Those pesky poultry ticks!

[vine dancer]

So glad I came across the post about poultry ticks, because I just found these critters yesterday and was unable to ID them online. Looking through my loupe, I saw they were 8 legged, but most tick sites focus on the human/tick issues. I had just found lice on my hens, and had sprayed Pyganic, a great natural effective product for the coop AND birds. I guess it stunned the poultry ticks, and they came crawling out from the crevices they were hiding in.Yuck! Now I will take apart all the wood to wood connections and caulk them. Will report back later.
But what to do with the two ailing hens? Hot skin, bare areas, low energy, want to stay in the nest box continually. Poor appetite, weak. I wonder if they have been infected with Borellia or other tick-borne disease?

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Sorry about your hens! You should post about them here https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your hens, X2 on try the Emergencies forum, and you might also try the Pests forum https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/13/predators-and-pests hope you are able to deal with the nasty things.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Sorry about your hens. Definitely post in our emergency section. I hope they will be ok.

Thankfully I have never dealt with too many tiny livestock, so I can't give you much advice. I hope you can oust them all soon!

 

[gander007]

Sounds like you have a mine farm going on there not healthy

What are you putting in the drinking water ???????


You need to replace some vitamins and minerals the ticks sucked out a lot of needed blood so you might want to think about some hard boiled egg's remove shell mash up really good and serve an egg a day to your chickens and make sure they all get some for a couple of weeks ...........

 

[vine dancer]

Not sure what you mean by "mine farm"...Hmmm. But adding minerals to the water is a good idea. We have recently added a little apple cider vinegar to cool things down, and counteract our very alkaline well water. Those two ailing hens ARE molting, so I added Feather Replacer feed, which has extra calcium and some immune boosting vitamins and minerals. Have also cut back on scratch, which supposedly can be too "hot" of of a food in our 106 degree (today!) heat. The other 5 hens are doing fine, some signs of molting, but not bothered by it.

 

[gander007]

Not sure what you mean by "mine farm"...Hmmm. But adding minerals to the water is a good idea. We have recently added a little apple cider vinegar to cool things down, and counteract our very alkaline well water. Those two ailing hens ARE molting, so I added Feather Replacer feed, which has extra calcium and some immune boosting vitamins and minerals. Have also cut back on scratch, which supposedly can be too "hot" of of a food in our 106 degree (today!) heat. The other 5 hens are doing fine, some signs of molting, but not bothered by it.

All the little critters so sorry my Gran-pa use to refer to the farm that was growing on his farm as a mine farm no insult intended

I have to agree I cut way back on the cracked corn in the heat .....

 

[drumstick diva]

IS it at all possible that your two hens may be broody? that on top of heat and ticks could probably finish them off fast. When hens go broody they may even try to hatch rocks, and don't want to leave the nest to eat or drink- you have to put them outside at least a couple times a day to take care of that and poop.

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm sorry your having troubles with poultry ticks and two ailing hens. The other BYC members have given you some good advice and good links. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your tick problem and your hens.

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!