Setting Hen with Tick Infestation

[healtyfeathers]

I just checked my broody hen today and noticed that her whole face is covered with ticks! A couple of them were full of blood, that is why I noticed. I pulled them off and checked the rest of her body, none on her body just face/ears/eye area. Checked the rest of my hens and they don't have any. My guess is that they are picking them off of each other. My broody hen is separated from the rest of the hens and you k now how broodies are about not letting any of the other hens near them anyway. She only has a couple of days to go before the chicks hatch. Would it be ok to put lavender oil on her comb/ear area? I wouldn't want it to get in her ears, but want to do something to repel the ticks. Any ideas?

 

[Mr King]

I just checked my broody hen today and noticed that her whole face is covered with ticks! A couple of them were full of blood, that is why I noticed. I pulled them off and checked the rest of her body, none on  her body just face/ears/eye area. Checked the rest of my hens and they don't have any. My guess is that they are picking them off of each other. My broody hen is separated from the rest of the hens and you k now how broodies are about not letting any of the other hens near them anyway. She only has a couple of days to go before the chicks hatch. Would it be ok to put lavender oil on her comb/ear area? I wouldn't want it to get in her ears, but want to do something to repel the ticks. Any ideas?

Oh No.! You have a serious problem those are very popular here where they have wood pens,cages fly pens, etc, thats mainly because rats live there or near by. First take out hen and eggs from there with a new clean nest put something like petroleum jelly on her face but cover completely those thicks for a day and then remove them or if you can remove them right away is better, check her feet, those only go to clear skin areas. Be careful check yourself. Fumigate that area very well, go drastic if you can, try to get a professional if you can its extremely hard to finish that those ticks go to the ground and once you Fumigate only going to kill the ones on top and the ones in ground will come back. If you do it yourself flood that zone with plenty of water "flooded" then when the water goes down all thicks will be out so you can fumigate and kill them. Try to use clothes you don't want so you can burn it or throw away.! Seriously that's something to worry about.

 

[healtyfeathers]

Thank you for your reply. I was really hoping to keep things a little more natural and avoid fumigating with chemicals. She is nesting on the ground and cannot be moved without "breaking up" her broodiness. Only two more days to go before the chicks hatch. Just hoping to make her more comfortable for a couple days.

 

[Mr King]

Thank you for your reply. I was really hoping to keep things a little more natural and avoid fumigating with chemicals. She is nesting on the ground and cannot be moved without "breaking up" her broodiness. Only two more days to go before the chicks hatch. Just hoping to make her more comfortable for a couple days.

take them out as they're hatching to avoid thicks getting on them. Good luck