Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

Funny. I don’t think of her as having that much fluff compared to some of my others.

Tassels who hasn’t even started laying yet.
View attachment 3641648

Babs whose fluff seems to expand every day.
View attachment 3641650

And Minnie (RIP).
View attachment 3641651

I love the fluffy butts. This is a mild case...

 

[MrsNorthie]

Pics or its not true

Some of the ladies are a little shy about showing off their attributes.

 

[BDutch]

I'm battling lice on my chickens. The lice seem to be pretty resistant to permethrin -- I treated everyone twice and now just found more lice on them all.

Are you talking about feather lice?
Never had them. I’m using diatom/DE in the sandbath to avoid feather lice. And the chickens have a dry spot in the run under a window so they can dustbath when its rainy weather too.

Some keepers use a combination of sand mixed with ashes and DE with good prevention results over several years. I dont know how easy or hard it is to eliminate lice if you have them with a proper dustbath.

The window with the always dry sand bath underneath.

Seen from the inside of the coop.
They use the coop floor to dustbath too.

Did you see Kraai too? No fluffy but at all.

 

[fuzzi]

Shad, glad to hear that you're feeling better!

I love the pictures of Henry and the chicks. He didn't have the opportunity to be a daddy before?

We have a tropical storm warning, so I asked my dh to mow the yard. When I got home from work yesterday there was a huge deposit of clippings on top of the compost pile.

I shared with my chick(en)s...

 

[TropicalChickies]

Are you talking about feather lice?
Never had them. I’m using diatom/DE in the sandbath to avoid feather lice. And the chickens have a dry spot in the run under a window so they can dustbath when its rainy weather too.

Some keepers use a combination of sand mixed with ashes and DE with good prevention results over several years. I dont know how easy or hard it is to eliminate lice if you have them with a proper dustbath.

The window with the always dry sand bath underneath.
View attachment 3641947
Seen from the inside of the coop.
They use the coop floor to dustbath too.
View attachment 3641948

Did you see Kraai too? No fluffy but at all.

They have plenty of dry dustbath areas. With sand and wood ash. The hens use them but not the senior rooster, Lucio. He just stands there guarding them. He was the first one with lice and I guess the lice jumped from him to everyone else in his coop.

Tobias and his tribe don't have them. They sleep in another coop and stay mostly to themselves. So I really should have said everyone in Lucio's tribe has them.

Also, nearly everyone right now is in some stage of molt. As I checked every bird last night I saw porcupine like quills sprouting out. I know lice are attracted to the waxy coverings on new feathers so that's probably contributing..

Anyway, my question was more specifically with regards to sulfur --which is also a natural mineral with very low toxicity btw -- if anyone has used it and how. I may have only been keeping chickens for four years but I'm aware that dustbathing is their first defense against ectoparasites. Right here and now however, that line of defense doesn't seem to be working.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I think it's going to work with Chirk He got chased twice (as far as I know) during the day, but the other roos' aim seems to be (as their predecessors' have been) just to drive him away, not to pursue and hurt him if he runs away. So when most of the flock had returned to their coops to roost, I found him foraging in the paddock, and he gladly ate the pocketful of mealworms I had with me, and he was still there when I returned with a bowl of food for him. And shortly after finishing that he made his way back to the trampoline, and went to bed in his bin. Hopefully his recovery will continue; he certainly gets more exercise and better forage this way.

That's really great to read.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The chicken pictures were great.

Temperature is in the low 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[RoyalChick]

They have plenty of dry dustbath areas. With sand and wood ash. The hens use them but not the senior rooster, Lucio. He just stands there guarding them. He was the first one with lice and I guess the lice jumped from him to everyone else in his coop.

Tobias and his tribe don't have them. They sleep in another coop and stay mostly to themselves. So I really should have said everyone in Lucio's tribe has them.

Also, nearly everyone right now is in some stage of molt. As I checked every bird last night I saw porcupine like quills sprouting out. I know lice are attracted to the waxy coverings on new feathers so that's probably contributing..

Anyway, my question was more specifically with regards to sulfur --which is also a natural mineral with very low toxicity btw -- if anyone has used it and how. I may have only been keeping chickens for four years but I'm aware that dustbathing is their first defense against ectoparasites. Right here and now however, that line of defense doesn't seem to be working.

This tick season was very bad for me and I adopted an old fashioned remedy which is to hang a sock full of sulphur by the door. You use it like a powder puff on your pants and shoes.
I have no idea if it works but sometimes these old approaches are at least as good as others and this one is easy.
I hadn’t thought about adding it to a dust bath. Of course mine pick their own bathing spots so that might not be practical.

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

They have plenty of dry dustbath areas. With sand and wood ash. The hens use them but not the senior rooster, Lucio. He just stands there guarding them. He was the first one with lice and I guess the lice jumped from him to everyone else in his coop.

Tobias and his tribe don't have them. They sleep in another coop and stay mostly to themselves. So I really should have said everyone in Lucio's tribe has them.

Also, nearly everyone right now is in some stage of molt. As I checked every bird last night I saw porcupine like quills sprouting out. I know lice are attracted to the waxy coverings on new feathers so that's probably contributing..

Anyway, my question was more specifically with regards to sulfur --which is also a natural mineral with very low toxicity btw -- if anyone has used it and how. I may have only been keeping chickens for four years but I'm aware that dustbathing is their first defense against ectoparasites. Right here and now however, that line of defense doesn't seem to be working.

Found this on BYC, hopefully takes you straight to Molpet’s post
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...e-for-the-chickens-coop.1351484/post-22277802

also an older thread with discussions on using sulphur in dustbaths:

Thread 'sulfur powder against lice/mites?'
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sulfur-powder-against-lice-mites.613628/

Not had occasion to use it myself & others may have much more experience than me

 

[Shadrach]

Does Henry like you rubbing his earlobes?
While treating Babs' bumblefoot I discovered that she loves a gentle earlobe massage also under her chin - between her wattles.
While I soaked her feet I rubbed those places gently and she extended her neck, closed her eyes and gave little satisfied purring sounds.
I hope I was interpreting correctly and it wasn't that she was terrified that I would kill her, but each night she extended her neck so I could access the right spot to rub.
Needless to say I turned to jelly experiencing that!

He's gone a bit odd. He came up to the chair again today and let me rub his wattles and ear lobes. Later when I tried to do it again he wasn't having any of it.