Had a chicken that we thought had wry neck disease from vitamin deficiency as its something we dealt with before but during one of her feedings I noticed a small red thing crawling over her eye. Checked through her feathers and turns out she is absolutely infested with mites/lice. And if she is this infested than I'm sure many of our other chickens are as well.
I did some research, read through threads but many of the suggested products I can not seem to find for sale in Canada. Elector psp, permethrin products etc I'm not finding anything listed anywhere. I've ordered some diatomaceous earth just for something though I know its got mixed reviews. Since the ground is buried under a good two feet of snow though I'm still trying to find unfertilized top soil I can mix with it to make a dust bath for them.
Now list of issues we are facing in treating them and their coop.
We only have one large coop with 60+ birds in it and every article I've read says to treat every chicken at the same time. We also have a dozen guinea hens living with them who are extremely flighty and hard to catch even at night. With the temperature constantly dropping to below -30C with the windchill even during the day emptying out the entire coop to treat everything is also a logistical nightmare. Their current bedding is hay so easily removeable but hard to get every thing out. Whatever solution is needed, needs to be able to be done in a day and no more treatments than once a week. I can only make it out one day a week to help out and dad is looking after two toddlers that can't be left alone for long during the week.
Secondly, our poor infested chicken, is there any emergency treatments I can do? I've read a soak in water mixed with dawn dish soap is a possible treatment or a spray of water, oil and soap. She can't stand on her own at the moment so I need to treat her very quickly if possible. She was also in the same room as some chicks in our brooder so any preventative treatments for them would also be appreciated.
I did some research, read through threads but many of the suggested products I can not seem to find for sale in Canada. Elector psp, permethrin products etc I'm not finding anything listed anywhere. I've ordered some diatomaceous earth just for something though I know its got mixed reviews. Since the ground is buried under a good two feet of snow though I'm still trying to find unfertilized top soil I can mix with it to make a dust bath for them.
Now list of issues we are facing in treating them and their coop.
We only have one large coop with 60+ birds in it and every article I've read says to treat every chicken at the same time. We also have a dozen guinea hens living with them who are extremely flighty and hard to catch even at night. With the temperature constantly dropping to below -30C with the windchill even during the day emptying out the entire coop to treat everything is also a logistical nightmare. Their current bedding is hay so easily removeable but hard to get every thing out. Whatever solution is needed, needs to be able to be done in a day and no more treatments than once a week. I can only make it out one day a week to help out and dad is looking after two toddlers that can't be left alone for long during the week.
Secondly, our poor infested chicken, is there any emergency treatments I can do? I've read a soak in water mixed with dawn dish soap is a possible treatment or a spray of water, oil and soap. She can't stand on her own at the moment so I need to treat her very quickly if possible. She was also in the same room as some chicks in our brooder so any preventative treatments for them would also be appreciated.
