My eco solution to rat problems

[sandyhas3chucks]

My girl, no longer has naked patches, she has gone past the purple quill porcipine look, and I am wondering how she will look with all her pretty pale apricot and whitey feathers

[cluckingmad]

excellent, so there is hope for my girls yet!! Funnily enough, having had a good watch of them this evening (they're all so lovely, pottering round the garden - its a real privilege to get to spend time with them after a hard day!) I'm not so worried - all of them are pootling round happily, Jemima had a good wing flap/stretch and all have been eating and drinking fine so probably more of a cosmetic concern than anything else (am probably just very twitchy after losing Millie)..

 

Think we'll wait till the week-end, then bath all the girls one after the pother (clean water of course ) - after all, can't do them any harm, and am thinking the bathing might help Jemima's bad skin....

 

Plus, am off to a poultry suppliers at the week-end and really, really REALLY want to add three bantams to our menagerie... OH's not keen on adding any new birds, will have to work on him

[GillC]

Update:

 

Since September, Amber's feathers have slowly grown back, particularly as the weather grew colder. I wonder if the cold weather finishes off the mite, or whatever it was. I did no more treatments after my last post and just waited to see.

 

The first bits to recover were her chest which is now all fluffy and white. Her shoulders are now (finally) covered in fresh feathers and her bloomers are back. The last bit to recover seems to be her tail. This still contains quills from which all the fluff has been stripped off, but there are also some new fluffy ones appearing so I have hopes that she will be all beautiful within a few weeks.

 

Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain what did the most good.

 

Nippon ant powder applied directly to the red bits seemed the most effective.

 

Neem oil may also have worked, but on a white chicken, it spread all over and she collected lots of dust and she looked pretty grubby for some time.

 

I wasn't too impressed by the flowers of sulpher baths as I don't think the yellow powder got to the red bits. If this happens again, I will try applying it topically to the red patches as suggested elsewhere in this thread as it sounds as though others had good results.

 

Dog shampoo - Just not sure. Amber was improving already so I cannot say for sure whether this was any more effective. Bathing the chooks is certainly fairly traumatic and I worry that they may get cold so I'd try the other remedies first.

 

 

My other two girls are beautifully plump and glossy which is good to see. I hope 2010 is a better year for bitey creatures.

 

Patsy

Nutmeg

Amber

[cluckingmad]

excellent news

 

My poor girls are sadly still very bare in the bottom department... however they don't seem in the least bit bothered so have deicded to allow them to potter around as normal, no evidence of any mites or other nasties in the skin or feathers so just letting them live out their days in a slightly bare condition!

[stephb]

Hi, I have 9 parrots: large macaws, mini macaws and a congo grey. I've had them for about 20 years. In 1996 depluming mite was introduced into my flock when the breeder I worked for replaced a euthanized bird with a naked new mate. Some birds in the room reacted violently by biting at their legs, pulling out feathers and stopping laying. None of the vets I consulted [about ten including 2 board certified] could help. They even stated that parrots didn't get mites. I started treatment with ivermectin. Over the next 14 years I shifted to different strengths of meds and eventually used moxidectin and doramectin in large doses. I also mixed frontline spray with AIL [permethrin from Vetafarm]. Some of these helped somewhat, but never got rid of the mites[which I never saw]. Over the years[i had twenty one birds] the mites gradually spread to every bird. One blue and gold macaw hen wasn't affected noticeably for 4-5 years. After that I finally was sure it was contageous. Some seem to be more immune to the mite than others.

I've been reading blogs from any source and came upon a mention of sulphur baths. Then I found online a paper published in 1919 in the US that described depluming mites and treatment with sulphur baths or dusting that totally cured depluming mites in one treatment. On Jan. 22nd I gave all my birds a bath using 6 oz. flowers of sulphur

6oz. dawn dish detergent

6 gallons of warm water

This was given in a big tub so wings could be spread out etc. You need to keep stirring the mix as sulphur is immiscible in water. When you take the dripping bird out and let them air dry, use a room heater in the winter, or blow dry each one.

 

Today is Feb. 3rd. As far as I can tell, I've probably killed all the mites in one treatment.

 

This has been a 14 year nightmare. Parrots can live to be 80 years old, so I felt morally responsible to get rid of these mites. I will watch the birds and give another bath if necessary. Thought this might help those who are wondering what works, and what doesn't work, or only partially works. I am euphoric after so many years. I was able to remove a collar one bird had to wear for 14 years, and he didn't pick under his wing.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Guest

[sandyhas3chucks]

thank you for posting that, many of us have used fos succesfully now too. it's all good knowledge

[Egluntyne]

I found it useful last year when a few of mine were threadbare and not responding to conventional treatment.

[GillC]

Thank you so much for that detailed description StephB. The contagiousness and longevity of the mites is certainly a concern. However your detailed recipe will be a godsend.