Ribh's D'Coopage

[Ribh]

Not sure the 1st 2 are going to make it. They seem very lethargic compared to the next 2. I am trying to be philosophical about it & trust the mamas to know what to do.

 

[BDutch]

A question for experienced hatchers: The girls seem to have generated a mite plague in the nesting boxes. Can I treat immediately or should I wait till the babies are bigger?

Congra… ts? I wanted to be happy for you, but this bad news on top of the joy.

Is it red mites?
I had red mites last year with chicks that were a couple of weeks older.
I cleaned everything out thoroughly to start with. And used mainly DE to conquer it.

What I would do. Make a clean nest away from the current nest, with a sand/DE mix under the bedding and paint the walls with wet DE. If it dried up , move the chicks, eggs and mammas in broad daylight so the mites wont come along.
Make sure the hens cant return to the old nest.

 

[BDutch]

This is my mite journey from last year . The chicks were 6 weeks old when I discovered the mites. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bdutchs-bantam-flock-natural-breeding-projects-5---and-6.1574045/page-10#post-26943791

 

[Ribh]

Congra… ts? I wanted to be happy for you, but this bad news on top of the joy.

Is it red mites?
I had red mites last year with chicks that were a couple of weeks older.
I cleaned everything out thoroughly to start with. And used mainly DE to conquer it.

What I would do. Make a clean nest away from the current nest, with a sand/DE mix under the bedding and paint the walls with wet DE. If it dried up , move the chicks, eggs and mammas in broad daylight so the mites wont come along.
Make sure the hens cant return to the old nest.

Thanks, Dutch. I won't use DE; its a known carcinogen. These are ordinary poultry mites for which I can probably blame the the wild birds. A clean nest I can & will do but I think I need to wait on all the eggs hatching first. For the time being I've dusted chickens & bedding with Pestene ~ my usual treatment. So far as I can tell it will have no detrimental effects on the chicks. Unfortunately I have a wild native apple flowering resulting in hordes of parrots & rosellas & every time I get flocks of wild birds I get a mite problem. Not wanting to upset my sitters I haven't checked them as regularly as I probably should have.

 

[MaryJanet]

YES! We have babies.
So far Alpia has one.
View attachment 3972094
Wrold has 2 with a third piping.​

View attachment 3972097

So far all 3 are different: a black, a stripped & a pale yellow.
View attachment 3972099​

Congratulations!!

 

[Ribh]

This is Alpia's little one.
S/he stepped confidently onto my hand when I went to dust this box.
So pretty.
Wrold has 3 out & a 4th piping. They are both very chill about me being around their babies but Chavi screams & Tootsie has become a complete harridan nut job screaming & pecking hard enough to draw blood. ​

 

[Ribh]

Congratulations!!

Thanks, MJ.

 

[Grammy60]

This is Alpia's little one.
S/he stepped confidently onto my hand when I went to dust this box.
So pretty.
Wrold has 3 out & a 4th piping. They are both very chill about me being around their babies but Chavi screams & Tootsie has become a complete harridan nut job screaming & pecking hard enough to draw blood. ​

View attachment 3972204

Congratulations on babies

 

[MaryJanet]

Not sure the 1st 2 are going to make it. They seem very lethargic compared to the next 2. I am trying to be philosophical about it & trust the mamas to know what to do.

How are they doing?

 

[Ribh]

How are they doing?

They're hanging in there. Wrold's last 2 have pipped but don't seem to be progressing. Alpia/Tootsie/Chavi still have 4eggs they're sitting on. None of the sitters have left the nest today.