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[Rudies Roost]

@rebrascora

Thanks again for the advice. I don't have hanging feeders, they have a treadle operated box thing and I have a few bowls of growers pellets scattered around the pen for the littlies that aren't yet heavy enough to operate the treadle. The young lad spent the night out last night! Couldn't find him this morning so assumed death in the coop....nothing in there.....after 10 mins, I found him chirping 3ft off the floor in a huge bush!!! I obviously missed him on my evening check at lock up....oooops. He's fine anyway, good job their pen is safe from predators. I have to admire his ability to sort himself out despite looking so out of sorts! My daughter started Secondary school today and wanted to see him before she went....many tears ensued as she thought he was gone so I'm thrilled we found him okay and she went off with a smile....phew!

As @timon said, all I can do is offer my flock the best I can, I'm happy they have good quality food, protection and hygienic conditions so that's the best I can do, the rest is up to them.

@Psychochick

My eggs have dropped off very slightly, I have around 6 moulting, a further 2 just raised chicks so may or may not come back in to lay before next year and mostly only the younger pullets laying. I think it's just the time of year, I was quite stressed about it the first time I went through it, I provided extra light in the coop etc but I don't bother now, I guess it's nice for their busy bodies to have a little break.

 

[palaeosam]

Hi all,
Been a while since I posted here and just wanted to pass on my condolences to everyone with poorly and recently deceased birds. I narrowly averted disaster this morning as I was replenishing their wood chip and discovered that rain water had been leeching into the bedding under the ramp from the back of the coop. A breeding ground for bacteria at the best of times but, with silkied seramas being so small and so not waterproof, they would have lost body temperature really fast. This explains why they spent so much time yesterday on the edge of their dust bath and sitting on the ramp, poor things. I patched the situation for now and tomorrow I'll make sure the rain doesn't get in again - luckily it doesn't look like it will rain today. Their entire run is covered with a roof so normally they're absolutely fine, I just didn't think about what was going on with the rain fall at the back by the wall.

 

[Psychochick]

Phew, thanks for that peeps I was starting to think I'd got something totally wrong, they've never done this for the last 2 years. Although incidentally I did get 6 today so a little bit of leg crossing and strike action may have been going on (can't believe I'd only give them half a garden for their run not the whole one like usual huh...) So long as no-one is about to drop dead I'm happy. Although I was looking at Kelloggs earlier and she is starting to look a little geriatric. And a little bit like a cockerel too... She already has 2 spurs - far better than Cocky, never clucks properly just makes this odd growling noise and now I noticed her comb is changing shape. I guess it's age and possibility of moulting. I hope she does moult. She hasn't before and frankly she looks and is scruffy. If anyone has lice it's always her. We call her Kelloggs Pigeon Friend, Louse Master of the Universe.

 

[timon]

Oh No !

And now I have a mite infestation. I felt itchy after putting my rescue girls on the perch tonight - trying to teach them that a perch is better than 6 hens huddled in a single nest box - and noticed the small little mites on my hands.

I've been reading posts on here ...
Where do I get a 'sulphur smoke bomb' ? And do they actually work the best?

 

[rebrascora]

@timon
If it makes you feel any better I've been fighting a red mite infestation in my juvenile pekin coop for nearly a fortnight now. Normally DE (Diatomaceous Earth) works for me. I have previously used Smite (brand name DE) with very effective results and I thought maybe the generic DE that I was using this time was not as effective as I wasn't seeing the usual piles of dead mites like little cigarette ash mounds that I have previously experienced after use. I tried painting creosote (the real stuff) into all the nooks and crannies and that fettled quite a few but it hasn't totally fixed the problem, so I bought some more Smite and puffed that around and dusted it into all the corners but I'm still finding patches of the little blighters. I haven't tried a sulphur bomb but my next round of ammunition to get fired at them is Deosect, which I have in stock for the horses. I hate to resort to serious chemical warfare but I'm not winning the battle with my usual weapons, so it's going to have to be the big guns next. Would be interested to hear how effective a sulphur bomb is if you use one and likewise, I will report back on my use of Deosect..It's this hot humid weather making ideal conditions for the mites to thrive. Of course, the chicks huddling in a corner rather than roosting is making the problem worse and likewise with your birds huddling. Once you get them to roost you can paint the ends of the roost bars with Stockholm tar and that prevents the mites getting to the chickens because it's so sticky they can't cross it.

Good luck

Barbara

 

[Psychochick]

Ugh redmites. I've been ok (touch wood) this year but last year I was going to bed dreaming about the little blighters. I can think of more attractive things to dream about frankly. I found a good jetwash of everything, followed by a rigorous coating of neat jeyes fluid left on (lock the chicks out for a while so it can ventilate) especially on the ends of the perches then bath the perches, the perch supports and the hens in DE works. I don't know what your coop looks like but I found I had to remove the roof bar to get at them there. It was only when I did that that the issue went away rather than respawning every 2 weeks. Whatever you do don't bother with those stupid fumigation smoke bomb things from pets at home. A total waste of a lot of money.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi all

Sorry to hear about everyone who has lost birds Egg production has dramatically slowed down here too and the birds are looking pretty ratty at the moment. Feathers here and there so molt seems to have begun with some of them.

@timon I have have an ongoing battle with mites Under control yes but not totally gone I'm afraid. I use a spray from nettex called total mite kill. You can see them die when you spray. The trick is to remove everything you can from the coop ie roost bars, nest box seperators. Check for mites on them and spray if you see them. Remove all bedding and throughly spray the coop with mite killer. You need to try and get in nooks and crannies as this is where they hide from you. If you get it in there you can see them coming out and start to die. They literally hide everywhere! Under nest box lids in the cracks of the door. Even in the tongue and groove of wooden coops. When bad I treat every 4 days as the are on a 7 day life cycle and you need to kill the younger ones before that have time to suck the blood from the birds. I've even resorted to hoovering the coops out with an old vac to get rid of them! Totally mad yes but the things drive me potty!
Ivermectin drops on your birds can help too reduce them. It works rather like flea drops for cats and dogs. The mites crawl on your bird when they feed and the ivermectin on the skin shoukd kill them. These drops also work on lice that actually live on your bird.
I've found Amazon the cheapest for the mite killer ~

After treating with the spray I cover it all with mite powder, under and ends of perches, in the bedding, nest box dividers.

Hope you can get them under control Timon.

@rebrascora
Barbara that's a great idea with the Stockholm tar on the perches, might give that whirl and a great excuse to go to the horsey horse shop!

 

[CallHowe]

Callum here from London (Greenwich)

 

[rebrascora]

@Yorkshire Coop

Hi Kim

Thanks for the product suggestions. Will give them a go if Deosect fails since I have that in stock. The Stockholm tar remedy was something passed down from my Mam. There are no new ideas, just good forgotten/recycled ones! She also used to smash up old crockery with a hammer to use instead of grit and the occasional time I've had a broken plate, they are nearly under the hammer grabbing bits as I smash it up!

Hope your back is a bit better... actually, I hope it's totally better but will settle for some improvement if a miracle hasn't happened!!!. Great to hear that you got out on Harry despite the injury. I have a flag here in the house that I use for training/desensitising the horses and at your instigation I did actually go and wave it in honour of your ride! Good on you! I can really sympathise about dismounting though. I have an intermittent back problem and regular knee problems and hitting the ground on dismount is not pleasant.... it actually hurts more than getting thrown off I think, although it's been a while since I hit the deck like that, so my memory may be amiss....tempting fate even saying it!
Actually I have as much, if not more of a problem climbing down from the carriage after we have been out for a drive. At least when I am riding, I am moving the joints pretty constantly but sitting still on the carriage for an hour or more and then having to jump down is a killer especially if I forget to do some warm up movements before we stop.... and of course I have to get down straight away when we stop because the lads won't stand unless I hold them.
Our carriage drive went very well thanks and our guests really enjoyed it. I rode Zak out with them and Ian drove the big lads. At one point we met some horses and riders and I had to use Zak to escort them past the carriage as they were freaking out, so it was good that I had him and he is such a steadying influence. I also rode out on him on Tuesday and we went into the woods and jumped the (problem) fallen tree and two others and several ditches without any glitches. He felt so much more balanced and confident and I am putting that down to the ground work I did in the arena although I'm not sure Ian would give me the credit. We also crossed an overgrown field that was interspersed with thistles and he was jumping over the prickles which was quite cute! He seemed to be really enjoying himself and was an absolute pleasure to ride.

I have 6 more chicks which hatched a few days ago..... more Pekins but they have Silkie in the mix as they are Frances' eggs and she is a Silkie/Pekin cross. I'm a bit disappointed though as 4 are lavender and only 2 black.... I'm getting sick of lavender.... it's just too dominant! I'm obviously the sort of person that needs variety in my flock rather than breeding for SOP. I still haven't set the Marans eggs as I want to get on top of this red mite problem first. Portia is adamant that she wants to set again though and is just a big floppy Bagpuss of a broody chicken, so I will no doubt give in to her, but can't leave it too much longer.

Just got MeMe's shoe put back on last week (no charge again even though I couldn't even find the shoe this time!.... I tell you my farriers are the best!) but unfortunately Rascal has now lost one.... arrghh! It's because they are down on the backside which is really steep rough land and boggy in places and they hooley about so much down there.

Anyway, I think that is all my news.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[rebrascora]

@CallHowe

Hi and welcome to the thread from the Northern powerhouse!!

What sort of poultry do you have? Tell us a bit more about your set up and interests/family etc We love to see photos too!

Look forwards to getting to know you.

Regards

Barbara