Shake your tail feathers!

[KaityRoseChicks]

No others birds. Got them when they were 2 days old from a friend with an established flock. They were hatched in an incubator and kept in a brooded outside. Never been in contact with any other birds.

 

[aart]

No others birds. Got them when they were 2 days old from a friend with an established flock. They were hatched in an incubator and kept in a brooded outside. Never been in contact with any other birds.

If they were in an outside brooder near another flock then it is possible that they might have mites.
Have no clue how probable it is tho, so don't jump to conclusions.
Some mites live in the structure of a coop rather than on the birds themselves and only come out to feed on birds at night.

 

[KaityRoseChicks]

I just swapped out a bunch of old shavings for new so maybe that will help

 

[azygous]

Wait. All that because of a little tail shaking?

That's kind of like dragging an infant to the ER just because it sneezed.

It's very unlikely your chicks have parasites.

 

[KaityRoseChicks]

Their shavings were dirty so it was due. I haven't actually done anything to them except inspected to check for mites.

 

[Feathyr]

The best way to prevent them is to keep bedding dry and fresh in the coop, and keep the run as dry as possible.

Mites thrive in dry environments, though they will continue to infest your flock even if the bedding is wet. I coat the interior of the coop with Manna Pro's Poultry Protector spray every cleaning to take care of them. (This spray can be used on the birds, too, and won't harm them or other animals - its main ingredient is citric acid.) Some of the old timer poultry producers painted the interior of their coops every year to seal away mites that lived in the wood.

They're still indoors so I will probably hold off on the poultry dust until they're outside. I'm very scared to use it because I don't want to risk my cat at all. There's nothing else to use that would be safe?

I'm sorry for not being more clear in my previous post - as long as you aren't applying the dust to your cat, or letting it walk through it, the chances of it getting poisoned are minimal. I have seven cats myself, and in eight years of poultry production not a single cat has been poisoned.

The Manna Pro spray I mentioned above is a good alternative. The dust came to mind first because I can't use the spray until the warmer months here.

You can also worm average-sized adult birds with 5-6 drops of Ivermectin Pour-On for cattle. The medication enters the bloodstream and kills blood-sucking parasites and worms. Not sure I'd recommend it for chicks, though.

 

[KaityRoseChicks]

I'm definitely gonna keep that spray in mind.

 

[Feathyr]

https://www.mannapro.com/products/poultry/adult-poultry-care/poultry-protector

It's great stuff. This is the smaller bottle; I've also found a large bottle of concentrate that you thin with water.

 

[aart]

Wait. All that because of a little tail shaking?

That's kind of like dragging an infant to the ER just because it sneezed.

It's very unlikely your chicks have parasites.

Well, mostly I think the convo just drifted to mites in general.