bobbieschicks]

You should treat your coop and flock to get rid of the lice - are you certain that's what they are? Lice don't usually travel far - so they must have had a food source nearby.

If it were me, I would empty my coop of everything - bedding, food, water, chickens and eggs. Then I would spray the entire coop with a bug killer - you could bomb it or dust the place with Sevin or equivalent - making sure to get something that isn't "organic" because at this point you're working to remove an infestation rather then a preventative measure. I'd replace all the bedding with some that is fresh & clean - then I would dust the entire thing with Sevin or equivalent. I would also sprinkle the Sevin on the area where the chickens like to dust bathe.

I would treat all my poultry before returning them to the coop except the newborn chicks - any chicks older then 1 week I'd treat too. I would dust them with poultry dust or Sevin dust using a "powder puff" of Sevin in the end of a stocking. Dust their bellies, butts, wings, backs - everywhere except their faces.

Then I would repeat this process within 7-10 days. After that I would include DE in the coop areas where you previously dusted and provide the girls an area to dust bathe that includes DE or Sevin dust or some other method to help remove or kill those lice in the future.

Hope you can get them out of there!

If it turns out to be worms or mites - I would jump to treating with something like Ivermectin pour on drops - you put a few drops on their skin and it's absorbed in and takes care of a bunch of different parasites.

yesterday me and my friend were checking melow and the orp over for lice and melow had some eggs on her. what should i do?, i don't want the chicks to get them

 

[Johnn]

It better not be worms, the flock was only wormed 2 weeks ago!

 

[Johnn]

Als im not sure, i held the hen and she looked, she said there was white round things on the wing feathers

 

[bobbieschicks]

Als im not sure, i held the hen and she looked, she said there was white round things on the wing feathers

Sounds like lice sacs. Can you post a pic?

 

[Johnn]

I'll try get one later when i go up

 

[Wynette]

Good morning, fellow broody lovers!

Well, today is day 16 for my Giant hen. She had 6 eggs left, I candled them last night, and only 2 developed, and one is "iffy." Sigh..............

I had a Marans hen go broody (first timer, but they are usually rock solid on a nest), so I popper her into the other section of my broody hutch (I LOVE that thing!) and gave her 4 silver penciled rock eggs, a 2nd gen olive egger, and a naked neck. I put the other 4 silver pencield rock eggs I'd collected in my tabletop incubator, since it was finally open. Here's hoping...I need to hatch a bunch of this breed if at all possible. My hens are 4-5 years old, so they may actually be too old now.

Although most of the eggs I'd given to my silver penciled rock broody did develop (but did not hatch), so here's hoping! At least I'll have a direct comparison, having put some of the same breed in the incubator. Cross fingers! Day 1 for Marans hen!

 

[Kassaundra]

Skyfire has been moved to a safer location for her raising chickies, and she took it like a champ. She will be happier there anyway less chicken traffic to disturb her.

 

[CarolJ]

Quick Question: My broody just hatched four Swedish Flower Hens this weekend. This morning I threw out two eggs - one never developed and the other one was an early quitter. Meyer Hatchery has a couple breeds I want that are available for shipping this week. I'd get them on Wednesday or Thursday. Is it too late to put new chicks under my broody? If they got here Thursday and I put them under her Thursday night, how likely would it be that she'd accept them? I don't want to have to set up a brooder - so I can't decide whether or not to order any.

 

[Wynette]

Quick Question: My broody just hatched four Swedish Flower Hens this weekend. This morning I threw out two eggs - one never developed and the other one was an early quitter. Meyer Hatchery has a couple breeds I want that are available for shipping this week. I'd get them on Wednesday or Thursday. Is it too late to put new chicks under my broody? If they got here Thursday and I put them under her Thursday night, how likely would it be that she'd accept them? I don't want to have to set up a brooder - so I can't decide whether or not to order any.

From what I've read on this thread, it seems highly unlikely that she'll accept them, but you could always try, and have a back-up brooder ready just in case. Sounds like they really need to be day olds to be accepted. They would be 3 days old by the time you get them, plus, it would be 3 days after she hatched her others....but you could always try!