4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[chicklit]

I have had the first soft egg today from my chooks and I feel a bit worried because I am going away on Sunday for a few days.

 

When I let them out today just after lunch they all seemed to be okay. After a while I noticed Rosie sitting on the back step all quiet and still. I opened the back door and threw a little mixed corn to them as usual but Rosie didn't move - most unusual. Something definitely wasn't right with her.

 

After watching her for a while I thought maybe I should give them a course of flubenvet in case it was worms. I mixed up some feed with the Flubenvet and fetched the grubs in to wash so they could start the course and then i noticed that Rosie had layed a soft shelled egg on the Patio. When I looked at it closely it was a good sized perfectly shaped egg with no shell and attached to it was a sac like a deflated balloom filled with liquid. Is this normal?

 

I watched Rosie for a while and she just sat on the patio, very quietly as if she was resting.

After a while she got up and wandered down to the grass to join her friends and was soon scratching about looking much better.

 

I filled the grubs and put them in the run and Rosie went in with the others and immediatly started eating as usual.

 

I have just picked her up for a cuddle and noticed some small creatures amongst her feathers which I presume are lice. I checked the others but could not see any on them but I have sprayed them all with Johnsons Mite spray.

 

Do I need to spray them again and is it alright to give them the flubenvet treated food for the next 7 days at the same time. They were due for worming anyway so hopefully I can go

ahead with it.

 

Sorry for such a long post but this is the first problem I have had with my chooks. I have been so lucky since I had them last October. Just checked, she is scratchinhg around quite happily at the moment so I'm hoping the crucial time has passed.

[Egluntyne]

I'm not sure that I would give the flubenvet until the mite spray is out of the system. The mixture of the two might be a bit powerful for their system.

 

Here is some info from Kate re anti mite spray.

 

The best thing I've found for getting rid of lice on hens is Johnson's Anti-Mite spray which you can get in petshops as it's sold for budgies and pigeons but works a treat on hens too. Apply it to all your hens, give the coop a good spray round and close the door for half an hour or so then open it up again and within 24 hours, the lice will have gone. Repeat it after a week to catch any eggs which have hatched out in the meantime. You will need to withdraw your hens eggs for 2 days for your own consumption but withdraw them for a week if you sell them to the public.

 

I'd give the Flubenvet a week or so after the second spraying of anti mite spray if it were me.