Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

I’m on my 3rd permethrin treatment trying to get rid of mites/lice, and just this morning I see more crawling all over the decoy eggs again, so I guess another round of eggs have hatched. My ladies dust bathe in various places around the run, but our soil is mostly clay, so I’m wondering if it isn’t creating enough dust to be effective. Looking into mixing it with some sand.

Do you have red mite or lice? Or another tyoe of mite?

Maybe you have a strain of red mite that is immune for permetrine. This happens a lot in my country. And people need another method to eliminate them. For farmers who sell eggs the permethrin and other poisons are forbidden (because of residues in feed).
If it freezes the red mites are not active anymore but eggs can hatch in spring again. Diatomaceous earth is part of the method I used. Maybe sulphur powder does about the same but I have no experience with that.

I had red mite last summer and had a few weeks with extra work. After a very thorough clean with detergent & adding special herbs in water and feed, & adding sand with some diatomaceous earth in the sand bath, painting the inside of the coop and the roosts with DE mixed with water. The joints and cracks were painted twice. The adult chickens who came in the nestbox got a bit on their back under the feathers too. I used rolls white ribbed paper/ cardboard to check daily. The mites were reduced a lot doing so.

One area got a few new mites almost every day (in the paper rolls) , I cleaned that area a second time after a week and found some eggs behind a piece of wood. Painted this area again with DE mixed with water. If you have lice in the ribbed paper rolls you need to heat them to kill the mites. About 15 seconds in the microwave is enough.

 

[fuzzi]

For those in the US who don’t want to use one of the large online retailers of everything & anything or look at the online copy only (those options are of course valid ones) https://www.alibris.com/The-Behavio...ns-Christina-J-Nicol/book/35180381?matches=13. UK site but some are from US sellers - happy book hunting!
I found that Abe books are Amaz… under a different “badge”.
Obviously other retailers of new and second hand books are available wherever in the world you all happen to be and as Perris has helpfully provided the ISBN..

Bookfinder.com is a search site for books.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

How is Carbon doing?

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Re, Carbon's watery poo: 3 of our eldest hens have been prone to loose poops their whole lives. It's notably worse during molt and in the morning. (I've wondered if it's due to organ damage from being shipped as chicks in a very cold February. None of our other groups of birds have this issue.)

In the past month, one of those hens, Bebe, was having projectile, watery stools first thing in the morning, plus a bright red comb while molting. Her crew had been wormed and her behavior was okay, so I settled on it being molting stress, but it wasn't sitting right.

When you asked for advice about Carbon, Azygous' suggestion resonated; an infection hadn't been on my radar despite the red comb. Within 48 hours of starting antibiotics, Bebe's comb was the right shade of pink for molting, behavior went from okay to great, and her morning poops were more acceptable. Not perfect, but less dramatic; her morning poops are never perfect.

This week, I've gone the other direction, with treats of raw cow's milk (we get raw dairy through a share with a local farm) and greek yogurt to boost good bacteria. Bebe's holding steady.

Meanwhile, rooster Andre is for sure now in his first molt at 2.5 years old. At one point, he was also having his first watery stools. He hadn't been wormed in a long time, so I took a leap and wormed him. It immediately firmed things up. His stools are still soft but in range of what I expect during a molt. Gotta love navigating the gray area between medicating too much and not enough

Not sure if my observations are helpful but thought I'd commiserate. As hard as molting is on the chickens, it's tough on keepers.

Tax: Andre as a freshly minted naked neck/carrioca. Plus a classic Starla photobomb. Andre is so in love that he was letting the pullets "groom" incoming feathers off his neck. Luckily, he had enough after they cleared a patch on either side and now dances them away when they're feeling groomy. Otherwise he might've needed a protective neck apron, if that exists.

Here's hoping the rest of his new hackle feathers will cover the gaps, or we'll have to live with his mullet for a while.

 

[Shadrach]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

How is Carbon doing?

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

She has good days and not so good days. You would need to watch her for quite a while to know anything is wrong with her. She's filled on after moulting the bare patches under her wings and around her rear end which must have made her feel cold. She runs about with the others and it's one day at a time.

 

[Shadrach]

Re, Carbon's watery poo: 3 of our eldest hens have been prone to loose poops their whole lives. It's notably worse during molt and in the morning. (I've wondered if it's due to organ damage from being shipped as chicks in a very cold February. None of our other groups of birds have this issue.)

In the past month, one of those hens, Bebe, was having projectile, watery stools first thing in the morning, plus a bright red comb while molting. Her crew had been wormed and her behavior was okay, so I settled on it being molting stress, but it wasn't sitting right.

When you asked for advice about Carbon, Azygous' suggestion resonated; an infection hadn't been on my radar despite the red comb. Within 48 hours of starting antibiotics, Bebe's comb was the right shade of pink for molting, behavior went from okay to great, and her morning poops were more acceptable. Not perfect, but less dramatic; her morning poops are never perfect.

This week, I've gone the other direction, with treats of raw cow's milk (we get raw dairy through a share with a local farm) and greek yogurt to boost good bacteria. Bebe's holding steady.

Meanwhile, rooster Andre is for sure now in his first molt at 2.5 years old. At one point, he was also having his first watery stools. He hadn't been wormed in a long time, so I took a leap and wormed him. It immediately firmed things up. His stools are still soft but in range of what I expect during a molt. Gotta love navigating the gray area between medicating too much and not enough

Not sure if my observations are helpful but thought I'd commiserate. As hard as molting is on the chickens, it's tough on keepers.

Tax: Andre as a freshly minted naked neck/carrioca. Plus a classic Starla photobomb. Andre is so in love that he was letting the pullets "groom" incoming feathers off his neck. Luckily, he had enough after they cleared a patch on either side and now dances them away when they're feeling groomy. Otherwise he might've needed a protective neck apron, if that exists.

Here's hoping the rest of his new hackle feathers will cover the gaps, or we'll have to live with his mullet for a while.

View attachment 3679194
View attachment 3679196

I'm considering it now her moult is less of a problem.

 

[MaryJanet]

She has good days and not so good days. You would need to watch her for quite a while to know anything is wrong with her. She's filled on after moulting the bare patches under her wings and around her rear end which must have made her feel cold. She runs about with the others and it's one day at a time.

I wonder about her age. Could she simply be an old lady with poor health from ageing?

 

[Shadrach]

A dry afternoon which we are going to be paying for tomorrow according to the weather people.
Four hours today.
We are cutting into a corner of the field that has been ignored for years. I keep forgeting to take pictures.
Also cleaning away the stuff that's been dumped at the top of the field, things like a complete window with all it's plastic surround. Sheet of plastic from an old greenhouse, bits of pallet, beer cans, plastic bags, string, bulk bags rotting...

Carbons now fluffy arse.

She is still eating plenty.

 

[Shadrach]

I wonder about her age. Could she simply be an old lady with poor health from ageing?

Yes she could. I think it most likely.

 

[Shadrach]

Not all the grains and seeds have sunk to the bottom.