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Odd. I would either dust or spray them for pests. I use permethrin 10 livestock and premise spray, sold at TSC. It lasts for about 30 days on the birds.
And that doesn't leave the birds feeling all oily and keep their feathers matted down? I use it as a premise spray but couldn't convince myself to use it on the Silkies because of the oily base.
Why would mites only affect the hatchery silkies though? My pens are all side by side. My show silkies are not affected. The other banties in this pen are not affected. None of my large fowl are affected. The two older hatchery silkies are the ones I really noticed looking bad. The third (that is broody) has what looks like a buzz cut on her topknot. That I could chalk up to someone plucking at her. I have a polish in that pen that has a history of plucking at the others muffs and topknots so if it were only her I would just assume that. Dunno. It's weird. The lack of broodiness is really strange to me. By this point in the season both of them should have been broody at least once. Just odd.
I do dust all the pens and coops with DE. I have some poultry dust, but haven't used it in a while as I've been using the DE instead. I'll dust them all up tomorrow just in case, but I would have thought the DE would take care of it. Again, it's weird that only the hatchery silkies are looking ragged. Everyone else is just fine. Strange, strange, strange.
Thanks for the suggestions! If y'all think of anything else to try, please let me know. I'm stymied at this point.
Odd. I would either dust or spray them for pests. I use permethrin 10 livestock and premise spray, sold at TSC. It lasts for about 30 days on the birds.
And that doesn't leave the birds feeling all oily and keep their feathers matted down? I use it as a premise spray but couldn't convince myself to use it on the Silkies because of the oily base.
Why would mites only affect the hatchery silkies though? My pens are all side by side. My show silkies are not affected. The other banties in this pen are not affected. None of my large fowl are affected. The two older hatchery silkies are the ones I really noticed looking bad. The third (that is broody) has what looks like a buzz cut on her topknot. That I could chalk up to someone plucking at her. I have a polish in that pen that has a history of plucking at the others muffs and topknots so if it were only her I would just assume that. Dunno. It's weird. The lack of broodiness is really strange to me. By this point in the season both of them should have been broody at least once. Just odd.
I do dust all the pens and coops with DE. I have some poultry dust, but haven't used it in a while as I've been using the DE instead. I'll dust them all up tomorrow just in case, but I would have thought the DE would take care of it. Again, it's weird that only the hatchery silkies are looking ragged. Everyone else is just fine. Strange, strange, strange.
Thanks for the suggestions! If y'all think of anything else to try, please let me know. I'm stymied at this point.
