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Blarneyeggs said:
Just got back from Farm Show, was SO much fun! and soooo crowded. Showmanship with no chickens, odd but good. The kids' knowledge was really tested.
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We may swing by there tomorrow since we're going out to pick up a couple silkies. Anyone need any ameraucana mix chicks out that way? Lol. Is the farm show free to get in?
 
Just Ducky10 said:
Hi, I was wondering if someone could suggest some remedies for mites. I've never had any birds with mites before (except a couple free chickens and rooster we got from a friend's relative had scaly leg mites. They weren't that bad and we were able to get them to clear up quickly.)

Someone's pet duck showed up in our duck pen the other day. We were able to catch it and separate it from our birds and do a quick health check. The duck has no fat on it whatsoever and it looks like it started to break down muscle for calories. The duck also has a MAJOR mite infestation, but otherwise looks pretty healthy. So far I've dusted it thoroughly with DE and gave it some water, corn, and fermented feed (with garlic, cayenne pepper, oregano oil, and ACV). We had an extra coop outside so we put it in that for nights and in the morning we dust it with DE again and put it in a tarp covered wire cage with some straw.
There only seemed to be a couple mites on it this morning before we dusted it again, while the first night you couldn't move the ducks feathers without a bunch scrambling for cover. So I think the DE is working but wanted to know if there's anything else I could do. I want to get rid of them quickly because it seems to be bothered by them a lot as well as I don't want them to spread to our birds.

So far I've contacted a couple people with birds around us to see if they're missing any birds. I'm also checking some local classifieds both in papers and online and I'm going to be placing some online classifieds next week if I still can't find the ducks owners. I'm thinking it might of been dumped, if we haven't found the owners in 2 months we'll probably keep it since it's so pretty and nice.


If you know anyone in or around Hunlock Creek (NE, PA) who is missing a duck message me with its:
BREED
COLOR
GENDER
APPROX. AGE
HOW LONG IT'S BEEN GONE
AND PICS OF IT OR IT'S SIBLINGS (if possible)


Thanks,
Brenna
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Just found out that the other weird bugs on it are waterfowl lice (different from poultry/chicken lice) The only thing I can find online to get rid of them is chemical treatments. I try to stay as natural as I can with my birds and don't want to use chemicals on someone else's bird without their permission(assuming it wasn't a dump).
Does anyone have experience with waterfowl lice? The DE seems to be working with the mites, but I'm not sure if it will work on waterfowl lice.

Thanks,
Brenna
 
Just Ducky10 said:
Just found out that the other weird bugs on it are waterfowl lice (different from poultry/chicken lice) The only thing I can find online to get rid of them is chemical treatments. I try to stay as natural as I can with my birds and don't want to use chemicals on someone else's bird without their permission(assuming it wasn't a dump).
Does anyone have experience with waterfowl lice? The DE seems to be working with the mites, but I'm not sure if it will work on waterfowl lice.

Thanks,
Brenna
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I haven't run into waterfowl lice, and I'm sorry that you have -- pretty much everything I could suggest from reading you've already done. This might be a bit of a stretch, but depending on how much the mystery duck is letting you touch him/her, is there any chance of giving a mild apple cider vinegar and water bath? I think just letting the duck splash around in it wouldn't help much, since it wouldn't get down to the skin, but I work as a dog groomer and we treat a lot of skin issues with ACV/water mixes. When my turkey had scaly leg mites one of the treatments I found involved scrubbing his legs with a toothbrush in an ACV mix. (Yeah, right! You try giving a 40#+ turkey a bath he doesn't want...) It helps with a lot of different skin issues and as long as you use a mild mix it doesn't hurt. Plus if they accidentally drink some it doesn't matterm unlike with, say, Dawn dish soap, which is good for a lot of skin issues but shouldn't go in mouths, eyes, or noses if it can be avoided. Then again, Dawn will stun mites and can sometimes smother them, again without harming your critters.

Sorry if that was a kind of a run-on train of thought. Since I don't have experience with this exact issue it seemed worthwhile to include my thought process in case there are any glaring issues with my logic! If I think of it I will ask my friend who works at the local wildlife rescue. I've 'inherited' several abandoned domestics from her, and she's always confirmed a lack of parasites before sending them my way.
 
brightpennies said:
I haven't run into waterfowl lice, and I'm sorry that you have -- pretty much everything I could suggest from reading you've already done. This might be a bit of a stretch, but depending on how much the mystery duck is letting you touch him/her, is there any chance of giving a mild apple cider vinegar and water bath? I think just letting the duck splash around in it wouldn't help much, since it wouldn't get down to the skin, but I work as a dog groomer and we treat a lot of skin issues with ACV/water mixes. When my turkey had scaly leg mites one of the treatments I found involved scrubbing his legs with a toothbrush in an ACV mix. (Yeah, right! You try giving a 40#+ turkey a bath he doesn't want...) It helps with a lot of different skin issues and as long as you use a mild mix it doesn't hurt. Plus if they accidentally drink some it doesn't matterm unlike with, say, Dawn dish soap, which is good for a lot of skin issues but shouldn't go in mouths, eyes, or noses if it can be avoided. Then again, Dawn will stun mites and can sometimes smother them, again without harming your critters.

Sorry if that was a kind of a run-on train of thought. Since I don't have experience with this exact issue it seemed worthwhile to include my thought process in case there are any glaring issues with my logic! If I think of it I will ask my friend who works at the local wildlife rescue. I've 'inherited' several abandoned domestics from her, and she's always confirmed a lack of parasites before sending them my way.
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Thanks. I already considered the dawn, but since it's not my duck I don't want to take away the waterproofing if it's feathers in case we find the owners and have them complain. I've also considered bathing it in ACV, but I'm not sure if that would mess with the waterproofing. If we haven't found the owners in a week and the duck still has mite/lice problems that's probably what I'll do. This morning when I checked for bugs I couldn't find any, but I'm pretty sure DE doesn't take care of the bug eggs so I'll have to keep dusting it/dust it again until there's no chance of them any more.

I'm also putting DE & ACV in its water to take care of any internal parasites as a precaution. (It doesn't look like it has any, but just in case)


Thanks,
Brenna
 
On another note our Khaki Campbell ducklings hatched 5 days early. So far we got 3, not sure if the rest will hatch. I'm using a borrowed incubator that wasn't stored right, it has bug holes through it and his chihuahua's chewed on the corners. I'm surprised I was able to hatch anything in there. I can't wait till I finish my diy incubator.
We finally finished selling the extra guineas we hatched. The Khaki Campbell ducks hatched 14 guinea keets and the guineas hatched 13. This was the first year I hatched anything. That bring our total birds down to 44 adults + 3 ducklings and the lost/dropped off duck. Much easier than this summer/fall with fluctuating numbers of 47-82.
We have an order of 25 chicks from McMurray coming this May. Plus we're planning on getting some heritage Turkey's this year.
 
Since everyone keeps wanting turkey, I got mine from a gentleman outside of Middletown (just south of Harrisburg) last spring. I believe he sells poults every year, probably doesn't have any at the moment. He doesn't sell them until they are a week old, as many people aren't aware of the differences between raising poults and chicks. I believe they were $12 last year, although I bought a lot and got a discount (15/$140, all he had at the time). Bourbon red.
 
chiques chicks said:
Since everyone keeps wanting turkey, I got mine from a gentleman outside of Middletown (just south of Harrisburg) last spring[...] He doesn't sell them until they are a week old, as many people aren't aware of the differences between raising poults and chicks.
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I'm raising poults for the first time this year. I know they eat different feed (protein %) than the other babies, but people also say they raise them with chicks for the first few days because the chicks will show them how to eat, and turkeys are... slow. Maybe not so bright. Other than making your brooder extra stupid-proof and using different feed, aren't their needs pretty similar?
hu.gif
Asking out of legitimate ignorance, not smartmouthing.

@Just Ducky10 , sounds like you've got quite a menagerie! I like your attitude -- down to only 44+3. Chicken/poultry math is my greatest weakness. I hope you get that poor wandering duck sorted out without too much difficulty.
 
brightpennies said:
I'm raising poults for the first time this year. I know they eat different feed (protein %) than the other babies, but people also say they raise them with chicks for the first few days because the chicks will show them how to eat, and turkeys are... slow. Maybe not so bright. Other than making your brooder extra stupid-proof and using different feed, aren't their needs pretty similar? :confused:  Asking out of legitimate ignorance, not smartmouthing.

@Just Ducky10
, sounds like you've got quite a menagerie! I like your attitude -- down to only 44+3. Chicken/poultry math is my greatest weakness. I hope you get that poor wandering duck sorted out without too much difficulty.
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Other than teaching them to eat and making sure they don't drown the first few days or a week, they are pretty easy to raise.

I feed flock raiser to everything most of the time. All ages. Or the 20% starter feed. On very rare occasion I will buy a bag of higher protein, but just find it easier to just keep one. I don't feed medicated starter to anything, so I don't know about that. I have a chicken breed that can't handle medicated.
 
brightpennies said:
I'm raising poults for the first time this year. I know they eat different feed (protein %) than the other babies, but people also say they raise them with chicks for the first few days because the chicks will show them how to eat, and turkeys are... slow. Maybe not so bright. Other than making your brooder extra stupid-proof and using different feed, aren't their needs pretty similar?
hu.gif
Asking out of legitimate ignorance, not smartmouthing.

@Just Ducky10 , sounds like you've got quite a menagerie! I like your attitude -- down to only 44+3. Chicken/poultry math is my greatest weakness. I hope you get that poor wandering duck sorted out without too much difficulty.
Click to expand...
I tried to feed 24% gamebird starter last year, for turkeys and guineas, but since they were with chicks, that got expensive, so I went back to 20% for everything. I didn't notice any issues with either poults or keets.

Poults may not learn to eat on their own, but they are fast studies with either chicks or people. Once they learn to eat, they set about making up for any lost time.
 

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