umbrella thursday Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hi there We have had our girls since March without problems. At the weekend, I discovered red mite living in the roosting bars of the eglu so have taken steps to deal with this and used red mite powder over the eglu and dusted the girls down too. Today I noticed that our two wyandotte bantams keep sort of wiping their beaks quite hard on the patio. I wondered if this was anything to worry about or if it is connected to the mite in any way. I am going to order some plastic roosting bars I think for the eglu and give it another good clean and dusting at the weekend but wondered if anybody had any ideas. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottie Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Our girls quite often do this - I think they're just cleaning their beaks! It might just be a coincidence that you've treated for red mite. Sheila Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finger lickin good Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Had you just given them a treat. Ours do exactly the same but have no sign of red mite. I thought they did it after some that they enjoyed or to clean their beaks as ours quite often do it after sweetcorn or chicken porridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Mine wipe their beaks on the ground if they have eaten something gooey or been rootling around in the earth. Just to get their beaks clean, I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umbrella thursday Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 I had just given them some chopped apple so it is probably that. Phew. I feel so guilty that they got red mite. I'm not 100% sure it's completely eradicated. Our girls are still not great at being picked up, I think we need to work a bit harder at taming them so we can check them more thoroughly. It was a right laugh trying to dust under their wings with the red mite powder. Glad the beak wiping is normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Mine do that if they've just eaten a slug or worm - its just to clean their beaks up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
