This Means War!!!

[Iowa Roo Mom]

A war has been waged

The chickens are covered... and I mean COVERED in lice.

(With the exception of the roo, who is the only one in the flock who has his whole beak [maybe that makes it easier to pick the little buggers off?] And yes, I still treated him...)

So, I spent the better part of the day... at least 4 hours capturing chickens, powdering all over their feathery little bodies with SEVIN, dragging the coop out, the food, the water, scraping the entire run, burning old bedding, scrubbing and sprinkling SEVIN all over EVERYTHING!!!

Over the last week the girls had been loosing weight, Louise especially. I knew something was wrong, but with finals next week, I never had time to examine them closely.... 'Till today. I don't think I've ever seen an infestation on one bird quite so bad.

They were even crawling on ME!!!

Now, I don't know how fast that Sevin works, but it seemed like the girls were feeling better meer minutes after I put them back in the cage.






But do you want to know the best part? I get to do it all over again in a week!

Someone remind me again why I have chickens in the first place?

 

[ibpboo]

Because chickens are sweet, and they give you eggs. And they look at you sideways and wait for treats, and you love them!!

Sorry 'bout the mites.

It'll get better again.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Because they're fluffy balls of love and you're a good chicken mom.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

wait ten days, it will work better. if you can create a dust box, with the clumping cat litter (or wood ash) and sevin in it, have then dust themselves

sevin is very fast, it will be the eggs that hatch that will bring the bugs back

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Thanks, Boo and PC...

Buck Creek- I couldn't remember if it was a week or 10 days. I think I'll wait 'till next Tuesday or Wednesday. I just hope they get to feeling better again soon. Anyone got any ideas to help with healthy and realitivly fast weight gain?





Oh, and by the way, if a MOD happens to stop by, can you please move this to the predators and pests section? This really isn't an emergency, per sae.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

probiotics in the water will help, and use a chick stater mixed with your layer for a short amount of time

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Probiotics work too. Plain Yogurt is the easiest to obtain. Kombucha is very effective, and they love water with a little added to it. Kefir is about 7 times better than Kombucha: feed some to them every few days for a couple weeks, then every once in a while for maintenance.