Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[Bens-Hens]

I sat with her on my lap today and had a real long look for any creepy crawlies and could not find any.

No one else is showing the same extreme signs, but I will go over them tomorrow and inspect again and see if any that were not broody this time around have any loose feathers.

 

[scottcaddy]

In the absence of a roo , I would be inclined to check thoroughly for lice or mites. I've been doing a lot of research on spinosad and I finally found a product here in Australia , funny thing is I've been using it for 13 years, on my cherries. It's called ' success '. Now this is going to be my new premise spray and I'm going to trial it on one pen of birds. They are even using spinosad in tablet form as a flea control in dogs and trialling it for head lice in humans. It's only been around since the 80's but apparently the bugs don't seem to be able to build up an immunity to it as they do to pyrethrum .

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/spinosad-zmgz11zrog.aspx#axzz3IbK6vUbv



http://www.mapress.com/zoosymposia/content/2011/v6/f/v006p282-287.pdf

Thank You!!! Fancy

We just had them **** red mites show up in one of our pens

They don't die easy.

Scott

 

[Fancychooklady]

I sat with her on my lap today and had a real long look for any creepy crawlies and could not find any.

No one else is showing the same extreme signs, but I will go over them tomorrow and inspect again and see if any that were not broody this time around have any loose feathers.

Look for lice egg casings about 3 cm below the vent. That's where they lay. The mites are microscopic and more easily detected at night, with a good strong torch.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Thank You!!!  Fancy 
We just had them **** red mites show up in one of our pens  They don't die easy.

Scott

Your welcome Scott. It's marketed as ' Elector ' in the US and UK.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/elector-psp-premise-insect-control-agent.html

 

[Bens-Hens]

OK, I will go have another look after reading that. I was checking feathers and the bare skin and could not see any critters.

I looked at her fallen feathers and they all looked like normal feathers, no clumps or weird breaks, but I have not inspected under her vent for casings.

Thanks again Fancy, will go down tonight and check the roosts.

 

[vehve]

Ben, hope you get it figured out and sorted soon.

How's the spring coming in down under? Are the chickens laying boiled eggs already?

 

[Bens-Hens]

I looked again in the daylight, she was a bit sandy but I could not see any critters, looked tonight and could not seen any red mites in the coop.

Her back has started to sprout new quills though. I could see them under the skin first thing this morning and they are poking out tonight. Yesterday she was smooth as a store bought chicken!

Spring is a bit all over the place Felix. We have had some warm days, one hitting 36C recently, but we have had some cooler days, storms and one very big thunder storm on Monday morning, I read on facebook that just about the whole city thought it was 'right over them' as the flash and cracks were so close together up and down the city.

Won't be long and we will be looking at ways to keep those eggs fresh before they are laid though. At least this year we have increased the hard cover as well as the three vines which now provide great cover.

 

[ozexpat]

I looked again in the daylight, she was a bit sandy but I could not see any critters, looked tonight and could not seen any red mites in the coop.

Her back has started to sprout new quills though. I could see them under the skin first thing this morning and they are poking out tonight. Yesterday she was smooth as a store bought chicken!

Spring is a bit all over the place Felix. We have had some warm days, one hitting 36C recently, but we have had some cooler days, storms and one very big thunder storm on Monday morning, I read on facebook that just about the whole city thought it was 'right over them' as the flash and cracks were so close together up and down the city.

Won't be long and we will be looking at ways to keep those eggs fresh before they are laid though. At least this year we have increased the hard cover as well as the three vines which now provide great cover.

if you really loved your chickens you would install AC

 

[satay]

if you really loved your chickens you would install AC   

It's going to be another scorcher this weekend here in drought riddled qld. We are supposed to be something like 39c Friday,44c Saturday and low 40's sunday... The weather is sure a bit confused this time of year as we have not even hit summer. No aircon for me so no aircon for my girls.

 

[scottcaddy]

Quote: But, I would only turn the chicken air on after I turned on my house air. That goes on at 88F(inside temp not outside), a bit lower if the humidity is up in the 70% range or better. I'm lucky to have an old (built in the late 30's or early 40's) cinder block house, even the inside walls are cinder block, a real pain in the *** with redoing wiring and plumbing. I Can store heat/cold in the blocks with management of window fans and humidity. Good luck with your heat wave, and be careful!

Scott