The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[Beekissed]

So, if you cull the infected chicken, this would prevent mosquitoes from biting it and transferring that disease?

 

[huckleberry acres]

So, if you cull the infected chicken, this would prevent mosquitoes from biting it and transferring that disease? 

 

Not if there are any other chickens infected within a few miles of you as the mosquito flies. Once the infected bird is bitten, killing the mosquito would be more effective than culling the chicken. It is really no big deal if achicken gets fowl pox. Looks bad for a few days, they build up resistance and it goes away. Too many chickens in the rural area I live in and too many mosquitoes in the wet area of the South Alabama and the Gulf Coast to cull a chicken if it gets infected with fowl pox. Takes care of itself, doesn't affect the chicken (at least it didn't mine) , and they are now immune as we have mosquitoes sometimes 10-11 months out of the year.

 

[Beekissed]

I can understand that, seeing where you live. I'm all for allowing the flock to develop immunities to pathogens that will be present in their environment and it sounds like this is a constant in your area. Sort of like taking your kids next door to play with the kids that were just diagnosed with chicken pox so that you can get it over with...not that I would do that, but I've heard of it being done.

Fowl pox in my area would be a little more unusual...we've never experienced it here in our flocks and, to be honest, if I found one of my birds with crusted eyes and nostrils with lesions in their mouths making it difficult to eat and with difficulty breathing, etc., I'd probably cull it.

From what I've read, it says it can be transmitted from bird to bird, as well as with the mosquito bites and that it is slow spreading..so if I found one bird with it, I'd cull to see if I could slow or stop that progression through the flock. If more than one, it would be a losing prospect and I would have to let it run it's course and only cull birds that are suffering too much(if the wet form of pox).

 

[huckleberry acres]

I can understand that, seeing where you live.  I'm all for allowing the flock to develop immunities to pathogens that will be present in their environment and it sounds like this is a constant in your area.  Sort of like taking your kids next door to play with the kids that were just diagnosed with chicken pox so that you can get it over with...not that I would do that, but I've heard of it being done. 

Fowl pox in my area would be a little more unusual...we've never experienced it here in our flocks and, to be honest, if I found one of my birds with crusted eyes and nostrils with lesions in their mouths making it difficult to eat and with difficulty breathing, etc., I'd probably cull it.

From what I've read, it says it can be transmitted from bird to bird, as well as with the mosquito bites and that it is slow spreading..so if I found one bird with it, I'd cull to see if I could slow or stop that progression through the flock.  If more than one, it would be a losing prospect and I would have to let it run it's course and only cull birds that are suffering too much(if the wet form of pox). 

 

Mine just had the dry version on their combs and wattles,with no other side affects and no lessions in nostrils or mouth. I did have one that had lessions around her eyes and one eye got real swollen, but within a day (before I could cull her - I travel and my teenage son will cull if I am not here), she started getting better and within 3 days she had minimal scabs and now you cannot even tell she had the scaps and lessions. We typically have more rain here than Seattle and some days mosquitoes could be our state bird. If tent camping and the mosquitoes don't like where you pitched the tent, they might pick it up and move it during the night.

 

[Beekissed]

Excellent! I'd be driven crazy in a place like that..bugs like to bite me.

You know, I think one of these birds might have had something like that when they were at their last place of residence. These people have a very large and green scum filled pond right below their barns. One of the birds has a scabby looking warty thing on one of her wattles and a few others have black spots on their combs. None of the birds in my original flock have these places but the ones picked up with them have a few old lesions that sound like fowl pox lesions.

 

[huckleberry acres]

It is so wet down here that many times the mosquitoes lay eggs and hatch in wet leaves or wet hay; they do not need standing water. I currently have hay (dry) in my nesting boxes and whenever I open the lid to gather eggs, mosquitoes swarm out of the nesting box. Not sure if I want to spray any insecticide around the hens because of them breathing it and I have tried Sevin dust below the dry hay but to no avail yet.
Since they are young adults, I may try cedar shavings under pine shavings in the nesting boxes and see if that helps with the mosquito clubhouse with very open membership enrollment to see if that cuts back on the swarm when I open the lid. I am buying bat houses to mount to the coop to see if the bats can help with the mosquito population. I am also fixing the Purple Martin houses my dad had and putting up to help as well.

 

[Beekissed]

I put cedar shavings in the nest boxes recently and I'm going to be trimming the lavender back for the fall and will be putting those trimmings in the bottom of the nest boxes as well. Neither of those are things I do with a normally healthy flock but this one came here with bad things in their luggage. They don't have any more lice or mites now but I just want to make sure they won't like what they find if they try to go through customs again...

Wonder if you would use pine and cedar shavings in your nest boxes instead of the hay if they would still live in there?

 

[Gramma Chick]

I can't imagine why...nothing poisonous about cooked potato skins that I know of. Same way with feeding grapes to dogs....someone should have informed my dogs because they stripped my grape vines each year. Garlic for dogs is supposed to be toxic...but I've been feeding it to my dogs for years. No dead dogs in my yard yet that weren't there due to a .22 lead injection.

Suzierd - I have read not to feed chickens potatoe skins.

I have read that too.. It mentioned that potato skins that have turned green are toxic to chickens . ( Potatoes that turn green have been exposed to too much light . ) if you keep your potatoes in the dark

so you shouldnt have a problem . I just check them carefully for green . you would trim the green off anyway before you cook it . Most times I also do a mix of veggies for them in my processor ..so they would not just get potato skins straight .

 

[chickiemomy]

Quote: another DLM question for you - my pine shavings are beginning to smell ammonia-like. I removed about a quarter of the most used shavings, raked around the rest of the shavings - added a couple of inches of new shavings -- about a week ago. Noticed a smell again today. Seems like the ventilation should be ok - I have many air vents, a screened window left open 24 hours & the pop door is open 12 hours. The coop is not real big about 28 sq feet - but I only have 6 hens. They appear to congregate mainly in one area - they're pile-on sleepers still... They aren't roosting yet - altho I put some mealworms on the roost & have found them gone twice in the last week - so MAYBE we're making some elevation progress (they're still adolescents - 4 1/2 to 5 months old - one is laying). I can tell they aren't up roosting overnight, as I have a poop door/ clean out area under the roost that's frustratingly clean.

o - & that was the first time I removed shavings or thought things looked bad or smelled at all since the birds moved into the coop the first of July - floor is painted with several coats of heavy duty polyurethane - so no air or moisture from below (coop floor raised off ground level)

do I need to mix the shavings up more? - I usually stir them around every 4 or 5 days. And top off/add maybe every 10 days or so. Must be 5 - 6 inches depth of shavings when they're fluffed up - no noticeable decomposition/mulch yet -- just the ammonia smell is new. - Shavings were all I smelled up until about a week ago. It's starting to cool down at night - into the 40's - could I be noticing smell because of that? -- Would a little sweet PDZ sprinkled over the shavings adversely impact starting some decomposition going? I sure don't enjoy the ammonia smell - can't imagine it's good for the birds.

What do you think? - worst case I give up the DLM - rather than risk respiratory stuff. But I'd really rather have DLM than to clean out shavings weekly, as my brother does - he won't do DLM - says smell is too bad.

any thoughts about what I can try/do differently?

 

[Beekissed]

DL shouldn't smell like strong ammonia but you may get a whiff of it now and again if you are stirring it a lot. If it does smell strong, you need more ventilation. Small coops are a difficult place to have the DL, I'm sure. You live in a very moist state, so it may be your area, but you will probably need to use more ventilation than folks in a more arid environment. You really can't have too much ventilation, just too little.

It doesn't sound like you would need to stir up your litter that often or even freshen up the litter so much unless they spend a lot of time in the coop. The PDZ would probably slow down any composting that would go on, as it removes the moisture...but it doesn't sound like it's working for the smells.

Could you post a pic of your coop and the present setup and litter?

Your birds are plenty old enough to be roosting...just slip in at night and put them on the roost. Should only take a couple of times of doing this and they should get the hang of it....they just don't have any older birds to teach them what to do.